Archive for the ‘spain’ Category
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28
May
2010
Madrileño’s that dress their child like Little Lord Fauntleroy
There’s quite an astonishing culture in Madrid of dressing your child to look like it’s 1880 and you’re off to church. If it’s actually a Confirmation boys are off to they will be dressed in either a sailor’s outfit or other military inspired arrangement. If you have family here you will receive a lot of this clothing by way of gifts and spend a lot of energy making up elaborate stories of the many outings baby has had in the outfit and how delightful everyone thought your darling child looked, while the offending boy dress with blue shoulder ribbons actually sits safely tucked away in the bottom drawer.
One of the more disturbing aspects of seeing an innocent, curly haired boy in a baby blue and light brown outfit of bib and brace shorts with a frilly collar, knee high socks and lace up shoes is, despite your awareness that he is an unfortunate and innocent pawn in his parent’s children-as-accessories obsession, you just can’t avoid the word SISSY flying into your head and almost on to your lips. I KNOW. Dreadful. I didn’t know that word was still in my brain somewhere. But that’s what happens when you see these kids.
13
May
2010
The El Gordo Sing-along
There was a lot of excitement regarding the Euro millions largest ever 86 million pound jackpot last week. And sure, that’s an impressive lottery, but I don’t think anything can compare to the pomp, ceremony, tradition and downright oddness of Spain’s annual Christmas lottery – El Gordo (The Fat One).
It’s not just that it’s the biggest lottery in the world, hitting 2 billion euro last year, or the oldest (starting in 1812), for me it’s really about the sheer hysteria, complete media saturation, and best of all, the singing results, televised every year on December 22 and considered as much a part of Christmas as presents under the tree.
You read that correctly. Singing results. School children work in teams of two to sing out the winning number while another sings out its corresponding prize amount. There are a lot of draws in this lottery. Perhaps hundreds of 1000 euro wins, several fifth, fourth and third prize draws and then the two big first and second prize draws. That’s a lot of singing. There’s just the one tune. Well I guess it’s kind of more like a cantation. Each year, school children across the country are carefully selected and trained for this very special task, and a day of high drama and complex number sequences which must fit snugly into a given stanza.*
6
May
2010
An (almost) local’s guide to Madrid
One of our readers contacted us last week to ask about my take on the ‘must sees’ in Madrid. I wait around most of my days waiting for someone to ask me to tell them what I think, so, naturally, I’m delighted. It’s with no small amount of chest puffing and grinning then, that I bring you my personal guide to Madrid.
Madrid is a wonderful city to be a tourist. Everything you would want to see is in a fairly compact area. The central area of Madrid is full of truly stunning buildings, plazas and fountains that you must see. The underground and bus systems are a dream, even for non-Spanish speakers. Walking the streets is an absolute pleasure on almost every day of the year. Even in the cold of winter Madrid is characterised by impossibly blue, sunny skies.
I started writing this post with a great deal of detail only to find I was not even one fifth of the way through my recommendations and already at a 1000 words. So I give you bullet points, for both our benefits. Certainly there’s room for greater brevity, but it was never my strong point, as you may have noticed from previous posts.
12
Feb
2010
San Miguel Food Market Madrid
The San Miguel Market (Mercado de san Miguel) in Madrid is an exciting culinary and entertainment addition to the centre of Madrid, long overdue. Very overdue in fact. The building sat empty for over 10 years. It has been beautifully renovated and the food displays are a pleasure to look at as well as feast on. You can sip on champagne while sliding back freshly shucked oysters or grab a tray of tapas and a beer to enjoy under the high ceilings of the light and airy interior.
If you go on the weekend, try to arrive outside of 2:30 to 3:30 when it gets a little bit crazy – but if you arrive at peak hour, the insiders trick is to enter through the “back door”, the entrance farthest from plaza mayor where there is more space than the hordes realize. We found a space even with pram in tow.
San Miguel Market and Surrounding Buildings
10
Feb
2010
Friendly Medical Advice from your Local Butcher
In continuation to my last post, the hospital and sick child at home experience has given me even more pause for thought – this time in relation to the Spanish approach to medicinal care. On the one hand I discovered a whole other area where people like to give advice (to my delight, as you can imagine). On the other hand there was also a slightly laissez faire approach from the nurses in the hospital actually qualified to give it.
Look! FUN with medication!
Spaniards are particularly prone to handing out unqualified medical advice – the government had to run a multi million euro ad campaign which featured a woman in the market handing over her antibiotics to her good friend the neighbourhood butcher telling him to take them to address his cold like symptoms. The tag line to the ad was “You´re not a doctor, don’t share prescription drugs and see your doctor for medical advice”. Or some such.
8
Jan
2010
“Three Kings” parade Madrid
Spain celebrated the arrival of the Three Kings yesterday, on January 6. Well actually they celebrate their very imminent arrival the night before, on January 5, in spectacular parades and street festivals across the country.
Next year, if you’re trying to think of somewhere to spend the colder months, think about making a visit to Madrid over the Christmas and New Year season. You’ll see Madrid at its best (winter days are characterised by bright, crisp blue skies) and the kids can be won over by the fantastic Christmas shows and displays and the distribution from floats of literally tones of sweets in the city’s major Three Kings parade. Write it down because you probably won’t read about it. Madrid is appalling at promoting its traditional events. The city’s own special Christmas guide this year makes a one line mention of the Three King’s Parade — hardly an indication of the scale or importance of the event which thousands of spectators attend and for which the entire centre of the city is blocked off.
11
Nov
2009
Baby Deli Madrid
Madrid has a new(ish) and very cool destination for parents and children, the likes of which we’ll hopefully see more of before too long. Baby Deli is the project of interior designer and Mum Tatiana Arelle and her three business partners, all young, successful Mums. Among them is fashion designer Carolina Herrera. The shop includes a food and toy range (of ecological and commercially-just products), cafe, and classes for babies, mums and infants.
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- Baby Deli Madrid
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- Entrance
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- Activities Board
