Friday 3 Feb

Lake Wakatipu. Mountains simply called The Remarkables. Breathtaking. Magical. Action-adventure. Relaxing. All of these things are Queenstown, New Zealand. Quite different than the metropolitan areas that we’ve visited so far. And, it’s just what we need at this point in our trip.

Everything that I complained about the Hilton was redeemed at the Queenstown Hilton. We got the Diamond upgrade to a suite and, right off the bat, the service was extraordinary. The front desk manager escorted us to our room and gave us a tour of the hotel on the way. Our room is large with a separate living and sleeping space (and after constantly being together this long, a little space is a good thing…remember, Chris and I are used to having some time apart each week). But, the icing on the cake is the spectacular view from our large balcony. This time we have furniture, unlike the Hilton Auckland.

Living Room (shot from the front door)

Living Room (shot from the bedroom door)

Bedroom - great view from the bed

Balcony - lovely views

We arrived in QT around 2:00 pm and just explored our hotel a little. I had collected about a million brochures at the airport for the various activities around town and the surrounding areas so we waded through those too. They really have it all: mountain biking, parasailing, paragliding, bungee, zip lining, hiking, boating, speed boating, fishing, skiing, jet skiing, kayaking, canoeing, helicopter rides, shopping, spas, and on and on.

We needed some lunch and headed to one of the four restaurants at the hotel. A pub. We stuffed our guts with pizza, calamari, and seafood chowder. And, drank some beers.

Seafood chowder with the largest mussels I've ever had. It was good but not the best seafood chowder I've tasted.

Too many beers because as soon as we got back to the room, Chris passed out feel asleep while I blogged on the balcony. Room service for dinner and bed early.

Saturday 4 Feb

Free breakfast at the hotel is so-so but it’s free so we can’t really complain (much). They have a juicer so one can make their own juice. Fresh carrot and orange juice – yum! Our main goal for the day was to hit Queenstown proper. Get acquainted with the town and to find a place to do our laundry. (Laundry is the running saga of our trip) We took the free hotel shuttle to town and Chris immediately was drawn to the gondola rides up the mountain. From the top, there is paragliding (no thanks), bungee (no thanks), mountain biking (maybe), and the luge (yes!).

View from the bottom of the mountain

The gondola

At first, I was pretty terrified to do the luge. I was picturing the actual luge where you lay down and take really tight corners. But, as I watched, I decided to give it a try. And, I was hooked after the first run. They force you to take the easier, scenic route first but then you can take the advanced track. We had so much fun! Plus, the view from the mountain is too pretty for words.

We had to take a chair lift to the luge course

Chris looks huge on the little luge. So cute!!

Me going down a big dip. Woooo!

As you can see, I'm kicking his butt...

After the luge, we headed back to explore the town and grab lunch. And, to find a place to do our laundry.

Surprisingly, there were several restaurants that were closed for lunch. We were starving and, out of desperation, we tried a Mexican food restaurant. Let me just say that we have actually seen a handful of Mexican restaurants in Auckland. More than I expected. So, Kiwi’s are a little familiar with Mexican food, we guess. And, lunch was…well, a good attempt at Mexican. It filled our bellies but I can’t say that my craving was satiated. The best part was all the hot sauces that they gave us to spice up our meal. Here are our faves:

We tried a lot of different hot sauces. I really liked the Osama one...

But, this one was my fave

Bean dip was pretty good

Chris's burrito

My chicken tacos. Rice was, well, not Mexican rice.

We did some shopping but, after five hours in town, Chris was ready to head back. I could have continued shopping and browsing for another couple of hours (at least). But, we’re a team so I went back with him.

Shopped at an artisan fair by the waterside

This time, I was the one who passed out when we returned to the hotel. We had dinner reservations at another hotel restaurant at 9:30. After the nap, we went for a short walk before dinner.

I couldn't resist lolling around the lush hills.

These are our neighbors. Ducks, some birds, and a couple of mountain goats are really the only wildlife we've seen so far. We were told that there aren't bears or cougars in the mountains. Weak.

Dinner was delicious! No pics though – we forgot the camera. The night weather was perfect and we sat outside with a view of the dotted lights across the mountain and the bright moon casting a glow on the water. Since it was so late, we basically had the restaurant to ourselves. That and the view made for a very romantic atmosphere.

Loving life in Queenstown. It’s Sunday, sunny, and hot. The past two days have been overcast. We are taking advantage of the heat and sun so we rented a boat. More to come on that later…

-kb

We’ve been taking photos with our little Sony snapshot camera, mostly.  But, every once in a while, I’ll grab my iPhone out of my pocket and snap a pic.  Here are a few from the trip so far:

Well, so much has happened since we left you last in Hong Kong. We’ve really been having a very good time and just haven’t had a chance to blog. We’ve already spent 4.5 days in Auckland. We are now in Queentown, NZ. So, we have a lot to blog about and this is gonna be a long one.

First things first. I’ve gotta comment on our 10.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Auckland on Cathay Pacific. O.M.G. We were in the First Class cabin that contained, not seats, but suites. It was by far the best flight experience I’ve ever had in my life.

There were nine passengers and three flight attendants in this cabin. That’s one attendant for every three passengers. We had exceptional service. Cherry and Trina were our main attendants, who served us food, wine, champagne, made our beds, and basically tended to our every need.

The food was phenomenal. Trina made up a table in my suite so Chris and I could eat together. The best part of my meal was caviar with boiled potatoes, crème fraiche, cooked egg yolks and whites, and the most velvety raw salmon I’ve ever had.

Enjoying dinner together. (I'm wearing the pj's that they gave us. Yes, I'm kept them. They're cute and comfy.)

Cheers!

Chris left my suite to head to his so he could work on some music. I was left to watch a couple of romantic comedies that I’ve been dying to see: Friends with Benefits and The Change-Up.

{CH Note}
After composing some music for one of Mickey Reece’s upcoming films, I watched the spectacular Drive.  It’s the best film I’ve seen in ages.  And, the score was one of the best parts.  I should have watched this before working on the music. {/CH Note}

Chris asleep in his bed. As you can see, he had plenty of room to lay down and rest comfortably.

I got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane, which is very unusual. I think that it was because I so excited about going to New Zealand. Of all the places on our trip, I was looking forward to NZ the most. Here are some pics of my first views of NZ.

First views of NZ from the plane

Gorgeous view from plane

Anyway, all that was forgotten when we arrived at the Hilton Auckland hotel. Ugh. All the luxuries that we’ve had on our flights and at the Hyatt were gone. This hotel is not a luxury hotel.

Now, I did use free night certificates and points, but I’m a Diamond member and thought that would be taken into consideration. Our room was small. Our view consisted of another room. They could see us and we could see them. We had a balcony but no furniture to sit on. There was no concierge lounge. It was dreadful. They should be honest and just call themselves a Hilton Garden Inn. Even after throwing my Diamond status around, we didn’t get another room. I know that they were booked but it seems that someone who frequents their hotels would be given preferential treatment regardless of using points or not. Their staff did not understand the meaning of customer service and just didn’t kiss my Diamond butt enough to satisfy me. Their concierge was worthless. The front desk staff was worthless. And, the porter/bell hops spent more time chatting with themselves than helping the guests.

After two nights and another reminder, they did give us another room. While it was larger and had a view of the harbor, the harbor view was sometimes replaced with a large cruise ship. We could look directly into the cruise ship rooms and they could look into ours. So, basically, at this hotel, you have the option of a view of another room or a harbor view that is sometimes impeded by a cruise ship. (Mind you, cruise ships were there 3 out of the 4 days we were there) To have a constant, unobstructed view, you must pay thousands of dollars a night. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL.

Auckland, baby!

What the hotel lacks in luxury and service, the city of Auckland makes up for with friendly people and tons of things to do. I want to live here. Badly. It’s a big city without being too big. Outdoor activities like swimming, biking, kayaking, and hiking are abundant. The weather is perfect – not too hot and we hear that it doesn’t get too cold in the winter. If only we could find a way for them to let us immigrate here…I wonder if they have a shortage of healthcare IT consultants and audio engineers?

Day 1 – Arrived in Auckland on Monday 30 Jan

This happened to be their Anniversary Day, similar to our Independence Day. There was a ton of stuff going on. We decided to head to the Laneway Music Festival. There were several bands that Chris liked and, well, I like music festivals. The festival was walking distance from our hotel so we had a chance to get to know our surroundings and experience the fresh, summer air.

{CH Note}
I knew that The Horrors were playing in Auckland on the day that we were scheduled to arrive.  It was only a couple of days before we left Hong Kong that I discovered that it was a music festival with several other great bands that I have never seen play live before.  The lineup was stellar!  It was expensive (approx. US$100 per ticket).  But, it was soooo worth it for the quality of lineup that they were able to secure.  Having a free festival in Norman is great.  But, I, and I’m sure many, many other OK music fans would gladly pay $100 for the quality of bands that they brought in.  We showed up pretty late and still saw Washed Out, Twin Shadow, Feist, and The Horrors.  That lineup alone could justify the ticket price.  And, the list of bands that we missed was equally or more impressive.  It was such a great time!  The fans were also way more respectful of others’ desire to enjoy the music than any American festival I’ve been to in years.  Maybe it’s the expense.  But, the focus seemed to be the music, which was quite refreshing.
{/CH Note}

View of Sky Tower on our walk to the festival

Enjoying a beer at the Laneway Festival

Twin Shadow

Feist

The Horrors

Day 2 – Tuesday 31 Jan

We decided to spend this day just exploring Auckland. Our first agenda item was to find a place to do our laundry. Luckily, we found a place not far from our hotel.

After we dropped off the laundry, we opted for a quick city bus tour that took us around the city sights. I know it’s cheesy but this city is OVERWHELMING with things to do and see. It was an hour on a bus with some commentary. This helped us decide the places that we wanted to revisit.

During the tour, I really loved this area called Parnell. I spied an Indian food restaurant that looked good (yes, even from the bus). After the tour, we took another city bus to the Parnell. We ate lunch at said restaurant (called Oh Calcutta) and did a little shopping.

We headed back to pick up our laundry and the jet lag was catching up with us. We skipped dinner for bed.

Pics from our day…

Bird shaped sculpture

Islands across the bay from Auckland

Neat building next to our hotel that changed colors at night. It looks cool but it's really just a landing deck for the cruise ships.

Cool red iron fence

Day 3 – Wednesday 1 Feb

There are so many day trips available from Auckland that you could spend two weeks and still not hit them all. Around the wharf, there are several tour agencies that offer day trips. On day one, we collected a massive amount of brochures to figure out which one we wanted to do.

We decided to go to an island called Coromandel. It’s a 2-hour ferry from Auckland. We were pumped to get on the water and get some beach time. What we didn’t realize is that the island of Coromandel is so big that you really can’t see everything that they advertise on the brochure in only one day trip. And, of course, the two things that we wanted to see were too far away to visit for just a day trip. We really wanted to go to Cathedral Cove and the hot water beach. We were told (when we arrived to Coromandel) that we didn’t have enough time.

The Ferry - it was great. Not too crowded so we had lots of room to spread out

View of the Hotel from Hell from the water (all those rooms and only a few with constant great views)

Fantastic view of Auckland from the ferry

Enjoying the boat ride. It was quite chilly but the fresh air felt wonderful.

One of the many islands we passed on the way to Coromandel.

Another lush island that we passed on our way to Coromandel.

After the four-hour round trip ferry ride and a 30-minute round trip bus ride to town, that really only leaves you 3 hours to explore the island. So, we opted for a quick “Beach Explorer” tour that took us to “one of the top 10 NZ islands” called Chum Beach. After a 25-minute hike over rocks and through the woods, we were at Chum’s beach. It was beautiful with very few people on the beach. We tried to snorkel but it was overcast and the water was a little rough so conditions were not favorable. Oh, and the water was cold! But, we roughed it and played in the ocean for a while. Then, it was time to head back to hike to catch the bus to town to catch the bus to catch the ferry back to Auckland.

Scenic view from the top at Coromandel. It was a little overcast but still breathtaking.

These are the rocks and forest that we hiked through to get to Chum's Beach. Not too treacherous but not for the faint at heart either.

Chum's Beach

Chum's beach

Dinner was at the Wharf – fish and chips for both of us. The best thing about the hotel was the proximity to a ton of restaurants. We ate at a restaurant called Y Not. It was good but not the best food I’ve ever eaten.

The night was still young so we headed to Sky Tower, which is Auckland’s version of the Space Needle. The views are breathtakingly spectacular. We missed the sunset by minutes but the city lights were just as dramatic.

Helping out a fella on the walk to Sky Tower

"When the lights go down in the city..."

There were glass pieces on the floor so you could look down.

My favorite view

A view of the top from the bottom

Day 4 – Thursday 2 February

Our anniversary!! We rented a car and drove 2.5 hours south of Auckland to the Glow Worm caves in Waitomo. I know that this word gets used a lot but the experience was awesome! The tour itself only lasts 45 minutes and the time with the glowworms is about 10 minutes but it is definitely worth the trip. We couldn’t take pictures but you can see some pics on the Internet to get an idea of what we saw.

Chris did a great job driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road. He was nervous but he truly is an expert driver. He didn’t hit one curb and only crossed the left lane a few times.

The wrong side of the car!! And, the wrong side of the road!!

The cave exit after seeing the glow worms. I wish we could have taken pics.

Seeing the New Zealand countryside was a beautiful experience – lots of lush, green mountains, meandering streams, and plentiful livestock (cows and sheep, mostly). The livestock roam up and down hilly areas. Quite different than the cows that graze the flat pastures of Oklahoma. I even saw corn grown in pristine rows up and down the hillside. Passing through the little towns reminded me of the small towns in Oklahoma and Texas.

Very green and hilly

Baaa....

Chris took charge of making the dinner reservations and kept me in the dark. So, dinner was a complete surprise to me. He made the perfect choice. We went to a restaurant called Non Solo Pizza. It had an extensive menu of gourmet Italian cuisine, my favorite! Everything was so fresh and delicious. We tried to take pics of the food but it was too dark (romantic, though) to capture the deliciousness.

Great pick for dinner! Italian, my fave!

Cheers to us!

I love our anniversary dinners. We always reminisce about our life and past memories. We banter about the good, the bad, and the ugly about our marriage over champagne – great, cheap therapy.

Ten years and counting...older and definitely wiser!

We had a good laugh about our first real trip together. Chris was working for AT&T and I was still in college. In an effort to impress me, he booked a trip through a travel agent to Acapulco. And, man, I was impressed. We ooh’d and aww’d over the towel made into an elephant shape. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. We ate at KFC. Somehow we arranged to see the cliff divers from a fishing boat. I got my hair braided on the beach. Chris had long hair and a goatee. We took pictures with film. The whole trip cost $900. At that time, we had no idea that we’d ever be where we are today.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

OK, OK, I know that this has been said at every zoo with a giant panda but I definitely had the panda fever. I was so excited to see the giant pandas that I could hardly sleep. Our plan was to wake up early, have breakfast, and get to Ocean Park early to avoid the crowds. And, it worked out perfectly. It opened at 9:00 am and we were there by 9:15 am.

Super pumped to see the giant pandas!

We headed straight to the Panda Adventures exhibit and had the place practically to ourselves. There are two giant pandas – Le Le and Ying Ying. They were in separate enclosures and it was their feeding time.

Ying Ying

Le Le

Chris with Le Le

Krystal with Le Le

Here are some videos that I took (Facebook friends – these are the same ones that I posted to my wall)

There were also two red pandas who really don’t look like giant pandas but a cross between a cat, a fox, and a raccoon. They were more active than the giant pandas and very cute.

Feeding time for the red pandas

Red panda on the move!

Cutie pie!

After I watched the pandas eat, poop, and begin their nap, I was ready to explore the rest of the park. This place is huge! There are basically two different parks – The Waterfront and The Summit. We took a cable car to The Summit which was pretty cool. We lucked out and didn’t have to share a cable car with anyone. We saw great views of the park and the surrounding bays. It was another cloudy, hazy day so the views weren’t great.

White knuckling in the cable car

View from the cable car, hence the white knuckling. View below is The Waterfront

The Summit had all the rides and we weren’t in the mood for roller coasters, so we took the express train back down to The Waterfront. The Waterfront had all the animal exhibits. I had to see the pandas one last time before we left and Chris obliged. We left around 11 am – just as the crowds and lines were growing.

Nap time for Ying Ying

Le Le - just chilling

Back to the hotel to finish packing before we check-out at 3 pm. Our flight to Auckland doesn’t leave until 9:30 PM tonight so we’re just hanging around the hotel until we head to the airport. So glad that the hotel gave us a late check-out!

-kb

We spent our first full day in Hong Kong taking care of ourselves. We went to a doctor today to get a remedy for our stomach issue which we believe we contracted in Buenos Aires. Chris has been suffering for almost 10 days while I’ve only had symptoms for the last week. Given that we have another month of travel, we needed to nip this in the bud. We got two different antibiotics, Cipro and Tinidazole, to combat all the common bugs. I’m confident that we’ll start feeling better soon!

Our trip insurance was extremely helpful. One phone call and they had arranged a doctor’s appointment less than a 2-minute walk away from our hotel. Our doctor, Dr. Gordon, was nice and thorough. I didn’t notice an electronic medical record system. (Think I could write off this portion of the trip as research?) This is the first trip where I purchased trip insurance and I’m glad that I did. I wouldn’t for a short trip but for a trip longer than two or three weeks, I highly recommend it.

On to some better updates…

The Grand Hyatt is a grand hotel. The staff is over-the-top helpful. The amenities in our suite are abundant. Yoga DVDs and yoga mat. Two different types of slippers. Track suits (track suits?). Free magazines like National Geographic, Business Traveler, Time, and some Asian mags. Free bottle of wine. Free bottles of water. Robes (of course). Our room view is spectacular with the lights of the main Hong Kong island lighting up the night and the active harbor dotted with boats and ferries in the morning. Our living room has a different view than the bedroom which makes for a nice change of scenery.

Living Room

Bedroom

Pretty foggy day today. Here's a view from our living room.

A view from the bedroom

Nighttime view from living room

Nighttime view from bedroom

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Grand Lounge is a concierge lounge that has complimentary breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres. I think that the drinks are free too but we cannot partake due to antibiotics. Just our luck. A lot of hotels have a concierge lounge but this hotel has the best food selection that I’ve ever seen.

Breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, hash brown patties (like McDonald’s), sausages, variety of breads, several types of cereals, soy and regular milk, cheese selection, muffins, smoked salmon, dumplings, beef consommé, berries, melons. Fresh fruit juice – Chris tried the honeydew juice and I had to try the watermelon juice. My breakfast of choice is a croissant with brie. Oh yeah!! And, a huge bowl of fruit to compensate and lessen the guilt. Chris goes for the traditional American breakfast of eggs, hash browns, toast, a little fruit, and some dumplings.

Evening hors d’oeuvres are served from 5:30 – 7:30 each night. There are always two hot options. Last night was fried shrimp and fried bean curd (both delicious). Tonight was a bbq pork pastry thing and mini vegetable samosas. Then, there’s the stuff they have every night – soup of the night, little sandwiches, cheese selection, variety of crackers and breads, crudités, fresh fruit, smoked salmon, baba ganoush, chips & dips, and so on.

If there weren’t seven different restaurants at the hotel with yummy menus to celebrate the New Year, we’d never pay for a meal in Hong Kong.

The other guests at the lounge are primarily business travelers and European tourists. Seeing the business travelers review their powerpoint presentations and strategize with colleagues at breakfast make me miss work, esp. international work. I know, I know, I know. Weird. Unnatural.

For dinner tonight, we had Italian (my choice) at Grissini.

My lovely view at dinner. Oh, yeah, the lights and stuff are cool, too.

Chris's dinner - lobster dumplings in a lobster froth

The dish that drew me to Grissini from their special New Year menu: "40 Egg Yolks" Tagliolini with butter, parmigiano reggiano, and shaved black truffles. It was rich and decadent and totally worth the spike in my cholesterol.

A couple of observations and antedotes in my first 24-hours in Hong Kong (remember, I’ve only really passed through the airport, seen some of the city by taxi, walked to the doctor office & laundry cleaners, and hung out at the hotel)

• Chris is definitely the tallest person here. One child at the airport stared at him in amazement. To see him in a crowded elevator is pretty funny.
• Chris has already mistaken another woman for me at the lounge.
• One woman said “Hi, Bill” to Chris this morning. About 10 minutes later, I saw Bill – another Caucasian male with black glasses and a shaved head.
• The ceilings in the hotel hallways are low enough for me to jump up and touch them.
• I haven’t seen one obese person yet.
• I think that those little girls from The Shining are staying at this hotel down the hall from us.

Tomorrow, we venture away from the hotel.

-kb

Well, I guess by now it’s obvious that Krystal is better at keeping up with the blog than I am.  I’m pretty sure that we both picked up some kind of stomach virus in Buenos Aires.  But, it hit me harder and sooner than it did Krystal.  So, I haven’t felt much like blogging.  But, despite the pain, we’ve both been troopers and managed to do everything we had planned to do and then some in Madrid.  We’ll probably visit a doctor in Hong Kong.  We’re paying for trip insurance, so there’s no reason to suffer this discomfort any longer than we have to.

Krystal covered our trip to the Royal Palace in Madrid.  I just want to add that it was one of the things that we hadn’t even really planned to do that turned out to be a wonderful time!  The palace was so extravagant.  It reminded me of what a home might look like if Jay-Z and Kanye had moved in together during the recording of (the appropriately titled) Watch The Throne.  The interior decorating was INSANE!  There was one room that was entirely covered (besides the floor) in porcelain.  There was a room where the King slept, a room where he was dressed, a throne room, a room where he had his lunch, a room where he had his dinner, a smoking room, a billiards room, etc., etc…   Krystal said she couldn’t possibly imagine living in a home that size.  I couldn’t help imagining riding around my house in a gold plated golf cart!

That night, we went to a Flamenco show at a local bar.  I guess I had never bothered to understand what flamenco guitar was all about.  It was total shredsville!  One guy with a classical guitar, just ripping.  Super fast rhythmic fingerpicking.  All there really was was this one guitar and a bunch of stomping and clapping.  But, it made for a very big sound.  The dancing was cool.  But, flamenco is a pretty rigid, aggressive dance.  I have to admit that I had my eyes closed, just soaking up the music for much of the show.  But, Krystal loves dancing, so I’m sure she ate it up.  I’m surprised she didn’t post more of the 683 pictures she took of the dancers. 😉

The last day in Madrid we attended a fantastic museum called Reina Sofia.  THIS was the museum experience that I had been waiting for!  We started with some modern art on the first floor.  It was very experimental stuff, and quite fascinating.  I love it that modern art is so free from the canvas.  There were lots of various “sculpture” and found-object pieces.  It’s also exciting to see museums showcasing video art projects in interesting ways.

It was the second and fourth floors of the museum that really blew my mind, though.  LOTS of Picasso and Dali paintings and sculptures!  I had no idea that we’d be seeing Picasso’s “Guernica” up close and personal!  It’s HUGE!!!  If you aren’t aware, Guernica is one of Picasso’s most famous paintings.  It’s a protest piece, in response to German and Italian bombings of Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  It’s 11 ft. tall and 26 ft. wide.  And, it’s beautiful, breathtaking, and heartbreaking.  The museum also had dozens of sketches and paintings that Picasso did in preparation for this mammoth piece.  It was remarkable to see his process.  I didn’t even know that this painting was in Madrid.  But, now I’ll unreservedly recommend this as the most important reason to visit Madrid.  It was so fantastic.

Cameras obviously weren't allowed. This image from the web definitely doesn't do it justice.

On our travel day to Hong Kong we flew through London’s Heathrow Airport.  It’s crazy how even a two hour layover at Heathrow can remind me how much I love London.  Krystal and I spend about 6 weeks there several years ago, while she was there working.  It’s my favorite city in the world.  We were lucky to be flying first-class on British Airways from London to Hong Kong.  So, we had access to the Concorde Lounge.  Krystal always has access to American Airlines’ Admiral’s Club lounges.  And, this usually gets us into the lounges of partner airlines also.  But, the Concorde Lounge is like a different world!  Everything is usually free in these lounges.  But, it’s typically water and soft drinks, with maybe a snack bar of some sort offering fruit and nuts.  Concorde Lounge was like another world.  It was beautiful.  They had large, private restrooms, several for men and several for women.   They had showers.  There was a very nice bar, with free everything.  In place of the traditional snack bar, there was a nice, sit-down restaurant, with a full menu of free food.  It was so swank that we saw Sir Richard Branson and his family coming in as we were leaving.

The flight to Hong Kong was pretty smooth and easy.  It was 11 hours.  But, I slept at least half of that.  We were on another 777 with full lay-down bed seating.  So, we got plenty of rest. British Airways has terrific service and their flight attendants were top-notch. There weren’t many people in first class which was nice b/c we never had to wait on the bathroom.

Hong Kong, from what we saw on the cab ride from the airport to the Grand Hyatt, is a HUGE city, with giant high-rise apartments and skyscrapers.  Shipping is a huge industry here, and the harbor was full of ship yards.  We were one day late for the Chinese New Year fireworks show.  But, it’s the Year of the Dragon, so they’ll be celebrating all week.  The buildings and the lights here are hard to describe.  We’ll get some photos tonight.  You have to see it to understand.  It’s even more overwhelming to the senses than NYC.  And, our harbor view hotel suite is the perfect way to take it all in.  This Grand Hyatt reminds me of Tony Montana’s house.  It’s pretty gaudy with lots of gold everywhere.  But, we’re on the 29th floor in a large suite with large windows in both the living room and bedroom, overlooking the harbor.

We’re on the other side of the world now.  14 hours ahead of Oklahoma time.  Jet lag seemed like it wouldn’t be a factor.  We were in bed watching American Horror Story, when I started falling asleep around 10pm Hong Kong time.  So, I thought we’d transition easily into the new time zone.  Unfortunately my eyes popped open at 3am, and I haven’t even been remotely tired since.  I got out of bed very quietly, so I wouldn’t wake Krystal.  But, as soon as I closed the door to the bedroom, it opened right back up.  Turns out, Krystal had been awake for an hour or so, too!  I started blogging and she made some phone calls home.  We’re gonna go grab some breakfast and try to find a place to drop off our laundry.  I assume we’ll have a nap this afternoon.  But, maybe if we can stay awake until 10pm again, we can sleep through the night.  We’ll see.

Pics soon!

-CH

Well, we haven’t been very good at staying on Madrid time. Friday night we didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 am (damn jet lag). There was still a lot of action happening on the street until about 4 am. No, we weren’t out and about at that time. Instead, we were in our hotel room watching Dexter and trying to fall asleep. So, Day 3 (Sat) was our much needed rest day. We left the hotel only to eat lunch (Indian) and dinner (Thai). It was also a much-needed alcohol- and meat-free day. Our bodies were protesting from all the meat, meat, meat and limited vegetables.

On Sunday (Day 4), we had lunch around the Santa Ana Plaza. Chris (smartly) opted for the grilled vegetable plate and I had a three-course tapas option. Of course, my tapas option had pork, cheese, more pork, some fish, more pork, some gazpacho, a little beef, and a more pork. Oh, and chocolate for dessert. And, I will not ever have pork again. Never. {shivers}

[This is where I’d normally insert pictures of our lunch but I can’t even look at them right now without wanting to barf. It’s too soon.]

After lunch, we walked to the Opera House and Royal Palace. We just walked around the outside of the Opera House but decided to go inside the Royal Palace. It was spectacularly gaudy but beautiful. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the palace so you’ll just have to believe us. Think: gold, porcelain, frescos, and marble. Thinking about how difficult it must have been to build and decorate something so ornate in those days is mind-boggling. And, I can’t even imagine living in a place so grand. I complain about having to go upstairs to my bedroom to get something when I’m in my living room and my house isn’t that big. It would suck to have to go through twenty rooms just to get some socks. But, I guess if I was a royal I’d have someone to fetch them for me, eh?

Front of Opera House

Back of Opera House

Fountain and gardens outside of Royal Palace

Statue of a man dusting a statue of a man

KB outside the gates of the Royal Palace

CH at Royal Palace "inside the gates"

Two non-royals at the Royal Palace. We toured several of the rooms in the building behind us.

We headed back to the hotel for some downtime before the flamenco show at 10 pm. The show was at a club called Cardomomo. It wasn’t a typical flashy flamenco show but, rather, a “working-class” tablao flamenco show. We had first row seats in a tiny club two blocks from our hotel. It reminded me of The Conservatory. There were only about 20 people in the audience.

There was one guitar player, three singers, and two dancers. I’m not lying when I say that the first dance brought tears to my eyes (some may think that’s stupid but I was seriously moved). It must be from my flamenco dance background. When I say “background,” I mean those two or three classes I took from the City of Norman arts program a few years ago.  It is amazing that all the music is created with one guitar, singing, clapping, finger snapping, and stomping. I had no idea what they were singing about since they were singing in Spanish but it was probably about love.

Chris at our table. So close we could see the sweat flying...

Fast feet

Tomorrow is our last full day in Madrid. Our agenda includes the Reina Sofia museum, Buen Retiro park, and shopping for our mothers.

-kb

Krystal covered the last couple of days in Buenos Aires.  We had a great time there. But, by the end, and especially after a 9 hour layover in Lima, Peru, I was ready to get on with our next adventure.  The flights weren’t quite as luxurious as our Miami to Buenos Aires flights.  But, the seats still laid all the way back.  So, we were able to sleep through most of the flights.  This comfort was particularly welcome on the 10 1/2 hour overnight flight from Lima to Madrid.

When we arrived in Madrid, we had only been awake for an hour or so.  It felt like morning.  But, it was actually 2:30 in the afternoon.  So, we checked into the hotel and planned to skip our usual post-arrival nap and get right on with our adventures.  The Hotel Urban is one of the only hotels we’re staying in that is not a Hilton or Hyatt (the companies that Krystal uses for business travel, where she’s got all of the status).  But, we were able to use American Airlines points to book this killer, modern hotel, right in the middle of all of the things we had planned to do in Madrid.  There’s a good chance we won’t have to get in a cab until we head to the airport on Tuesday.

The first afternoon we walked to Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor.  These are both pretty touristy locations.  So, we just walked around taking it all in.  We hadn’t even asked around or investigated the food situation.  So, uncharacteristically, we went with something that we knew and stopped into a local Thai restaurant.  I had so much beef in Argentina.  And, after 5 days there, I realized that I hadn’t eaten many vegetables at all other than potatoes (which don’t really count as veggies from a health standpoint).  So, we hit Bangkok Thai and we loaded down with veggies.  Yum!

We watched an episode of Dexter and got to bed early.  It was around 9pm.  So, we had only been awake for around 8 hours that day.  But, it was fun and exciting.  And, taking in all of that incredible architecture and all of the new sights and sounds of this incredible city was draining.  It was easy to get to sleep early.  And, that made it that much easier to wake up early today.  The Prado opens at 10am.  So, we were up at 8am to get a good breakfast to fuel our day.

Breakfast is included at our hotel.  So, we swung by the restaurant for some free grub.  In addition to a small buffet, we were offered eggs, with a choice of bacon, sausage, or sautéed vegetables.  I chose bacon, which turned out to be ham.  I should have had the veggies.  But, it was still pretty good.  Krystal was feeling the jet lag, so she passed on the eggs.  In the end, it was free.  And, that’s about what it was worth.  But, we were filled up and ready to see some masterpieces.

First stop for the day was the Prado.  This is one of the most famous museums in the world.  But, it’s all really, really old, classical oil paintings of portraits and religious scenes.  That’s all well and good.  And, Krystal helped me to appreciate that these paintings are technical masterpieces and some of the only visual evidence of what life might have been like before photography.  My favorites were the violent religious paintings.  But, I kept thinking, “When did artists start taking drugs and painting interesting shit?”  We saw a lot of interesting art.  But, we were only there for an hour or so before we gave up and headed to the Thyssen.

The Thyssen contains work all the way up through modern and post-modern works of the 20th century.  I found it infinitely more interesting.  And, I really enjoyed myself.  We were there for a couple of hours.  Aside from being annoyed by a couple of a-holes who kept using their cell phones, despite being asked by security to turn them off, this was an excellent experience.

After the museums, we had again worked up a good appetite.  So, we set out looking for some PAELLA!  If you haven’t had it before, paella is basically rice, cooked in saffron with seafood.  And, it’s DELICIOUS!  We also ordered a couple of smaller dishes (tapas) as appetizers.  Krystal chose bacon & brie on toast.  I chose pig’s ears, based on something that I had seen on Rick Steves’ Europe.  They also brought us some superb potato salad and bread.  The bacon & brie on toast was wonderful.  But, the pig’s ears were pretty gross.  Unfortunately, the plate of pig’s ears was enormous.  Probably a dozen pigs’ worth.  I hated wasting so much food.  But, I could honestly only eat a few bites.  The cartilage was crunchy in a not-very-awesome way.  And, the “meat” around it was mushy and gross, like fat.  But, I tried it.  And, Krystal had one bite, too!  The paella was the highlight of the meal. I’m not sure what all seafood was in it.  I know there was calamari, shrimp (in the shells – eyes and all), clams, mussels, and some kind of white fish. There was also a chicken wing in there, which seemed odd but delicious.

Bacon & Brie!

Pig's Ears

Paella

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit.  Siesta is a part of the culture here.  So, who are we to ignore thousands of years of tradition?  We watched an episode of Dexter and took a short nap.  Krystal is better at napping than I am.  So, I mostly researched dining options and things to do while she was sleeping.  When Krystal woke, I told her that I thought we should go to Plaza de Santa Ana and bar hop.  In doing so, we could order one drink a piece, and it would likely be served with tapas.

The first place we hit was called Miau.  I guess that’s Spanish for “meow” because there were cat images everywhere.  We each ordered a glass of red wine.  Along with it, we were each served a complimentary small piece of toast with tomato, onion, olive oil and an anchovy.  Krystal hates onions, and wasn’t too keen on eating a whole fish, no matter how tiny.  So, she ordered a different toast dish with goat cheese and peppers.  I ate the anchovy, but definitely preferred her goat cheese toast. For all of this, it was only 8 euros. Good deal.

Goat cheese & peppers on toast!

At our second stop, we ordered a couple of beers.  We were provided with a bowl of green olives.  Krystal LOVES olives.  But, I’m not into them.   So, I ordered a plate of manchego cheese sprinkled with olive oil.  By the time we finished these things, we realized that we weren’t going to bar hop very far tonight.  We had just enough room left in our stomachs for a dessert and coffee/tea.  We stopped at a small cafe and pulled up a seat at a table outside.  It’s winter here.  But, it was a nice night, and we were perfectly comfortable sitting outside.  The best part was that I finally got my CHURROS!!  Churros are basically Spanish donuts.  FRIED BREAD!!!!  Mmmmmm!!!!

Olives, cheese, & bread

Churros!!

Now, we’re back in the hotel, blogging, and enjoying a new guilty pleasure.  We’re watching a program called “Border Security”.  It’s about customs agents in Australia.  It’s interesting both because we’re going to Australia, and because we’re going through Customs over and over in many different countries on this trip.  It’s really interesting!

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow exactly.  But, I know I’m tired tonight!  I’m turning in now, to dream about what tomorrow might have in store for us!  More pics from Madrid later.

Good night!

-CH

Made it to Madrid. Walked around Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. Getting to sleep early so we can wake up early and get started on our day. On the agenda for tomorrow – Prado Museum and paella!

More later…

-kb