Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Adiós for Now, Daylight Savings...

The other evening I was out and about taking care of a couple of appointments and running various errands.  With the combination of having a few hours between said appointments and having had the rear blinky light stolen off my bike (which means I don't ride after dark), I was able to make my way slowly enough through the city center to appreciate some of the neat nighttime scenes.  Enjoy :)

Mounted police officers hanging out as people pass through Plaza Mayor

A couple of statues, and their dog, standing guard over Plaza de la Provincia

A snack vendor near the Reina Sofia Museum takes a break
from her TV show to chat with a passerby











Sunday, November 04, 2012

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Día de Todos los Santos y Huesitos

Last night I was out and about in the city center with one of my language exchange partners.  She enjoys photography, and I do as well, so we occasionally hunt down various exhibitions and go check them out together.  Telefónica (the largest telecommunications company in Spain) has a four floor exhibition area in their building on Grand Via, so we headed down there to see what they had for photography.  We enjoyed browsing around, but after getting kicked out due to closing time, decided to visit a nearby bakery for a snack and to escape from the brisk-ish weather.  And that is where we discovered these little guys :).

Huesitos (little bones) - each one is as long as two quarters laid side-by-side.

Now, Halloween is a relatively new thing for Spain, but All Saints Day (Día de Todos los Santos) is on November 1 and is a national holiday.  The huesitos (also known as hueso de santo - saint's bones) are a typical pastry for this holiday.  They're made of marzipan, stuffed with various flavorings (creme, egg yolk, raspberry, hazelnut, etc.), and covered with glaze.  I ended up buying a small box of them to share with my roommates, but my language exchange partner and I had to try a couple first :).  They're a little too sweet for me on their own, but are really good when enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee :).