Heavy Snow Brings Madrid to a Stop

I don´t have any photos because Ingrid has the camera (she´s in Bogota), but if you watch the news, this will make headlines. So far, it is the heaviest snow since 1996. The busses have stopped running and the airport closed for about an hour. It is even dangerous to walk, as all the sidewalks are stone, not cement. I will try to find some pics! Try this link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28576217/

Lanzarote, Canary Islands

We spent Christmas week here. The weather was very changeable. Some days sunny & in the 70's, while others were cloudy & cool. It was also quite windy. Overall, a very nice place to visit!

FYI: This is about 1000 miles sw of Madrid, just off the coast of southern Morocco. The mountains are volcanoes, the land is still seismically active, and the camels were friendly.

Plaza Norte: Madrid's Upscale American-style Mall

This is an hour or so (by bus) north of Madrid. There are a hundred-plus stores, restaurants, cafes, & a movie theatre. Nice place to spend a cold & rainy day, which we seem to have a lot of. Why anyone would choose to live in such a dreary climate is beyond me!

Holiday Decorations Around Town

This may take a few posts...actually, the deli always looks like that! Jamon anyone?

Happy 2009!

Hi All! Sorry for not posting for so long. I will try to catch up this week. Spain really is beautiful during the holidays. I will start posting pics of the people who visited us and the places we went during the past month. 1st on the list was a trip to Segovia (my favorite) with Ingrid's cousin Mateo, who spent a year abroad in London and stopped here on his way back to Bogota. He lucked out with a week of amazing weather, starting with his 1st snowfall! Plus I decided to harass a herd of cows, or maybe they were bulls, for no other reason than they were there!

Deep Freeze

I have been thinking that the weather here has been unusually cold. Today, it was confirmed. Spain is experiencing the coldest late November and early December temperatures since 1987! Yesterday, it was colder in Madrid than Helsinki or Moscow! This wasn´t in the contract! We are hoping that the cold temperatures now will be replaced by record heat in January or February 2009. Only time will tell...

Happy Holidays!

Well, Thanksgiving came and went without much excitement. We actually worked all day! The weather has been terrible for a week. It has been very cold, with nights in the low 20´s and days around 40. There was mixed snow and graupel (round, white frozen ice pellets) an hour ago! When I left STL in 1990, I vouched never to live where it is cold again. Thus, winter will be the primary cause limiting our stay in Madrid. Some classes end this Friday, others next Friday. I have to take 15 days off before Dec 31, so this will be a very short work month for me. Maybe now I can dedicate some time to my dissertation...One of Ingrid's cousins will be visiting us Dec 14-20, then Ingrid & I are going to Lanzarote, Canary Islands for XMAS week. I will be posting some pics of all the decorations around Madrid once it gets warm enough for us to go sightseeing!