Back a week now. Mostly over my required post-vacation cold. Back to the gym. Sunday was first time in three weeks. (20 Euros a visit is a good reason to skip the gym while on vacation). Photo galleries have been updated.   (OK, the album is corrupted.  will need to fix later)

Berlin

Berlin has been…fun. Intense. Crowded. And a bit overwhelming. And that’s just the nightlife.

During the day it has been cold and rainy. Which is just incentive to sleep in. And I’ve been sleeping. Often 10 hours straight through. Interrupted sleep has been a major problem back home. Waking up every two hours. Bad allergies too. Other than the first night in Berlin when the sheets smelled of scented detergent or worse drier sheets, I haven’t had any allergy problems. That first night I had to strip the bed to be able to sleep. But after I washed the sheets the next day I was fine. Need to figure out what to do about my interrupted sleep back home.

But I’ve still been able to do some sightseeing. I’ve posted some pics to my twitter feed. All the pics on the Nikon pocket camera will have to wait until I get home.

I head to the airport at 4 am Monday. 20 hours later will land at LAX. Expect to be back at work bright and early on Tuesday. Though I’ll probably need a nap in the afternoon.

Today I took a Greyhound type bus (is there a specific word for that? Motorcoach?) from Madrid’s Moncloa station to the town of San Lorenzo to see The Royal Monastery of El Scorial. It was very impressive. It was built in the late 1500s as a shrine and crypt for members of the royal family. There is also a palace and convent.

The tour was amazing, with a section on construction, tapestried, paintings, the royal palace, the basilica, and of course the crypt. But alas no picture taking was allowed.

The bus ride took less than an hour and it gave me the chance to see the countryside. You can tell Madrid and Los Angeles have similar climates. The drive reminded me of the rolling hills about 30 years ago along the drive out to Ventura, hills that have since been flattened and covered with urban sprawl. Or perhaps the Santa Clarita area, again before it became solid city.

Ate at a small restaurant in San Lorenzo. Sometimes I’m ok with menus, but not today. This restaurant had an appetizer, entree, desert and a drink for under 10€. For the first course I selected a zucchini onion tomato stew with an egg or two scrambled in. It was very good. Also very hearty. With the bread it could have been a meal in itself. For the entree I ordered the pollo. I was able to figured out from the menu that it was a chicken thigh. But what came to my plate was pounded thin, breaded, deep fried until crisp pretty much all the way through, and served with a side of French fries. I ate most of the chicken and a few fries. Then for desert I had the melon.

After the bus back to Madrid I walked around the Moncloa area, then came back to the apartment and took a nap. This evening I packed. Tomorrow I fly to Berlin.

Monday I did more subway and bus hopping. Went looking for the skyscrapers. Turns out there are only four in a place called Cuatro Torres Business Area many miles north east of the city. The master plan called for an additional 20 to be built beginning in 2010. The subway station has four platforms, two of which are not being used these I’m told are for another line to the airport. With the economy the way it is, it may be a while before anything else is ever built.

Have tired of walking so much. But can’t see much of neighborhoods from the subway. So I’ve been taking the subway out and the bus back in.

Saw the bullfighting arena and museum at Ventas. Did not go in.

Have been taking lots of pictures on my pocket Nikon but have had no way to upload them. Will have to wait until I get home.

Fell asleep at 11 pm (good) woke up wide awake at 5 (bad). Not sure if I can recommend this apartment. The noise of people talking on the pedestrian only street below never stops.

Had a good time at the dance club. It was still packed when I left right before 6. Walked home and noticed the streets were all wet. Thought a shower must have come through. But then caught up with a guy carrying a high pressure hose behind a water truck washing everything down.

Stopped at a pastry shop and had eggs for breakfast along with the thickest cup of hot chocolate, really a chocolate pudding, while watching the sun come up.

Madrid is on its own time. All the restaurants are packed at midnight and stay open till 2. And now at 9 you’d think it was 6 am.

Went to the Arnold Classic again. Much more crowded than yesterday. Had to wait in line for 20 minutes. Those who had to buy a ticket first had an additional 30 minute wait. While yesterday there was a competition for pole dancing, today it was American style cheer leading. Who knew?

Watched some power lifting, Olympic lifting, and arm wrestling. The later was being broadcast live across Europe.

Talked to a few people I’ve seen at golds Venice. Talked to a few pros. Some recognized my name from my bodybuilding website. That was nice.

Came home. Took a disco nap. Now heading out to the dance club.

Walked over to the cathedral and royal palace on the west end of the central city. Huge line to tour the palace so I kept walking.

Then jumped onto the subway to go to the Arnold Classic Europe bodybuilding contests and sports expo at Arena Madrid. The pro contests are Saturday and Sunday but the expo and amateur contests are all three days. The first day bodybuilding events are the junior and lighter open weight classes. Saturday will be masters and middle weight classes and Sunday will be the heavy weight classes. Non bodybuilding competitions include judo and other martial arts, power lifting, fitness (kind of like gymnastics floor routine) and even pole dancing.

The buffet at one end of the expo hall was kind of amazing. One if the entrees was a hunters stew with rabbit.

While the expo and amateur competitions continued on into the evening I left around 5. Came home and too a 90 minute nap. Then net someone for dinner. He took me on his scooter to those hills just east of the city. He said the hills were built up over 50+ years with bricks and tile from old houses that were torn down. And then more recently covered with soil.

The moped ride was a bit daunting, especially when he got onto the freeway. I guess the weaving between lanes of cars at stoplights were as well. I decided it was best to just not look.

Then we had dinner at a neighborhood place, where most everyone stands at the counter. Then met some friends of his at a bar. I had told him ahead of time I would be staying only a bit at the bar. He offered to drive me home but since he and his friends had been downing the shots I politely declined and walked home.

Today I went to the Prado museum. Lots of paintings of the historic 0.01%.

Came home and slept 3 hours. I’ve got to stop doing that.

Today I visited pretty much every neighborh=
ood in the central city. =46rom the very upscale Goya to somewhere around Sa=
nto Domingo where many working women kept calling me Chico. 

Arrived Madrid at 3 today, almost 24 hours after leaving my house. There was free wifi at airport and I made the mistake of emailing the apt manager that I was at airport waiting for my luggage. Seems there is no Raul, that this is more of an established business than their AirBnB profile lets on. They wrote back ok let us know when you’re on the train to Sol. But I no longer had wifi so I didn’t receive it. I had told them in an earlier msg that I won’t have a phone and not be able to contact them. “Raul” said no problem that he’d be at Sol at 4.

I had paid online for a tourist metro card. 34.50€ for a week. Was to pick up the card at the booth at the airport subway station. When I got there, six people were in line and one girl was behind the counter. The problem was no one knew what they wanted and the girl was explaining every package such as a ticket to see all the museums, etc., over and over. So it took a while to get the card.

Once I did it was a quick trip to Sol, with one transfer from the subway to a commuter train. However I selected the exit with the least amount of escalators, that station has to be at least 100 feet down, and the furthest from where I was suppose to meet Raul. By the time I got to the rendezvous point it was 4:15. Not too late. But I didn’t know Raul was waiting for my email. At 4:30 and no Raul I figured I should try to call. Two women, a 20 something and a 40 something had been standing next to me for all that time, both holding mobile phones, so I tried to ask them if they could call this number for me. By the way my iPod was almost out of battery and kept switching off when I tried to show them the number. Once they figured out what I was asking them to do they said no. And the younger girl was miffed that I would even ask.

Waited another 15 minutes then asked a security guard if there was a pay phone near by, holding some coins in my open hand to get the point across. He directed me to some not too far away. Then I had to ask a kid for help on how many numbers to dial. I doubted I needed the country code but how many numbers is that? Took him two tries because he didn’t know what numbers were required but I got ahold of someone at the property management company and a young girl was there in ten minutes.

We walked two blocks to the building. It’s at the intersection of two pedestrian only alleys, both with lots of restaurants with outdoor seating. Then up three flights of stairs to a very nice but spartan studio apartment. I’m sure all these buildings are 80 years old. Perhaps much older. The stairs are well worn but the studio is recently remodeled with standard ikea laminated flooring and kitchenette.

I showered and then headed out. I had spent a lot of time on street view on google maps so it was easy to navigate to Plaza Major where I tried taking some pics including some 360 panoramas but it was too late in the day and the sun was too low. May try again later.

Nearby is a tapas market, with many small shops where you can buy things to eat and drink there or to take home. In addition to what we think of tapas there were pastry shops, fresh produce and lots of sea food. And of course lots of alcohol. I tried a few things. Nothing too exotic, although the presentation of the sea urchin was amazing but not enough to get me to try it. I bought three empanadas, really too much for one person but they looked so good and I wanted to try many types. But I was disappointed. Not like the ones at good South American restaurants in LA. It was almost all bread with little filling and I really couldn’t taste the difference between the three types. I left most of the crust.

I then headed home, stopping at a market to buy a few things like milk and yogurt. I get hungry at night. The clerk got mad at me when I gave him a 50. He had just refused to take a hundred from the lady in front of me (so she left without her groceries). I only had a 5 and a 50 in my hand. And I did not hear the total but assumed it was going to be more than 5. Once he started cursing me out I saw the total was 4.90 so I gave him the 5.

After that I came home and was very tired so laid down. Big mistake. Three hours later I woke up. Walked around a bit. Now it is after 2 am and I’m wide awake. the shops below are just now closing up.