Not a health food

Ham is a big deal here but we don't eat it.  Lucky for us there is a popular food that A. does eat.

Chocolate con churro

They are always open, but we found a time without a line.

on the sidewalk out front

lots of pictures line the walls

This was behind us today.

Looks good enough to eat!

Copycat

Probably everyone who does a blog about Madrid uses pictures like these, but it is so hard to resist. So here are a few pictures of the regular tourist shots!

 La Puerta de Alcalá

Buen Retiro Park 

CentroCentro

Prado Museum

CaixaForum Museum

The figures come out at noon to perform!

The Royal Palace of Madrid
with a horse show of some sort

inside the palace

Catedral de la Almudena

across from palace

Cementerio de la Almudena

Educational travel

It is good to explore new places and learn new things.  I don't know what I'll do with the things I learn, but at least I get to explore!

When we arrived in Madrid I noticed the cute animal
and tree in the center of the maintenance cover and 

just steps away it was also on the trash can.

A. helpfully pointed out that it was also on the parking guides.

We finally got more than a few steps from our place and saw an ad from the city
trying to get residents to submit proposals and to increase citizen participation.

The coat of arms was also on the trash cans in Parque de El Retiro.

Unfortunately I didn't know you were supposed to rub the statue for good luck.  I'll have to go back.

The bear eating from the strawberry tree has been the symbol for the city since the 13th century.  This is what I learned from this site

No one seems to know exactly why the bear and the strawberry tree are the city's icons except that there used to be many bears in the fields around Madrid, and the strawberry tree might actually be representative of the hackberry tree that once was in abundance around the city. Another theory is that following a 13th-century dispute over hunting rights on the land that was owned by the church, an agreement was reached that the church owned the soil, but the people of Madrid owned everything above the ground, namely game. Then, the symbol of Madrid was born -- a Bear (the church's emblem) sniffing a tree.  The 20-ton bear statue was constructed in 1967 by sculptor Antonio Navarro Santa Fe and is a popular gathering spot.

Rain

I like to check the weather at this site.

It is a rainy day, but plenty of people are still out doing errands.

The fitness center had a bin for umbrellas and
this is what they had at the grocery store.

I thought the locals were hardy stock for sitting outside in the bad
weather, but I finally realized it is because they can't smoke inside!

Costumes

Carnestoltes (or carnaval in Castilian) was banned when Franco was dictator, but it has returned and looks to be something big. Stores have been selling costumes and the city put out the list of events. Here is the translation from Catalan.

"A celebration which will start on 23 February with the takeover Midnight Carnival, which will run until Wednesday, March 1, when there will be a procession for burial. Among other activities, will be held on Friday cercatasques and Saturday will be the day of the Gypsy Dance and parade troupes. As always, the more children will be the stars of Sunday."

I wish I could read the books for sale.

The one thrift store has costumes.

The party store has costumes, too.

Super heroes are popular

I was surprised to see what they call indi/india costumes.

This is outside a childcare place.

I hope I'll have more pictures to post later.

Playing tourist

Our friends' cruise ended in Barcelona and they decided to spend a couple days in town.  Today I played tour guide.

Our first stop was Guadí's Park Güell.

 After lunch we walked to Guadí's Casa Batlló. 

We also took a look at Casa Lleó Morero.

And enjoyed a little look into the lobby of Casa Amattler.

I was so excited when I looked down. I wonder if these are original

sidewalk tiles, similar to the ones found on the sidewalks of Barcelona.

A full day!

Health care

We are required to have health insurance to get official identification, which is a challenge since in order to get health insurance the company wants to be able to automatically withdraw from your bank account, but most banks require you to have a official identification in order to open a bank account. Where D. works they deal with a lot of people from out of the country and he was able to open a bank account, but it wasn't easy.

The good news is that we have health insurance and I was the first to use it.  I take thyroid hormone replacement, which is fairly common.  I had brought enough to get through almost the first six months, which was lucky.  This month I needed to renew my prescription.

D. figured out a place that was close and accepted our insurance and I called for an appointment. They apologized that the thyroid specialist was in town just once a week so I couldn't see someone for a few days.  I thought there was no need to apologize.

I figured out the right place to check in and the right place to wait.  The doctor was not impressed with my language skills. ("You should learn the language.  It is easy.")  He ordered ultrasonic imaging of my thyroid and a battery of blood tests.

The ultrasound was done at the same location and afterward they gave the results to take to my next appointment.  I guess that cuts down on worries about where to store files and who will look at them.

The lab for the blood draw was in a different location and had to be done after fasting.  I was welcome any time between 8-11am M-S.  There was no line and I could pick up my results a week later.

sample of both units

I was given the results to take to the doctor and they were listed in both US and 
Système international (SI) units.  The US measures many things by weight (e.g., mg/dL) and SI is by concentration (number of micromoles/liter).

I was able to get a follow-up appointment the next day the specialist was in town.  I spoke as much of the language as I could and was able to understand most of what he said. I sat while he typed in all the results, which were good enough to get a prescription.

from Google maps

I took the prescription to the pharmacy across the street and used my best Spanish to ask how long the wait would be to pick it up.  They were confused.  How long does the medicine last?  I asked a different way.  How long after taking the medicine can I eat?  I put the question into Google translate and still got blank stares.  She looked at the prescription, repeated the question, and put the medicine in her hand.  I guess the concept of waiting for a prescription made no sense.

That was it.  The process took a little while and the only thing I paid for was the medication (5.85€). The whole thing gave me great sympathy for anyone coming to the US and trying to figure out that system, which would be a challenge in any language.

Out and about

I think D. could have cycled there faster, but this time he joined us on the train and metro for a family outing to Plaza de les Glòries Catalanes.

First up was Nou Mercat dels Encants. Barcelona Flea Market. Els Encants Vells. Mercat de Fira de Bellcaire.  All names for the same thing.

It has been around since the 14th century, but in this location only since 2013. 

I like the mirrored roof. 

I also liked the little views of Torre Agbar.

There were lots of used things we didn't need,

maybe because a lot of looked like my childhood basement.

The new things were a lot like the Thursday market, lots of underwear, purses, and bedding.

I was surprised how much material was for sale and how hard it must be to get the bolt you wanted.

From the flea market we headed across the square to the design museum, Museu del Disseny de Barcelona.

Construction on the cathedral can be seen from the museum.

Even before mobile phones graphic artists were promoting traffic safety.

D. liked this design of the cubes creating a star.

There was both old and new ceramic pieces, including a display of some of Miró's work and 

some of Picasso's ceramic pieces.

And what would a design museum be without chairs?
I wish they had been displayed together so I could get all the chairs in one picture.

I didn't get a single good picture from the clothing exhibit so this picture is from their video.

Unfortunately the library in the same building was closed, but I enjoyed checking out their exhibit.

D. enjoyed checking out the Bromptom club that had been having lunch at the museum cafe.

I would be happy to go back to the library, but I would pass on the another visit to the flea market.