Some More Thoughts About Spain

The following is the closest I will get to politics here.

In the US, we are having a debate about giving the cops military style gear. In fact, our police are lightly armed compared to the Spanish police. Seeing a guy wearing a bulletproof vest with an assault rifle or an SMG is commonplace around here. The difference is entirely in their demeanor. Anybody can ask their officers a question, they never try and look threatening, and they don't actually use those weapons. Our police don't need less weapons, they need to be held accountable for their violent and nonviolent aggressive behavior.

On a lighter note, nobody does tapas right outside of Spain. In St. Louis, the two tapas places I know (Modesto and BARcelona) make these highbrow small plates, and if you get 3, you'll be out about 60 bucks before you start drinking. We hear from a girl from New Zealand that this is much the same there. This is entirely wrong. In Spain, tapas are drinking food. They're things like potatoes in zesty garlic sauce, fried bechamel sauce balls, or baguette slices topped with ham, calamari, or Spanish omelette, and they are frequently free or discounted with your drinks. The place we went in Madrid was €12 for all the tapas we could shove in our faces, and a glass of sangria. Refills were €3.50, and shitty beer was more expensive. Maybe I should open a real tapas bar in STL.

Other Thoughts I Have About Barcelona

Can somebody ask RiFF RAFF where I go to shake dice with Larry Bird, and where I rent a time travelling slab to three wheel through the Olympics?

I've had much less wine in Barcelona, because unlike Madrid, they have some decent craft beer here. I'm going to go enjoy some more cheap wine tonight, because two buck chuck is only going to be tolerable as tinto de verano.

Eixample is one of the few gridded areas in Europe, but it's a bit different than our right angled streets. Each intersection is sort of beveled at the corners to make a square plaza turned 45 degrees from the intersection. This creates a lot of street parking (but still not enough for a city), but is a pain in the ass for pedestrians, who have to zigzag through the neighborhood. It's also really boring compared to the old city or Barceloneta. Stay in there if you can. Just don't use AirBNB. You might catch a paella pan to the dome.

The Perils of Being a Cool City

In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Olympic games. Billed as the city opening up to the world again after decades of neglect by Franco, it sparked tens of billions of dollars in renovation, new construction, and public service expansion. So successful has it been that Barcelona I'd often referred to as a model for urban renewal. But this renewal has come at a price. Where once tourists didn't come, today they come to Barcelona more than anywhere else in Spain, and this brings some unwanted changes if you are a local. Aside from the legendary pickpockets and purse snatchers, you get hordes of migrants attempting to sell various knockoff items all over the sidewalks, which just increases congestion, and puts money in the hands of the people who got them to Europe in the first place (read: organized crime). Hotels and international boring chains like McDonald's and Apple and H&M spring up to cater to the hordes, driving out the apartments and mom and pop stores that live there. People realize they can buy an apartment or two in a neighborhood near the old city and make good money renting it out on AirBNB, and the next thing you know, half the people in your building on any given day are strange faces. But this isn't the worst problem.

The big issue is that a lot of people who travel are fuckheads who should never be let out of their own country. This means you, guy carving your name on the towers at Sagrada Familia. You too, drunk -ass Aussie pounding San Miguel tallboys on the street. I know Barcelona has good clubs, but so does Ibiza, and the entire point of that island is clubbing tourism. People in Barceloneta have real jobs, and hate it when you puke or bang in their stairwell at 4AM and then leave. Sex tourist, go fuck yourself. Prostitution isn't legal here, there's just a few places where they don't really bother enforcing the rules. It's not the same thing. If you want to pay for some action, Amsterdam is a Ryanair flight away, and they'll even throw in a wooden shoe full of weed and tulips.

Barcelona has started to fight back, and will continue to fight. For instance, the guidebook I got from 2009 said that tourists could use Barcelona's public bike share, which is the best I've ever seen. This has changed to be only for locals. They've got a ton of bikes, but for high season, they'd need a ton more if tourists could use them. An AirBNB ban is being pushed by some on the city council, and unless the site is willing to work to prevent abuses, it's going to work. But this is the other danger for cities who are working hard to bring more tourism dollars. Some tourism is good. Too much, and it starts to permanently alter your city and embitter your locals. When that happens, you lose the charm that drew people to your city in the first place, and become like Paris.

Appropriately Timed Thoughts On Madrid

I've been here for 3.5 days worth of activities now, so I think I can have some opinions that aren't based on first impressions.

During the walking tour, our guide mentioned that something would happen to her about once a week. She called it "getting drunk by accident". She would go out to meet a friend for a tapa and a drink, and the next thing she knew, she was salsa dancing at a gay bar at 4AM while hammered. This sounded like a personal issue when she said it, but the more time I spend here, the more I see why this isn't abnormal. This city is like that one friend you have who is a total shit show and gets you to act a fool. You know the one. They wake up at 10, deal with a hangover, get going a but before noon, have lunch at 4, eat dinner at 10, and go get wasted and pass out in the wee hours of the morning. That's Madrid's schedule even if you don't drink. And Madrid insists you fucking drink. Lunchtime? Madrid insists it come with a free wine (or shitty beer), and you will linger long enough to have a few. Tapas? Best deal involves more booze. You can easily get a buzz going without trying, and then you're quite open to suggestion. If not for the need to be functional and see things, I'd be drunk a lot too.

Perhaps another thing keeping me soberish is the beer here in Spain. My guidebook said that the Spanish love beer. The guidebook was clearly written by somebody who never actually bothered going into the cervecerias that are everywhere. The Spanish love drinking. They tolerate beer. If they loved it, there would be more than 4 different brands, and they wouldn't all be godawful macro style pilsner. Even in my girlfriend's home town of 3000 people, where the one bar is full of taxidermied varmints shot by the clientele, there are 6 varieties of beer now, and several are craft beer. Madrid bars have one tap, and the standard serving is about 12 oz. "The Spanish love beer" my ass.

The 15000 step a day estimate I gave was way off. It's actually closer to 20000. My feet are a bit sore now.

The Most Important Post Ever

This is important because it's going to save you like 10% the next time you travel outside the US. For years, our magnetic stripe cards haven't worked abroad, as the rest of the world runs chip and pin. This meant that you had to go to a foreign exchange place and get a pre-loaded debit card while being charged like 15 cents more per Euro than the posted rate. Now, your cards work, but there's a $2.50 convenience fee per foreign use, and a 3.25% increase over the posted conversion rate for the transaction. Those of you who mathematically inclined might notice that at some point, this becomes cheaper than foreign exchange places. For those who aren't, here's the math to do to figure out where that point is in the local currency:

Service Fee /(ForEx place's rate - interbank rate*1.0325).

If you do that right now with Euros, this equals about €40. You can use your cars to pull out more than €40 at ATMs or buy big stuff. However, you should still go to the ForEx office for a debit card with some prepaid Euros on it in case you get caught without cash. Just don't change your entire trip's worth of currency stateside like you used to.

Alcohol Review: Madrid

Beer #31: Mahou

Appearance: Pale straw. Macro pilsner.

Aroma: Not much. Macro pilsner.

Mouthfeel: Thin. Macro pilsner.

Taste: A rich, earthy bouquet of floral hops, toasted barley, and estery... lol, jk this is basically just Budweiser that sponsors bullfights. You've had a beer like this in every country, and it all blows. You're drinking this because it's the only fucking beer they have.

Price: If you buy it at the store, a can is like €0.50, and a liter is €1.40 or something. On draft, it's about €1.50 for a caña (small beer), and they might cut you a deal for 2 33cL beers for €2.50 if you buy a tapa. Your discount Bud pitcher night at the local dive is better, but not as tasty.

Overall: 2/10. This is a beer to have while you socialize. It's not for savoring. Chug, and finish your ham.

Amontillado

Appearance: Brownish red, translucent.

Aroma: Boozy

Mouthfeel: Thin. Alcoholic warmness.

Taste: The amontillado I had started out with a ton of alcohol, but not as much as bourbon or vodka. After swallowing, the flavor lingered, and a strong taste of black walnuts came through, probably from the cask.

Overall: I'm not going to rate anything but beer on a scale, as my palate isn't sophisticated enough. Instead, I'll decide whether or not I'd drink it again. For amontillado, that's a yes.

Patxaran

We got this stuff free at Rosi La Loca, and I drank it without any knowledge of what it was. All I've discovered is it's a sloe liqueur from Spain. It sort of tasted like cough syrup. Alecia liked it. I thought it was okay I guess. I don't know if I'd get it again.

Beer #32: Cruzcampo Glacial

See Mahou.

Way Too Early Thoughts On Madrid

I'm going to have to learn to drink something other than beer if I have any intention of getting drunk here. The local beer found everywhere is called Mahou, and it's your basic shitty macrobrew pilsner. Thank god it's cheap.

Fortunately, amontillado sherry was surprisingly good. I thought I was going to hate the stuff, as wine and high ABV beverages and I generally do not get along. The amontillado I had was €2.50 for a good 4oz or so pour, and it had picked up a wonderful almost walnut character from the casks it aged in. I wouldn't follow somebody into a catacomb full of something I'm allergic to only to get bricked into a wall for it, but I guess Fortunato makes a bit more sense now.

In about 6 hours from getting off the plane to now, I walked almost 10,000 steps, and I'll certainly hit that mark by dinner. I'll need it, because there's so much good food.

These will be better posts when I'm not sleep deprived.

The Spain Campaign

Tomorrow, I start more MIZ-adventurES in Europe. This time, I'll be going to Spain. I'll be in Madrid for a week, and Barcelona for a week. There will be a few changes this time around.

1. This phone has a step counter, so I can upload walking distance and steps. I don't know if I mentioned the amount of walking you do in Europe, but this will make it crystal clear. If I had to guess, I would say that we should be around 15,000 steps a day on most days.

2. In the past 17 months, I've had a steady engineering job, so I have a little more disposable income to play with. This won't make me travel 1st class or not stay in hostels, but I may not pick the most economical way to do certain things. For instance, I could get from Madrid to Barcelona for €60 less if I go by plane instead of high speed train. I opted for the train because it's a freakin' bullet train, and we don't have any in the US.

3. The big one is that I'm taking my girlfriend this time. This means a few more candlelight dinners, and a few less 1AM kebabs while drunk in the street. Oh well.

This also means that we are doing a joint blog together. If you want pictures, they will be there. This is my R-rated blog where I can swear and complain about stuff and not have her family see it (some of my previous comments about the Catholic Church probably shouldn't be seen by nuns... or regular church goers).

Next post will be from the Way Hostel in Madrid.