Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings

Today my life changed forever.  As most of you know I have had an ongoing love affair with the country of Spain. Today I met with a long time friend (Rodrigo Jiménez Hidalgo) who spoke with me about being an American living in Spain.  According to Rodrigo one needs to file a “Solicitud De Residencia Extranjera” to the Oficina de Inmigracion in Madrid.  Well lucky for me Rodrigo works there and my documents have been completed, filed and approved.

Another great day for the Reiss family in Spain.  We had a wonderful tour of the city of Santander with our guide, Pilar.  She was (like Esther in San Sebastián) very amenable to our needs.  She knew we were English speakers but when we tried to speak in Spanish she went with the flow.  The majority of her information was spoken in Spanish but she quickly added English when we lost our understanding.  One of the things she showed us that I found very intriguing were some remnants of trees that needed to be removed.  Apparently the local arborist is a sculptor as well.  He has crafted swans, chairs, mushrooms and elves from the residual stumps (see attached).  We also got to see the local lighthouse (did someone tip Pilar off about my lighthouse obsession?).

Today was a travel day and we left San Sebastián bright and early (that means at about noon here in Spain).  We then drove to Guernica a small town (population about 16,000) that is best known for being the site of a Nazi bombing (with the permission of Spanish Generalissimo Francisco Franco) on April 26, 1937.  In a 3 hour bombing raid 1,654 civilians were killed.  The bombing was the inspiration for the Picasso painting named for the town.  The painting’s meaning has had many interpretations but certainly the horrors of war are most prominent amongst its themes.  Picasso asked that it not be exhibited inSpain until the dictator (Franco) was removed and liberty and democracy had been established in the country.  It finally came to Spain in 1981 and now hangs in Museo Reina Sofia (in Madrid) but a mosaic replica is located in Guernica only steps from the memorial (see attached).

Today we had an 8 hour tour with our wonderful guide, Esther.  She gave us a fantastic tour of the town and pinxto bars yesterday and today we explored much of the surrounding communities and more of the city.

Today was our “Culinary Delight” Tour of the City.  The tour was due to start at 12 but lunch in this country doesn’t start until 2 pm.  So our wonderful tour guide showed us the various sites of the city.  We got to see the Cathedral (this is Spain, what is life without a cathedral?), shopping area, royal palace, ocean (this place has nothing on Hermosa Beach in regards to an ocean or beach) and then we moved on to the bars.

Erica and I got an early start and picked up our rental car. That went smoothly but the drive to pick up Lindsay and Patrice was a much different story.  I will spare you the gory details and just say we got back safely and did not kill any Spanish commuters in the process.

Today was a spectacular day.  Erica arranged for us to see her at work as a teacher.  For those of you who do not know, Erica and Lindsay are teaching English to elementary school age children this year (and have signed up to return again next year, sob, sob).  Patrice and I got to see a superstar in action.  Erica was fantastic.  The children and her compañeros (fellow teachers) all seem to love her (see attached).  Patrice and I were sort of superstars ourselves.  The class spent the first hour asking us probing questions such as what is our favorite color, who is our favorite futbol player, what is our favorite color, do we live in the country of California like Erica and of course, what is our favorite color.

First let me say happy birthday again to my mommy who is 99 years old today. May I be so lucky in longevity and maintenance of my wits as she has been.  I call her every daywhen I am in the States and she repeatedly puts me in awe by the things she says.

This morning we visited the historic Carnegie Deli to meet up with some friends from, of all places, California.  We were all entertained by our waiter, Wayne, who gave us some very good advice.  “Don’t get an egg sandwich, you can get that anywhere, here you get corned beef or pastrami!”, “No sharing!”  “There is a charge for sharing and I have my eyes on you!”.  But then he brought us some free samples of pastrami and corned beef enough to make a small sandwich.  Wayne also recommended that we drink some of John Steinbeck’s favorite, “The Novel-tea”.  Not to be outdone I asked if they had something for a friendly doctor, maybe some “Hospital-i-tea?”.

Today we set out for some real culture.  After grabbing a quick breakfast we headed north to the upper westside to “The Cloisters” a museum created in the style of a medieval monastery.  It is situated just off the Hudson River in a lovely pastoral landscape with rolling hills leading up to the museum.  Inside are scores of medieval artifacts.  Many of the columns are over seven hundred years old and are incorporated into the structure of the building.  Frescos are on the walls and have been transferred there from their places of origin in Europe.  How such works could be moved without destroying them is beyond me.