Zombie

What a glorious weekend. The trip to Oviedo was great - I was re-tracing the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, just with no Javier Bardem! It was the beginning of November but the weather was glorious and the town is just too cute. The town is big on cider which is slightly less pleasant in the mornings as there's always a faint whiff of dried fermenting apples in the air. I toddled over to the town auditorium to watch the final grand prix with all the die hard Fernando Alonso fans, seeing as it is his home town. Turns out, he is less popular than I thought, or the fans are not really die hard at all, as the place was sparsely filled. The positive side was that I was interviewed by a national radio station who were very excited that someone from Button-land had travelled there to support the national hero. Er... hello? Have you seen the man's jaw line? Mmmm.

Anyway, I completely forgot that I had set my alarm clock at home for 3am to catch a silly-hour flight on Friday and this morning when the alarm went off, I got up, washed and did my hair before I realised it was only 3:30am!! Needless to say, I have been a complete zombie all day. There was this big conference today, it was me and 20 or so finance people sat around a circular table. The room was warm and the chat was dull. My eyes were getting heavy - I was trying everything in my power to keep the tiredness away. I could sense that my writing was falling down the page but even though I could see it on the page, I couldn't wake myself up. Am really worried about how I looked - for all I know, I may even have been snoring!

Some excitement in the UK today as there may be some retribution on the horizon for those banks that have had free access to national funds. Chance would be a fine thing - I 'll believe it when I see it.

Oktoberfest

Imagine the utter horror – you’re young and carefree and your boss tells you he’s sending you to Munich for a work conference in the middle of Oktoberfest... So it’s not my usual Mediterranean haunt but it’s definitely something worth visiting Germany for. We had an area booked in the Windl tent – it’s big enough to sit 8.5k people inside and a further 5k people outside. As you can see from the picture, it was fairly packed. The atmosphere is great – you order your huge steins of beer or radlers (beer with a lemonade top for those less hardcore beer guzzlers like me) and these women dressed in dirndl carry them 8-10 at a time to your table. This is no small feat – I struggled with even one, having to use both hands everytime I wanted a sip. The food was great – not a single wurst in sight – and there’s a live band in the middle who play a medley of Bavarian classics, old school pop and every other song is a Bavarian drinking song. Pretty early on, everyone as far as the eye could see was on the table, singing, toasting, dancing and generally being merry. It was really good fun and I even managed to turn up to my 9am meeting the following day in a vaguely coherent state!

The town itself is beautiful too – a real chocolate box setting. Cute little houses in pastel colours with climbing ivy and wooden window frames. One of the first things to strike you is how tidy the streets are, which just adds to the pleasantness of the city. In the same town, there is the ultra modern BMW World which showcases the latest in luxury cars in an amazing torque-defying glass structure that looks like a twisted cone and then you see the Siemens building which looks more like an Austrian stately home – I half expected the Von Trapp kids to come running down the stairs singing about their favourite things! It was election weekend, so every street corner had photos of Angela Merkel and her peers which was possibly the only scary thing I saw the whole week...

This week we are moving office. Only across the courtyard so that now we face the church. It’s very odd how many churches there are in the City of London. I work less than 5 minutes walk from St Paul’s cathedral but my office shares a courtyard with another church and from our top floor, there are plenty more church spires dotted all over the place. There’s even a masonic temple hidden in the inner bowls of one of the older hotels. Anyhow, I’ve got 4 years of paper to sort through this week. Fun fun fun!

Holiday!

If we took a holiday

Took some time to celebrate

Just one day out of life

It would be, it would be so nice!

I have had a most relaxing week in a mountain top villa in the Sierra Nevada - some may say it's the traditional British summer escape, but it was truly lovely. All the wonderful sea views without having to face the crowds. There's something very calming about being so close to the sky - I think I am definitely a mountain (as opposed to sea) person. Whilst I was mildly excited by the sliver thin resurgence of the British Pound, it didn't really matter because the cost of food was so cheap. The Spanish wine that I buy in my local supermarket in London (Tesco for those that are interested) is 60% cheaper - I can infact buy the Reserva for less than I pay for the Crianza here. Between the wine, gazpacho and sea views, it's been a very liquid week!

On the Sunday, I went to a Spanish bar to watch the German Grand Prix and experienced something I never get in London - the warm embrace of fellow Fernando Alonso fans. All the warmer for its rarity. Apart from this one indulgence, I was pretty sure I would relish the isolation but I discovered I have one further addiciton. I am addicted to news. Every morning, no matter how hard I tried to distract myself, and much to the amusement of my addiction-free friends, I had to get to a newsagent and buy an English newspaper. The only newspaper that makes the daily journey to Spain is The Sun (this is the most widely circulated tabloid in the UK, read by the masses, often based on hypotheses, with dubious journalism quality but with a fair chunk of sarcasm and some genius headlines - incidently my brother works there). So, mostly I read about how swine flu is inflitrating the nation, how Jennifer Anniston has found herself another man and how Cheryl Cole is prettier than Dannii Minogue. There were little snippets that covered the Indonesia bombings which I could use to piece together the pictures on Spanish TV. What language barrier I say...

Thankfully, the heat has broken here as you all predicted. I have come back to a much milder climate complete with drizzly showers - everyone is still walking round dressed as though it is 10 degrees hotter though, which is probably adding to the swine flu statistics that The Sun continues to churn out. When I was young, I had a Korean nanny who swore on my many dead ancestors' lives that if you went to sleep with a fan on, you would not wake up in the morning. I used to think she was crazy, but I've never been able to go to sleep with the fan on. You may laugh, but this is serious folklore in Korea - like the Bogeyman, or throwing spilt salt over your shoulder, or not walking under ladders. It's known as fan death - read the wiki-link.

As an aside, an American won the British Open today at Turnberry. It was a day of despair and disappointment - firstly for Ross Fisher, the local lad, who managed a double par when he was 2 shots in the lead to rule himself out of play. However, the real tear-jerker was 59 year old Tom Watson, an old school hero, who had been leading the competition and threw it away on the final hole to lose to another American during the play off. Sport can be so cruel.

Adios Madrileños...

Having crawled into bed at some outrageous time close to 5am, I dragged myself out of the hotel at 9am as this was already my last day in Madrid and there was much to see. Weekend breaks can be so stressful...

I walked along Gran Via down to Sol to wake myself up and had a quick stopover at the completely huge El Corte Ingles complex which covered three prime sites in this busy retail centre of town. I always like to look at Supermarkets when I'm abroad to see how people's daily food needs differ (weird I know) and given I had no time to track down a Mercadona, was thrilled to see huge Iberian jamon and cheese counters in the basement food store at the nation's favourite department store. The wines took up 4 aisles and was incredibly good value - we have the same brand wines in London supermarkets which sell at almost 2.5x the price.

My walk took me past all the fabulous old buildings on the way to Banco de Espana - theatres, national banks and the Spanish stock exchange. There was already a queue of budding art enthusiasts when I arrived at the Prado museum but the wait was to be proved worthwhile. I'm not a big art fan by any means but this gallery is so huge and packed with a variety of works that even I managed to recognise some of the paintings and artisits. Whilst as one of the most famous art collections it is obviously home to the Spanish greats such as Velazquez and Goya but the Prado also showcases some of the big names from Holland and Italy including Rubens and Titian's Venus.

After that draining cultural stop, I briefly paused for a cool beer at the Terrace of the Ritz hotel. You can walk straight in to this beautiful patio, where white wicker furniture with plump cushions allows you to rest your weary feet. The beer was served in tall stemmed glasses accompanied by a selection of nibbles (included in the price) and you can sit back in the Madrid sun and listen to the live pianist.

Feeling pretty mellow, the question now was whether I wanted to spend this gloriously sunny afternoon in the next gallery. Being somewhat sun starved, I figured I would return another time for Picasso and opted instead to stroll round the botanical gardens. Again, I'm no big gardening enthusiast, but for the sum of €2, I was able to roam this huge garden which had plenty of postcard-perfect landscapes and a greenhouse full of the more exotic plants.

Only then did I realise that I hadn't eaten all day. I started walking through the back streets towards Plaza de Santa Ana - where I stopped for some tapas at Lateral. I opted to sit at the bar indoors as the outside terrace was largely unshaded and relatively full whilst the inside was cool and empty. Along with a glass of red house rioja which was beautifully drinkable and well priced, I enjoyed a taste of tortilla, sardines and pimientos. I chose this particulare tapas bar out of many on the square, as the restaurant was modern and clean and they use the cutest crockery - but the food turned out to be delicious too. Just a little further down past Plaza de Angel and on the way to Plaza Mayor is a little square with an open market selling various bric-a-brac. Not that I needed to after the tapas, but I bought a little bag of dry roasted sunflower seeds (toasty and sweet) from a man who was applying the same dry roast to everything imaginable!

A trip to Plaza Mayor saw a suspiciously Mexican looking group of street entainters who were pleasing the amassed tourists. The square is huge and amazingly, despite its scale, was completely packed with people - some sat in the outdoor terraces of the many bars and restaurants, some looking at the collection of stores under the grand arches and others, like me, just enjoying the sunset and watching the world go by. Tired, full and aware of the inhuman hour of my flight back home, this is where I bid adios to the City and its people.

Hola Madrid!

What a beautiful City.

On some sound advice from a fellow blogger, I did some homework and found that the Prado museum is free from 6pm on Fridays which was perfect as I was due to land at 2pm. However, as is often the case, even the best laid plans are thwarted by exogenous circumstances and I was delayed a massive 4 hours at the airport because of fog (the perils of being a Londoner).

When I finally arrived at Madrid, the airport itself was stunning. Terminal 4 was recently added in 2006 and has won several design awards for its straight lines, open plan structure, floor to ceiling windows and bamboo panelled ceilings (keeps it cool apparently). Using my google print outs, I bought a Metro ticket for 10 journeys (a bargain €7.40 although I didn't use it 10 times) and made my way to my hotel. I had to change lines twice but the Metro system is amazingly simple to follow, the platforms are well labelled and the trains are wide, modern and air conditioned. I was staying at the Melia Princesa, just North of the Plaza Espana. As a tip, if anyone is also looking to go to Madrid, I recommend looking at the Sol Melia or NH Hoteles websites - as publicly traded Spanish hotel companies, they have suffered the brunt of the Spanish real estate related sell-off and are now offering attractive rates to ensure hotel room occupancy at even their luxury hotels. The Melia Princesa is just 20 metres from the Metro stop and an easy walk to the Royal Palace, the stores of Gran Via and I even walked to the Prado Museum without much difficulty as there's so much to see, you forget how much you've walked. Plus it means you can work off those delicious churros dipped in thick chocolate you've indulged in for breakfast and be ready for the first round of tapas of the day!

Once settled in the hotel, I still had 2 hours before I was due to meet some friends for dinner - they had kindly decided to convene early for dinner as I was a heathen from London but still, at 9:30pm this was rather late for me! The sun was just setting, so I strolled down to the Palacio via the plaza Espana and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the Palace gardens. The young Madrileños were out in force, dipping their toes in the fountain and enjoying the hazy sun. I took a seat at a terrace bar in the Plaza de Oriente to drink a quick aperitif before jumping on the Metro to get to dinner.

We met at a lovely restaurant called La Trainera in the affluent Salamanca region, which is home to most of the International banks and other corporates as well as boutique design stores and private galleries. They serve wonderfully fresh seafood from the Bay of Biscay - the restaurant is named after their fishing boat. I left the menu in the capable hands of my friend Jaime and his wife who had invited me here to meet their friends. I met Jaime a few years back through work as he works at a Spanish bank. His wife is training to become a nurse and his friends were artists of various sorts. After a hearty meal of almejas (clams) - so fresh they are served raw with a squirt of lemon and centollo (king crab) - again so fresh and tasty it was served on its own, I was ready to call it a day but this was only the beginning.

After much kissing and hugging with the restaurant staff at the door, we walked down to Momo's for a drink - something that was necessary as we had met so early for dinner (!) and could therefore not go straight on to a club. Our final destination was Pacha. I couldn't help but groan when I saw it - as a chain of clubs across Europe, it had been a long time since I had been to the one in London and I stay away for a reason! But the one in Madrid was much more relaxed, there was a huge mix of people from the very young to the more mature and it was genuinely good fun. The drinks are much more potent - a vodka tonic here is basically 50:50.

It was almost sunrise when we left and I got a lift home on a Vespa - first time for everything - from one of the artists who had drunk nothing but red bull all night which resulted in an interesting journey to say the least! We stopped over at the Chocolateria San Gines, named after the church in whose shadow the cafe stands. I'm not exaggerating here at all, but the place was completely packed and it was close to 4am. We ordered 2 cups of intensely thick, rich chocolate and the waitress cut off sticks (churros) from a huge long roll of freshly baked doughnut. I could seriously get used to this...

Vamonos de Fiesta!

Tomorrow I set off for Madrid!

Sadly it looks like I am taking the London weather with me. But it is not a big deal as I don't believe a spot of rain will take away from the cultural experience - it will probably give me more incentive to spend longer in the galleries if anything! I can't wait to sip a crisp white rioja with my tapas in a cosy bar...

I'm most looking forward to going to a religious country during a religious holiday. Spain was once considered one of the most catholic countries, having been under the Roman Empire and fought off the Muslims and the Moors during various periods of its history. The religion really came into its own under Franco when catholicism was the State religion but since then, the Spanish constitution has severed this link with the State and religion is now a much more secular affair with a marked decrease in catholicism - as seen across the rest of Europe. Interestingly, the Opus Dei faction, popularised most recently by Brown's Da Vinci code, originated in Spain.

Visiting these once bastions of Roman Catholicism, you can't fail to be impressed by the architecture of the glorious churches and there's still a sanctity about holidays like Easter and Christmas - unlike here where we swap chocolate eggs and think about using the free time for some home rennovations.

Vicky, Cristina and an old war veteran called Walt

Yesterday I met up with a university friend and we relived our glory days by going to the cinema to do a movie double - something we have not found time to do since graduating but which we were able to do now because I am supposed to be revising and he has been made redundant. It was tough times for a while as he was let go just before Christmas, which adds to the horribleness of having to break the news to your family. However, he is back on his feet now and enjoying the last few days before he starts somewhere else. I did suggest however that we could take some tips from the French workers, famous for their uber-strong labour unions, and try some boss-napping but it all seemed a bit too strenuous so we stuck with our movies agenda.

The cinema we chose was in affluent Chelsea - a relatively small screen but the only one that was still showing the 2 movies we chose to watch. Movie tickets in my opinion are hugely overpriced (€13 a pop!) in London but we did get some cushioning on the chairs and the place was completely empty.

We kicked off with Vicky Cristina Barcelona - a vague nod to my impending Spanish adventure and also something I thought my friend would enjoy given the much hyped kissing scene between Penelope Cruz and Scarlet Johansson. To be honest, I think it was much more of a chic flick - 2 American girls come to Barcelona who are polar opposites in terms of what they want from love and relationships. Throw in some smouldering Mediterranean charm in the form of Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz and watch how many ways you can combine the 4. Rather than a defined story with a beginning and an end, this is more like a snapshot in time when their lives happen to intersect - the 2 American girls have their views on love challenged and they explore new experiences but ultimately they stay the same - if that makes sense. An added bonus is that a chunk of the movie is filmed in Oviedo, in Asturias (North East Spain)which is the home town of my hero Fernando Alonso.



We moved straight on to an altogether darker, more sombre movie about a mean old war veteran who gets involved in the lives of his Hmong neighbours. There's no denying the racism that underlies the whole being of Gran Torino but I thought Clint Eastwood was great and he even managed to make me laugh out loud in what is a sad tale about the last white man and his prize Ford Gran Torino in a US neighbourhood that has been overtaken by Hmongs, refugees of the Vietnam war. Stern, racist and ostracised by his materialistic family, Clint Eastwood's character finds redemption through his relationship with the 15 year old boy next door. It's definitely one I would recommend to see.

The morning before

I don't have the quickest of reactions, so it comes as no surprise that I've finally got the 'new year resolution' bug - in April. Maybe it's the longer days or maybe I'm feeling inspired by what the humble Honda F1 team have achieved over the Winter - but there's definitely something in the air.

I've taken some time off work and am trying to make a wish list of things I want to do - there's no timeline and it's certainly not a race to the end - but it's something to mull. Professionally I am very happy and my list so far reflects that. It's mostly places I want to visit (I've always half regretted not taking a gap year) as well as some lifestyle changes.

The aim of course is not for the list to be a passive wish list of things I will never achieve. So, this morning, I have run my first 2 miles (quite the achievement in itself for me!) as part of the build up towards the marathon I have signed up for in September (eek!) and next weekend I am off to Madrid to see the famous triangle of art galleries that the City has to offer.

For now though, I have discovered some great recipe blogs which have inspired me for lunch. When I figure out how to upload links and photos, I'll be sure to share my finds - and cooking efforts...