The holiday report, Part One
Day One:
Breakfast is wonderful. We are having it together with my sister and brother-in-law, while the two dogs are playing outside. Quito has done her big business in the courtyard, but the brother-in-law is used to it, and I am relieved she's gone busy before the flight. My sister takes us to the airport and drops us off at the main terminal.
Here we are facing the first challenge, while Quito is doing a fantastic job both following Micki and backtracking, while Micki is trying to find the right departure gate. She finally queues behind a counter - economy class. At the adjacent one we are told this is not the right one, as it is the checkin for New York. We are told to goo to terminal C.
That means go outside, cross a very noisy makeshift metal bridge and then turn left into the terminal. Finding the right counter there is easy. The employee chats with us, while I try to shift some weight from my checkin bag into Micki's, to avoid being charged overweight.
Quito sits nicely while I walk through the metal detection, and then the superviser takes me back to her and helps me retrieve all my bagage. He even reminds me that I still have to pack my computer, before I put my light backpack on my shoulder. As we sit and wait for boarding to begin, a crew member aproaches us and asks whether we would like to bord first or last. We decide together, that boarding the airplane last is most relaxing for Quito, and so it is done.
Quito is calm, as we approach the noisy plane. Even when the gangway car starts the engin with us in the middle of walking upstairs, she is on alert but calm.
The flight to Palma de Mallorca is uneventful. Service with Airberlin is excellent. Just as I am trying to sneak on my seat at the window, one cabin crew member looks after my head and helps us put the bags upstairs. I receive the most carefully written braille safety instruction card ever, as it doesn't feature the exact wording of the print cards, but focuses on hints that are very helpful for the braille card readers. The brace position is described, and so are the lighted floor panels to guide you to an emergency exit. This card is the most useful I have ever read indeed.
As service brings snacks, they always address me directly, I am even shown the flush button in the washroom after asking foor it, so I can locate it myself the next time around.
Landing goes on easily, Quito just lifts her head and is uncomfortable with the raised level of nnoise. But since I am relaxed, so is she. Micki had been asked whether she can get a piece of saussage, but she told the crew to ask me instead of her. But since I am appearing so strict to them, they don't ask - I understannd annd smile.
We have a tunnel gangway into the building as we leave the plane. At the exit we are immediately given assistance to locate our connection flight. We are taken to the plane by bus, and again Quito is a real trooper. She boards the plane, plops down and that's it. Aproaching Oviedo is a bit of a windy thing, but not half as bad as last year's arrival in Bilbao. Another tunnel gangway, at the beginning of which an assistant meets us, takes us right to the luggage belts. She drags my suitcase, so I can hold on to Micki and follow easily. The assistant leaves us at an exit, and two minutes later my friend Ilka greets us. This is the first time she sees Micki so closely, and of course, Quito, too.
We go home, get settled and then take a sniff of the surrounding streets, just to get an idea of a good dog walking route. And of course, grocery shopping. Quito gets to ride on an escalator, which basically is a moving ramp, on which shopping carts can be taken to the upper floor, and she is doing great foor her debut. Micki is impressed by the display of real fresh fish in coolers that stretch over at least seven meters. We go to a tiny fruit selling shop, and then home, where Ilka prepares a most delicious salad, and we meet Ole, too. By the time we are finished and ready to sleep, it is half an hour before midnight.
Day Two:
I wake up from Micki coughing, try to sleep a little more and am prevented by her snoaring, the chime-in of the new day. I am relieved when it is a quarter to seven, so I can get up and ready, have Quito greet Ilka and then prepare coffee. The two of us see Ole off to school, talk some more over the coffee, and then Ilka leaves foor work. Just then Micki comes crawling out of bed, has breakfast and then we take Quito foor a much needed dog walk along the Pista Finlandesa, a joggers' walk with various climbing and sports devices along the route. We are drenched by the time we get home, for basically, it has not stopped raining since last night.
I take a shower to warm up, dry my clothes and the dog, and Micki prepares pumpkin soup while I take a little nap. The soup is awesome, and Ole loves it, too, when he eats it after coming home from school.
Ilka takes off work at around 4:00, so in the evening we go to Gijon, the neighbouring city, and take a walk along the cliffs - really steep cliffs, and the sea entertains me with thundering roars, lashing furiously against the cliffs, almost wetting our feet. Quito, too, has her share of entertainment, she sees a gigantic German Shepherd dog, way taller than she, but sociable, off leash and very playful. I don’t, however, let her off leash, because I am not sure she wouldn't fall off the cliffs in her engaged play. When the drizzle sets in, we head back to the car, leave Quito with Ole and head out to Tierra Astur, a famous Asturian restaurannt in Oviedo.
The way they pour the sidra is amazing. They hold the bottle about one and a half meters away from a fairly small glass and pour a small portion intoo it. Another part lands on the floor. They say puring the Sidra this way gives it enough oxygen that it tastes good. You drink most of it and leave a bit inside the glass. When the waiter comes to refill, he pours the little remaining rest on the ground and goes about to share another bit of Sidra between floor and glass.
The waiter gives us a huge wooden board full of Chorizo, Serrano, some kind of Salami and another bit of meat, and a large variety of cheeses. We eat most of these with a large piece of bread each. Then the table is filled with grilled mild goat cheese topped with a tomato slice - delicious! - and a pan full of gambas and mushrooms fried in olive oil and garlic. The Spaniards even soak their bread with this oil and finish that, too.
The meat and cheese board is so massive, it's probably made to feed six. Micki thinks it is a pity to leave all of these treats on the table, so she begins to wrap them in napkins until the board looks well-emptied. We have loads of fun with that.
When we arrive at home, Quito is allright, of course, and it is time to sleep.
Day Three:
This is our major walking day. The sky has cleared up somewhat, and after breakfast Micki and I go on the dog walk. Micki is in a good physical shape, and we end up walking for two hours. Then we both need a rest.
Finally we decide to make pancakes for lunch. We aren't successful in locating flour, soo we find a not so finely ground replacement, but the pancakes turn out delicious. When Ole returns from school, he also thinks they are great, and adds ham and jam.
After this feast Micki and I set out to conquer the old part of Oviedo. First we get lost a little, and the tension is high, but then we get back on track, and we discover a few pretty houses and churches. Oviedo is full of sculptures and statues, that is really interesting.
After this two-hour walk I have to drag Micki on to another bit of walking the dog, and then the two of us are really exhausted. After all, we have been running around for four hours in total - and we haven't seen a single drop of rain, yippee!
Micki takes a rest, while Ilka and I prepare dinner. We always have a royal dinner with a different red wine each night, eat, talk and eat some more in a livingroom that is filled with the scent of many candles burning. Added to this, Ilka is in a very happy mood, because she was praised big time for her wor, by influencial folks in the company.
Oh the days are beautiful, especially when the weather is so great.
Day Four:
Ilka is starting her long weekend, and Micki and I are sleeping late. A knock on the door, and there is my wonderful friend with two cups of coffee. Micki loves having her coffee in bed, and until now we have always brought her one while we have sat talking over ours in the kitchen. Now it is my turn, too, and I love the smell of coffee lingering in the air.
A look outside, and we are filled with joy. The sun is beaming, the sky is bright and blue, and the air is wonderfully mild. We have breakfast outside on the large balcony, it is so relaxing!
Ilka urges us to go for a short dog walk, so we can leave house soon. Quito obeys, she really needs to go do her business urgently and quickly. Then we take the car and go up into the Covadonga mountains. We stop at a viewpoint and enjoy the roughnes of nature. You can see snow-covered mountains on one side, and the lush and green fields on the other. As we continue on the route, you even have snow on one and sea on the other side - it's magnificent.
Ilka is scared. There are people with sticks and in boots at the edge of the road, and she thinks they are waiting for the cows that are taken back down to the vally. She is not exactly fond of meeting them while going up the narrow, bended mountain roads. I think, however, that it is safer to meet them inside the car than outside of it. Well, we are lucky, now cows flooding the streets.We stop at a part of the road where the car simply has to stop, and then we continue walking. Quito has a day in paradise. She is let off leash, finds nutricious horse shit, puddles to drink from and mud to bathe in. She is such a child - walks through one to find the beginning and runs through till the other end. We are really waiting for the moment when she lies down in the mud and returns a black, dirty monster. For these two hours, fortunately, bathing and splashing is enough.
We rest at another point of spectacular views, at a speedy river. After all the rain in the past weeks, it is filled fairly high with water and heads for the vally in a hurry. We have apples, oranges and another delicious sweet we have brought from Germany, and then Quito starts ahead of us on the pleasant, sunny walk back. We have come as high as 1750 meters today.
We rest in a small town further down, were we have some snacks for coffee. The air is so mild that we can sit outside and enjoy. O what a wonderful day!
After some needed grocery shopping we go home and end yet another holiday with a luxurious dinner, yet another glass of wine and long talking.
Day Five:
This is to be shopping day, but it starts way too early for me, for Quito decides to chew the air noisily, soo I get up to see if she wants to drink water. Of course, she doesn't, so I go back to bed, toss and turn a while before starting to update this diary. Then I talk a little with Micki,and finally we both go quiet again. I do manage to fall asleep for a little while before I figure it is time to get up. The sun greets us as if he wants to convince us that Asturias is the sunniest place on this planet, despite what the natives say. So we have breakfast on the balcony, take Quito for a little walk and head out.
The first challenge for Quito is a real escalator that goes down. I started getting Hapoo used to upward escalators first, but I think it doesn't matter which way we start, and take Quito on this one. She is hesitant, but since the entire pack goes on, she follows and stands quietly on the escalator until I tell her to hop off. The opoosite escalator doesn't work, but I take Quito up on that, just for her to get a feeling of safety or at least routine. We stop in the middle of the climb, walk a few steps, pause again and then walk up. Another U-turnn means another ride downstairs, and Quito is almost as relaxed as a pro. I leave it at that and we head on.
We take another close look at Oviedo's ancient parts with a market in the square that was pretty empty the night Micki and I were there, and is now packed with people and merchantss selling flowers, clothes, vegetables and fruits. And then there is a little markethall inside an old building, where they sell all kinds of meat and fish. The blade of one knife has the width of two hands - amazing. The ladies at the fish place have you choose the fish you want and then separate the filets. They wear boots and gloves, are perfectly made up and wear mascara and earrings.
We take a break at an outside café and finally catch an ear full of an Asturian backpipe player. This music doesn't sound like the Irish backpipe music, I think the scales and the instruments must be different.
Then comes clothes shopping. We walk the entire ladies' floor with Ilka, while Micki and Quito judge the displaying of clothes. I don't buy much, but what I buy is perfect.
We go outside again, strolll around and have really delicious sandwiches and coffee at anoother restaurant. At first we are the only ones there, but half an hour later all tables are full and the place is packed.
Another shop, we try on and try on, but in this one we buy nothing. The material is great quality, but the cut isn't made for my body. I am soo delighted to see that Quito watches when I hide in the changing room - it means she doesn't want to be left alone - yippee, we are making it as a team despite the escalator torture!
There is another part to it on the way back home. This time we take an escalator that is working and carrying people upwards. Quito is reluctant to hop on, but given no choice she follows. I have to position her paws further back from the back of the step they are on, but she gets off nicely and calmly. She is rewarded with a good game of jumping and leash tugging. That reward is really handy, as she is not a leash destroyer despite the occasional tugging games.
Back home the wind has knocked over the clothes drying stand, and the sky looks fairly dark. So Ilka and Ole tidy up and take the furniture inside, while Micki and Quito and I take a rest, and I another quick nap. In the meantime the other two go shopping, Ilka sees the neighbours with their little baby, and when I join her in the kitchen, we prepare dinner together. Yet another eventful day is over, and the air is mild and mediterranean. Who cares that the natural seasalt stock nearby is called Atlantic Ocean instead!
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