Holiday Fun, and a new camera!

I am writing this from Stu's apartment in NYC. We said goodbye to our ocean view apartment in Tarifa (where I took this great photo) and came to the US last Wednesday. We have been busy trying to reconnect with friends and family, as well as eating our way through NYC! But more on that in a later entry, since I haven't written about the holidays yet....

Matthias' family came to Tarifa for a week in December. During their visit, we did a lot of traveling around the area to places we have seen (like Ronda and Cadiz) and those new to us (like Bolonia and Tangier.) For both me and Matthias' grandmother (who's 92!), our day trip to Tangier, Morocco marked our first time in Africa. We had, more or less, a traditional Spanish dinner for Christmas; Matthias made shrimp, calamari and a huge fish, and we drank Spanish wine and Manzanilla while snacking on fancy Jamon y queso. Despite some cool weather, it didn't rain for the whole week, and we had a nice visit.

After the family left, the weather turned beautiful, and we enjoyed some beautiful sunny days as we awaited the new year and our trip to the US. We had a fun New Year's eve at the Circus Bar, which is owned by an American guy (one of the only bars that opened before midnight.) A few days later, we left Tarifa for Morocco, taking the train a few hours south to the city of Fez. The train ride down was nice, as we passed some great natural scenery mixed in with village scenes of people on donkey carts next to kids on bikes. Fez, known as the old imperial and cultural capital of Morocco, was great. We spent an entire day walking through the Medina - or old town - trying to navigate the narrow streets amid people selling just about everything (except, of course, alcohol or pork...it's a muslim country, you know.)

The ride back to Tangier from Fez was a bit more hectic, being that it was the end of the holiday season in Spain (many people returning to work) coinciding with a Muslim festival. So, as Matthias noted, we got our first taste of what a train might be like should we make it to India - standing shoulder to shoulder for the five hour ride. Fortunately, we decided to stay one night in Tangier, where we could rest up a bit for the following day's journey.

The next day, we stopped by in Tarifa to pick up some things and say goodbye to some friends before catching the bus(es) to Madrid. We encountered similar holiday-related travel horrors trying to get to our overnight bus to Madrid, but fortunately we had seats booked on the trip that mattered. Arriving in Madrid the next day, we had plenty of time to walk around, get our fill of tapas, and rest up once again for our flights to New York the next day. As you can see, this "resting" crap has become an integral part of our travel planning, as we've realized we're not in our 20's (hell, I'm not even in my 30s) anymore.

Now we are back in the States having a grand time visiting friends and family. But more of that, and pictures, to come.

Happy New Year!