Just as I finished posting I did sort of get chatted up by a nice Australian lady who was flying from Toronto home to London (she seemed to have a complicated life) before boarding. She seemed nice.
Plane was 2 hours late taking off. They had to reboot it. Seriously? Yep - we were waiting for take-off and then they powered everything down and then brought it back up again because there were over 100 failed systems according to the Captain. I covered my eyes with my sleep mask and rested for a few hours on the plane. Since I'm slightly larger than the average bear I was happy to get an aisle seat but it also meant being disturbed every few minutes by people walking past bumping in to me.
Still got to the hotel too early to check in so spent several hours walking around in yesterday's clothes in light misty rain. There is a lot of up and down here. And hotel rooms are postage stamp sized compared to what I'm used to. Everything pretty much is closed as it is Sunday. I haven't eaten since the rubber chicken dinner yesterday since I'm too cheap to pay the prices asked in the crowded tourist trap area that was open.
The tour stuff is organized very differently than what I expected. I sort of imagined that since this is an Air Canada package that they run only once a month or so that there would be a crowd of us at this hotel and I'd be able to just follow other people's lead. Nope. I'll figure it out though.
I'm not really complaining though. Doing something like this is very very difficult for me. I constantly felt like backing out which happens every time I stretch myself like this. I don't recall every backing out before and I know from experience that once I am going that I'm fine. It's just the "getting off the pot" thing. Which reminds me - haven't used the bathroom since Toronto Excuse me.
Then time to change and find a "racion". The only place close by seems to only serve calamari which I'm not keen on. The coffee in the cafe around the corner from the hotel was quite good and I "almost" broke down and had a churro and chocolate.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
This is a brand new experience for you. I love Europe and it gives us an opportunity to learn and experience new things along the way. Trust me, the food is good and yes, it can be a little bit more expensive than what we are use to, but many of those places have great food. Spend a little bit to get good food and don't be afraid to try new things. It's time for Andrew to spread his wings and just have some fun.
Enjoy yourself.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
Settling in for the night at my hotel even though the clock on the computer says 3:00pm. Still haven't gotten the confidence that my Euro VISA is going to work properly. I tried it in a couple of ATMs and it had issues. I also haven't figured out how to identify (generally) where tap / etc will work and if this card will work as expected. So without much cash in my pocket I'm reluctant to go in somewhere, order a meal and then be unable to pay. This evening most of the places I thought looked interesting were "very" crowded as well which also made me uncomfortable. I suppose I'm biased because most of my foreign travels have been to Cuba where cash is the only option. Madrid certainly seems to have a very high concentration of cell phone users. I even saw one guy with a mount on his motorbike texting at an intersection.
On a positive note, I've not had any empty calories from beer, tapas, churros or chocolate and did a huge amount of walking. I had a nice Messenger chat with S a short while ago who messaged me right as I got to my room. She's had a good weekend with her Dad and the boys. She's a very pale ginger and forgot her sunscreen so we shared a chuckle over that and how sore my feet are from all the walking I've done.
My phone is finally functional. It's a work phone so roaming services aren't automatic. I had to get my IT guy to contact the carrier and just a short while ago a batch of texts came in including the notification that my ex has received her monthly payment. Odd (to me) that she is so very punctual on picking it up exactly on the 15th despite the fact that I usually send it a couple of days early. Over 1/4 of all the payments I'll have to make are now done. Hard to believe although I'll be paying until my 60th birthday.
Tomorrow up early for the city and palace tour. I'll probably get things figured out a lot more there. I've got some jazz playing - seems to be about all I listen to these days - in the hotel - makes the tiny room feel a bit more home-like.
So - SIL1 messaged me a short while ago and sent a confirming picture. B and her H are (very probably) back together. They were in the cafe that SIL1 was at this morning together. It's in the same village as her son that she moved in with lives in and she and I have been there before. I'm pretty sure that B wouldn't have recognized SIL1. It was her friends, family and kids that stalked my social media, not her. We all expected this. Assuming it's true - it's going to be so very very tough. He was still cheating and refused to get treatment for his longstanding diagnosed depression last I knew. B has had multiple flings including 2 serious ones. Not to toot my own horn too much, he'll have a very hard time measuring up to me. And it will undoubtedly bother him quite a lot that "his wife" was sleeping with other men and even lived with one. That also his mother-in-law really really liked as did her best friend's husband who often financed trips and such for her (weird story - not worth getting in to). Not sure if she's kept any of the momentoes from our relationship. They did get packed - some by me when it seemed that B "overlooked" them. I do have an idea what the state of their finances are and they won't be living nearly as well as they were. On the other hand this cafe is down in my area not "up north" at his so who really knows - I certainly don't.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It certainly reduces any residual guilt that might have existed about me moving on with S or any other person. I'd like to see B making better choices about the direction her life is going in - but that's both out of my hands and literally none of my business. It also means that he's going to be pulled in to the continuing drama around S38 and the GK - the original excuse he gave for cheating years ago. I think that I'm doing pretty good on the whole letting go thing. Even though I disagree with the choices that B has made and is appearing to make, they are her choices and she's a big girl and presumably knows what she is doing and why.
Well - time to do my usual update of my books with what I've spent, perhaps read for a short while and then off to bed.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
Did you forget to activate the Euro Visa? You can go to a bank Monday and inquire as to what you may be doing wrong. Also, if you have another credit card, you can use it over there until you get the Euro Visa figured out.
Tomorrow will be a better day. On to new adventures and who knows....you just might write a story about those adventures.
Enjoy your evening!
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
Had a panic this morning when I couldn't find my passport for over an hour - and this is in a tiny room. Eventually found on the floor under one end of the bed.
Sore feet and possibly lighter after another day of lots of walking in what was forecast to be low 20s (celcius) and was mid 30s. Drank about 3 litres of water at the hotel room. The Madrid royal palace is just jaw dropping amazing. After my tour there was no apparent ride back to my hotel so I wandered through this amazing park and around and about.
I've got things more or less figured out now. The VISA just plain doesn't work in an ATM so I picked up a bit more cash. I confirmed that the card worked at a souvenir shop. Thought about picking S up a nice scarf which they do nicely here but didn't think it appropriate and I have no clue on her taste. Bought some exciting Madrid themed socks. With cash in my pocket and a working card and confidence in my heart, I stopped at a cafe, chased away the pigeons and had a nice light lunch. I've probably over-provisioned in money at this point but I can convert the Euros to $US for when I go visit my daughter. I also still have almost a week of meals to fund though as well. I'm finding that I'm not very hungry though and am going with that as I really would like to lose weight.
B would have absolutely hated this trip I think especially the walking. I know when I used to vacation with my ex, she'd lay around at the resort (always had to be a tropical beach resort) while I'd wander off and then we'd catch up later. The expectation was that if B and I had continued that it would have been like that.
Surprisingly S was up when I sent her a "good morning" and told her what adventures I was embarking on including the panic of the lost passport - she'd asked for me to keep her up to date on her adventures. She'd had a late movie night with her younger daughter and her Dad. I'm not really investing too much mentally on her but as a pretty known quantity it's certainly worth having brunch with her.
Off for my first paella now. Tomorrow is a bus excursion and tour of Toledo so likely less walking overall. Most of the other people on the tour this morning were couples and generally quite a bit older than me.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
Spent the day in Toledo - not pronounced the same way as in Ohio. Highly recommend the one in Spain - never been to the one in Ohio.
I had a bit of a laugh - some of the other people on the tour assumed that a solo traveling woman was with me. It appears that I have the "somebody owns this guy" look. This isn't the first time that this has happened by far but usually with women that I am actually spending company with who it is assumed is my long term spouse. B used to find it pretty funny I think. More than one woman has been advised "he's a keeper". Also a good laugh was shared with the guide who could in no way manage to pronounce my last name and really struggled with the first. It was charming the way she did pronounce it. She was also my guide yesterday and as soon as she saw me she had a big smile on her face. I think she was attracted to me slightly. She seemed to make sure that I was close by when she was going through the different parts of her sessions and appeared to give me extra attention. On the other hand, I was making an extra effort to pay attention to her presentations and showed the real active interest I had. Any professional will like someone who appreciates their work.
The bit that caused me to come here was just a major bit of weirdness. Part of the tour included a viewing of the El Greco painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz - an amazing piece of work. At the end when I finally got a chance to get close to the front for a good look, there, not part of my tour was what I immediately recognized as "Taco Lady". She is a major fan of Renaissance art among other genres. I've not seen nor talked to her for a couple of years now. I was standing immediately behind her and almost called out her name but left instead. I did only see her from the back and on a profile and am not sure if she saw me or not. She seemed engrossed in a phone call. Just a short while ago I checked her social media profile and the odds are really really high that it was just someone who was amazingly identical looking with similar interests. When the tour broke for lunch I actually tried to find the chapel again but was unable to. Taco Lady was someone who would have indeed spent multiple hours looking at such a masterpiece. That meant that lunch for me was a big bottle of water and an ice cream bar. I thought I ordered noodles for dinner tonight but ended up getting a delicious rice dish which probably wasn't paella.
I have no idea how many more miles I walked today but it was quite a few and largely involved changes in elevation. I was thinking that while my ex might have had some interest in this adventure, there's no way with her mobility and weight issues that she would have managed. My belt certainly did seem looser.
Time to update my actual diary, catch up on various things and then off to bed. I get to sleep in tomorrow as long as I make it for the provided fairly decent breakfast and then I think I'll head off to my primary goal - the Cervantes museum.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
I was standing immediately behind her and almost called out her name but left instead.
Okay Andrew, I'm going to take the bait. So, you were standing there watching Taco Lady checking out the Count of Orgaz and you were going to yell, "Yo, Taco Lady, it's me Andrew!" Does she even know that her name is Taco Lady? Or, does she have regular name like Candice or Jezebel?
Ola from LA (or "lower Arkansas" for those of you not from around these here parts). I'm so enjoying your pictures and your solo adventure. I'm living vicariously since the farthest I will likely get from LA anytime in the near future is probably going to be Little Rock (about 50 miles away). LOL
Going back a couple of days in your post, I must repeat something I said earlier: SIL1 needs to butt the h3ll out. I mean really....does this woman have some sort of vendetta against you or something? What is the point of her sharing such info? She (and you) assume B went back to the X, but in all honesty, he was never X to begin with because she was still married to him. You say it doesn't bother you that SIL1 shared this info, but then you proceed to give us all the reasons it really does, couched in a "hey, no big deal, I'm a catch and she lost out" attitude. That really makes me angry for you, Andrew. You are a good man and you deserve better treatment from B and SIL1. You deserve to be allowed to grieve at your own pace for the loss of what was or what might have been and to move on in your own way/time. If B is back with her husband, that is on her and you are right....bad choice. But, not your circus, not your monkeys!
You are in Spain, my friend, keep enjoying and living it up. And for goodness sakes, man.....go ahead and have some empty calories. Eat the d@mn churro already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will sign off and stop harassing you now. I anxiously await Doodler's response to your encounter with the "Taco Lady."
Me 52, H53 Bomb drop 9/29/2014 Divorce from XH final 12/17/2014 Marriage #2 12/31/2019 5 adult (step)daughters (3 from XH's first marriage, 2 from current H's previous relationships) 6 grandkids
Excuse me.
especially the walking. I know when I used to vacation with my ex, she'd lay around at the resort (always had to be a tropical beach resort) while I'd wander off and then we'd catch up later. The expectation was that if B and I had continued that it would have been like that.