Category: Single Mom

Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 2: The Louvre)

Our visit to Paris, though short, was magical. There were several places we wanted to visit, and were determined to make this a reality. Three nights and four days? No problem!

The Louvre Museum

Since the Louvre would be closed on Christmas day as well as the day after, we knew that we would have to go on Christmas Eve.  We didn’t have to wait long to get inside, and there was no line at all to get tickets. Children get in free, so I only had to purchase one ticket!

The Louvre originally opened on August 10, 1793 and at the time only housed 537 paintings. The Louvre Museum is now said to be the largest art museum in the world and has approximately 38,000 exhibits. It is said that even if someone were to go to the Louvre for 100 days straight, and only look at each exhibit for 30 seconds, that you still wouldn’t be able to see everything that this incredible place has to offer.  Knowing this, I made a plan.

Our Map and Plan

After we got our tickets, I looked at the map, and we made a B-line to the The Mona Lisa exhibit. This is easily one of the most famous paintings in the world, and I knew I wanted to see the original and relish in the work. There was a guard at the foot of the steps and we weren’t allowed to go up. We were told that they were taking extra precautions because of an “unattended bag.” (I am learning very quickly that the United States isn’t the only country to take extra security precautions.)

At first, I was a bit disheartened, but we tried to find another way around. The entry way eventually opened up, and we were able to find The Mona Lisa. There was a crowd of people, but I took Scarlett’s hand and we gently maneuvered ourselves around the side and up to the front. I wasn’t going to leave without getting a decent photo.

 

 

I have to say that The Mona Lisa has never been one of my favorite paintings. However, there is something surreal and magical about seeing such a notorious work of art up close. The original is actually much more beautiful than any of the reprints I have seen, as they don’t do the painting justice.

My heart did that fluttering thing it always does whenever I see something majestic, or meet someone interesting. I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that Leonardo da Vinci painted this with his own two hands! It was the same feeling I got when I was 20 years old and shook former President Bill Clinton’s hand. At first, I just wanted to meet him because he was the president; I wasn’t expecting to feel anything but a normal nice to meet you feeling. When it hit me that I was shaking the most powerful man in America’s hand, my stomach got butterflies. But, I digress. I relished in the fact that we had a wonderful view of The Mona Lisa and then I moved to the side in order to give others a better view. I now have another thing to check off of my bucket list. 🙂

This place is massive!

After perusing more exhibits, we realized that we couldn’t find our map, and were lost in a labyrinth of Greek sculptures. My bladder was not happy, and when we finally found one of the exhibit employees, he didn’t seem to find my dry American humor about being lost in a labyrinth of Greek artwork humorous. Oh well. I’m not here to make him laugh. Seriously though, at one point I thought we were going to run into David Bowie’s ghost and he was going to show us our dreams.

One of my favorite sculptures of Hercules

 

 

This statue of the Sphinxes reminded us of The Neverending Story (I’m not quite sure why the Greek exhibits kept reminding us of 80’s fantasy movies)

After we found our way to the restroom, we looked around a bit more. After three and a half hours, we were exhausted, and we still didn’t make a dent! On our next visit, we will check out a different area that we didn’t get to. In the meantime, here are a few more photos for your enjoyment.

 

To skip the line or not

If you ever get the chance to visit the Louvre in the winter, the skip the line pass will most likely be unnecessary. I did some research, and several people said that the lines aren’t that long in the winter, so I opted to save the extra money. Don’t get me wrong, the museum was crowded, but from what I understand, not nearly as crowded as it can be. I imagine that if you choose to visit Paris and the Louvre in the spring or summer, the skip the line tickets would be a good investment. Either way, you should try to get there at least once in your life.

 

What Happens If You Get Sick in Madrid?

Being sick is never fun. If you happen to fall ill while in another country, and don’t speak the language that well, it can be a little frightening.

Typically, I am a very healthy person who hardly ever gets sick. Yes, I’m the person who rarely gets antibiotics or even goes to the doctor. Although I knew I would have health insurance coverage through BEDA, I never actually thought I would need to use it.

Getting Sick in Madrid

It happened. I could feel the tightening of my throat, and although it was uncomfortable I can generally fight through a small sniffle or cold. This occurred on a Friday, and by the end of the day I felt completely awful and barely had a voice to teach. Since I have insurance I tried to get a same day appointment to see the doctor on Friday, but was unable to get one. I was told that I could get in if I called back on Monday.

By Saturday morning, I couldn’t even make simple sounds with my voice, and on top of that I felt even worse than I had felt the day before. The idea of waiting for an appointment was something I wasn’t looking forward to.  I googled what types of medicines one should purchase from the Farmacia in Spain, and found a few options. I picked up a couple of things including Ibuprofen, and hoped for the best. By Sunday I was still feeling terrible and there was no sign of getting my speaking voice back. My landlady needed to stop by to check out something going on in the apartment next door, and I really wasn’t in the mood for visitors. However, she ended up being my angel that day!

“Oh my goodness, you sound awful,” she said. I tried to agree with her using my minimal speaking voice, and that is when she asked if I had gone to the doctor yet. She said that waiting for an appointment was ridiculous. After calling the number on the back of my insurance card and waiting a few minutes, she had gotten me a home visit for that day from a doctor. Wow!

Doctor House Calls

I have to admit that although I was feeling horrible, it was kind of cool having a doctor come to our apartment with his little black bag and stethoscope. Scarlett said it was like something out of “Downton Abbey.” He prescribed antibiotics and told me to get three more days of rest without going to work. He didn’t speak that much English, but we communicated and he understood what was going on.

Using the Insurance Card and the Price of Medicine

It was so easy to use my insurance card and I didn’t even have a co-pay! One of the best parts was that I purchased antibiotics and the Spanish version of Tylenol for about 8 Euros. Since medicine isn’t covered through insurance, I wasn’t sure what to expect. When the pharmacist or “chemist” said 8 Euros, I was astounded! I’ll take it!

Spain is known for having a good health care system but I was having doubts when I couldn’t get an appointment on Friday. It ended up working out for the best though. Hopefully I won’t need to visit with a doctor again while in Spain, but if I do at least I know I have a few options.

 

How We Get Around In Madrid

Before we left the United States to come to Madrid, I can’t tell you how many people asked me what I was going to do with my van, and if I was going to either rent or purchase a vehicle when we arrive in Spain.

The short answer to this question is that my middle son is currently driving/taking care of my van (at least I hope he is taking care of it), and we of course are not renting or purchasing a vehicle. Since Europe is notorious for their fabulous public transportation system, I knew that we would be utilizing this form of transport in Madrid.

Taxis and Uber: I have only taken a taxi once so far since our arrival in Madrid, and that was from the airport. I downloaded the Uber app (no, I had never used Uber in the states) when I wanted a slightly less expensive option of transportation after we left our AirBnb for our apartment. I didn’t want to take the Metro when we had heavy bags with us, and at this time I was still fairly green when trying to get around the city.

The Metro: We are on the Metro almost two hours a day five days a week with our commute to work and school. This has taken some getting used to, but for the most part it is the cheapest and most convenient way to travel around Madrid if you don’t have a personal vehicle.

There are mornings when I get fairly aggravated with taking the Metro everyday. The morning rush hour is typically the worst. During the morning rush hour, we are literally bumping into strangers and getting bumped into while trying to find a post to grab onto. Since I typically like my space, this caused me some slight anxiety at first. I figured I needed to just suck it up and deal, and that is what I do. 🙂 It is almost impossible to get a seat in the morning for the first seven stops. After we switch trains, we can usually find a seat because this particular train isn’t usually as crowded for some reason. You take the good with the bad, and there are times when the Metro can even be fun!

                             

Public Transport Card (Abono): Scarlett and I were able to get a public transport card or Abono, for the Metro. The process for getting the card was fairly simple. I went to the website and made an appointment at the nearest Metro station that offers this service. We had to bring a copy of our passports plus the original. They asked a few questions, and we were on our way. Scarlett’s card is only 20 Euros a month, and mine is about 54 Euros a month since I am over the age of 26. I suppose 74 Euros a month isn’t that bad for transportation fees. I usually paid more than that for gas in the United States, and that didn’t include any maintenance on the vehicle.

Buses: There is also the option to take the bus, and the public transportation card can be used for this as well. We haven’t taken the bus yet, but I have spoken to people who like the bus better. We may try the bus one of these days, but at the moment we have our route down and it is working for us.

                          

Walking: We definitely walk more here in Madrid compared to when we were in America. Personally, I think this is a wonderful thing. When we get off of a stop, we typically have to walk anywhere from five to ten minutes to reach the final destination.  Of course there are times when we opt to take the “scenic route” and skip the train altogether!

       

Do I Miss Driving?: Yes! We have been here for two and a half months, and this is the longest I have gone without driving in a very long time! I don’t miss sitting in rush hour traffic, but I do miss driving. In fact, that is one of the main things I miss about the U.S. However, I think that the Metro is a very efficient way to travel, and I think that it would be worthwhile for most metropolitan cities in the U.S. to implement such a system.

 

 

 

Four Day Weekend On A Budget In Madrid

Four Day Weekend: After a month and a half of paperwork, beginning a new job, and getting settled, four days to rejuvenate my spirit is definitely needed.

October 12th (El Dia de la Hispanidad), is a national holiday in Spain. There is a parade, and the Spaniards commemorate the day that Christopher Columbus sailed for the Americas. Scarlett and I didn’t find out about the parade until right before it started, and since I’m not a fan of Christopher Columbus’s history no matter what country I’m currently living in, this was no great loss. However, the museums were free for the day, and since money has been tight these first couple of months in Madrid, I decided to pounce on this amazing opportunity!

Museo Reina Sofia: The Reina Sofia Museum has an abundance of art with themes of surrealism. It houses Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” which was a protest of the Spanish Civil War, and  I was breathless being in the presence of such a great work of art. It was definitely a moment where I was completely in awe at the grandeur of the painting.

I kept saying, “This is a Picasso original!”

There were several people taking photos, but when I attempted to take a picture, I was kindly asked to put my phone away and shown a sign stating that no photos were allowed in that particular room. When Scarlett and I went out of viewing area, she was apparently able to sneak a quick photo. I didn’t realize she had done this, but she whispered the fact that she was able to get a photo after we left the area. I probably shouldn’t be proud of her, but I really am!  We don’t have a complete photo of the painting since her view was blocked by other viewers and museum staff, but I figured this would have to suffice since I didn’t want to get kicked out.

Picasso’s “Monument aux espagnols morts pour la France (Monument to the Spaniards Who Died for France)” was also amazing.  We were also able to see works by Salvador Dali.

  

 

We easily spent three hours at the museum and didn’t even realize how long it had been.

The Arzábal Restaurant, located inside the Reina Sofia, is well worth the visit. We ordered a smoked salmon sandwich to share. (It ended up being salmon on toast and not a full sandwich, but it did the job!)  Anytime I have opted to get a quick bite to eat at an art gallery restaurant, I have never been disappointed. Scarlett and I used to eat at the Frist in Nashville as well and always enjoyed it.

              

The Prado Museum: Our next stop was the Prado Museum since entrance was also free on October 12th. The Prado Museum is home to neoclassical works featuring several different depictions of Christ and the Virgin Mary.  The detailed images of the beheading of John the Baptist, purgatory, sin, and grace kept us fairly busy up until closing time. Some of the art was fairly disturbing, but incredible at the same time. The opportunity to see the works of Rembrandt escaped me since time got away and the museum was closing, but I will have to find the exhibit during our next visit.

Museo de San Isidro: The Museum of San Isidro is an archaeological museum that is a five minute walk from our apartment, and it has free admission every day.

When you first walk in, you see several different fossils of different animals, and teeth of human remains. It was very interesting to me that the basic necessities for human life during the “caveman” days in Spain weren’t different than those I have seen depicted in several different museums in the United States. There didn’t seem to be many differences in culture during this time period. Survival was universal. This isn’t that important an observation I suppose, but nonetheless, I wanted to wrap my head around the simplicity of it.

One of my favorite exhibits at this museum was one of a well. There is a story of a baby that falls into a well and the parents prayed for him to be returned. He was found in the risen water splashing around and playing.

Since we visited this museum last weekend, we didn’t go yesterday. The Reina Sofia and Prado Museum took up most of our day, and we spent about eight hours total between the two museums. We still have two floors to explore at the Reina Sofia on our next trip since we weren’t able to get those. Racing through each exhibit wasn’t really an option for us. What would be the point of that?

I’m thrilled that we were finally able to experience some of the culture that Madrid is known for, and the fact that we were able to get in free makes it even better!

 

 

 

3 Weeks In Madrid! Apartment Hunts, School and More!

Finding Our Apartment: I have been promising a blog with the details about our apartment hunt, and here it is.

Apparently finding an apartment in Madrid is very similar to finding an apartment while living in New York City. While I have personally never lived in NYC, I have a few friends who have shared their experiences, and there are a couple of people here in Madrid from NYC who have agreed that the Madrid apartment hunt is very similar. Yikes!

When I applied for the Beda program, I knew that I would have to find living accommodations for both myself and Scarlett on my own, and was told that it would be rather easy upon arrival.  I was told to “just use the several apartment listing services such as idealista.com, fotocasa.com, etc,, and you will have no problem!” While there are several listings, I found that it is virtually impossible to get anyone to get back in touch with you.

Let me back up a bit. We arrived in Madrid on August 28th and had an Airbnb for a week. When I first rented the Airbnb while we were still in Nashville, I was told that if we liked the room we would be able to extend our rental. After only being in Madrid for one day, and virtually no contact from any of the landlords I had contacted, I contacted the owner of the Airbnb via the message app, and told her we would probably need to extend for at least a week. Her reply, “We have clients checking in the day you check out.” Okay….so much for seeing if I like the room. It was time to get serious. Since I had my daughter with me, I didn’t really feel up to going from one Airbnb to the next for nine months, not knowing who the hell is going to be coming and going. Yes, the title of my blog is titled Free Spirited Single Mom, but free-spirited or not, I am a very responsible and good mother.

My contact at the school was helping by calling some of the apartments since she speaks both English and Spanish, but she was finding a lot of people who weren’t answering. I decided to try a different route and put search for “apartments in Madrid” on Google. A few Craigslist ads came up. I figured I would give it a try, and I saw one in the city center that was beautifully decorated with the colors that Scarlett and I adore! It didn’t have a bathtub or an extra bedroom; it was a studio with a sectioned off area. At this point I was thinking a beautifully decorated studio in the city center was much better than a random room somewhere every other week, so I messaged the landlord. She got back to me within a day, and as luck would have it, she spoke English! She was very apprehensive about Scarlett and I sharing a studio, but I told her the same thing about it being much better than sharing ONE ROOM in some random place with strangers coming and going every couple of weeks. To make a long story short, we went to see the place, LOVED it, and have been living here for two weeks! Studio or not, it is actually very comfortable, and we are getting very used to living in the city! It is kind of a nuisance taking the metro about 35 to 40 minutes to our schools in the mornings, but we are adapting.

Enrolling my daughter in school: Once we got the apartment situation worked out, I was feeling a bit of relief. Perhaps this wasn’t some horrible idea to move to Europe after all. We have a place to live and Scarlett will be going to the same school where I will be teaching. WRONG! The moment I started to feel more relaxed, I received a message from my contact at the school asking for Scarlett’s birthdate. I gave her the information, (I am certain I conveyed her age when we were contacting one another when I was still in Nashville, but whatever.) She got back to me and told me that Scarlett wouldn’t be able to go to the school that I am going to be teaching because she is “too old to go into 6th grade in Spain.” I have mentioned the pain of bureaucracy here in Spain before, right?  We were getting schooled on it big time within our first two weeks. I was ready to scream and cry, but I am happy to say, I didn’t do either. I was told that I might have to enroll her in a public high school. Yeah, I wasn’t going to do that. For starters, she is not ready for high school. She would be going into the 6th grade in the United States. In Spain, High School, or Secondary School starts with 7th grade. If it were a bilingual school, and they thought she was ready for 7th grade, I might consider it, but I was not going to enroll her in a public high school in Spain that had no bilingual program at all. I was ready to use my round trip ticket and fly back to the U.S. I wanted to begin a life in Europe, but not at the expense of my daughter’s well-being.

I decided to see what was offered before making any rash decisions: I had to go to a place called the SAE Instituto Simancas which is a school that has a government building next door. This is where you have to go if you change residency, want to change your child’s school, etc. Since I don’t speak fluent Spanish, and apparently have forgotten everything I thought I knew upon arriving here, trying to follow directions when you have no idea what you are doing is pretty daunting.

As luck would have it, the assistant head mistress of the school connected to the SAE speaks fluent English and was a wonderful help. I was told that since Scarlett doesn’t speak any Spanish, she would need to enroll in a school that has a “welcoming class.” From what I have gathered, this type of class is similar to those in the United States that assist non-English speaking students. Yes, it is interesting being on the other side of the spectrum. I was told that I could ask for her to be placed near my work, but it is not guaranteed.

After waiting in line at the SAE office with several other parents, I found out I was able to bypass this line since I had a paper with an appointment time on it. There were several angry parents that didn’t like to wait in line, but the gentleman in charge explained that anyone that has an appointment needs to come inside. Apparently most people dislike waiting in lines no matter what culture you happen to find yourself in.

She was assigned a school: We finally got a school officially assigned to her, and I am so grateful that it is literally about a two to three minute walk from where I will be teaching! It is a semi-private Catholic school, and she seems happy with it so far. Interestingly enough, after she tested, they are keeping her in 6th grade (I know what is best for my child), and it is another school that participates in the BEDA program as well.

This three weeks has proven a bit challenging, but I think we are finally getting settled. I start my job this week. Stay tuned for updates on my teaching adventures!

 

 

 

 

Visit to Buen Retiro Park and Mercado San Miguel

Here is a video of our recent visit to Retiro Park and the San Miguel Market in Madrid. We decided to venture out a bit more on this Saturday afternoon.

The weather was wonderful, and everything was free! Let me correct that. Everything was free except for the the four macarons we purchased from the market. 😉

 

http://https://youtu.be/vozOo9IwnDk