Saturday, October 15, 2016

A Stings Practice, Guadalajara's Panteón and a Tapeando


Saturday, 15 October, 2016:

We awakened to another beautiful day on the Iberian peninsula ready to work, be a tourist and have some fun.

The first order of business was for me to follow Jesús in his rented moving van to the Madrid suburb of Coslada so that he could return it to the Enterprise Rental Agency.

How we would have gotten there without the aid of Jesús' GPS will forever be a mystery to me.

How did we ever get around in strange cities 25 years ago?

"Do what you can."

This may be an option for me in the near future.

Having deposited Jesús back at La Casa Grande so that he could further help Berenice unpack their family belongings and settle into our new home, I was off to another fun-filled Saturday morning practice at 11:30 a.m. with the . . .

 Everyone's Favorite
Serie C Team

I like the look of these jerseys

We had set this practice up at the last second and were thus moved to a different polideportivo stadium in another part of Guadalajara for a practice based solely on Wide Receiver fundamentals.

The Stings mascot, Julian,
was ready for action

Now if we only had a helmet for this fun loving rascal.

Dynamic Warm Ups
Back Peddle, Turn and Run

A natural grass surface was fun to work on again.

WR Ball Handling Drill

One handed catch drill

INCOMING!

Julian found a helmet

 Over the shoulder catch drill
with hedge trimmers watching

 Good catch Jack!

Was have to stalk block
as well as catch too

 How old is this face mask?

 That reminds me . . .

Our 6-0 Washington Huskies had a Bye today but play Oregon State next week at home.

Directly behind the practice field about a quarter of a mile away loomed an imposing structure. It was the . . .

 Dazzling in the bright sunlight

But what was it exactly?

Panteón?

Indeed it was, the Panteón de la Condesa de la Vega del Pozo.

The Countess was an interesting woman as it turns out.

In 1887, Doña Maria Diega of Desmaissières and Sevillano, Duchess of Sevillano and Countess of La Vega del Pozo obtained state approval to build a family mausoleum in Guadalajara that is now known as the Panteón.

The extremely wealthy Countess never married and had neither any closely related possible heirs nor a will at the time of her death in 1916.

Her life had been devoted to helping the poor, working class people of Guadalajara. She built several edifices and then had some torn down and rebuilt for no other reason than to have an excuse to provide work and much needed financial support to townspeople.

She also sponsored a religious order whose sole purpose was to work helping ladies of the night.

While many of her upper class peers had trouble understanding her humble ways, the people loved her as was evidenced by their incredible turnout for her funeral.

Let's take a look at her family's Panteón . . .

The Entry Door was impressive

 So was the altar

Byzantine Mosaic Floor

Gorgeous Ceiling

Shimmering Gold Cupola

Holy Water Fount

After standing in awe of the upper floor of the Panteón, our guide had a descend into the Panteón's crypt.

 The Holy Ghost was lurking about

The Condesa's Tomb

 Spectacular Statue

 The Panteón was impressive
both inside and out

I believe these buildings are the
result of one of the Condesa's
Public Works Projects

 Moorish influence I believe

Having enjoyed my visit to this surprise, hidden gem in Guadalajara, it was time to return to Arganda del Rey with the aid of the Land Rover.

Bull Crossing

It is Spain after all.

Back in Arganda del Rey, it was time to be a tourist in my own town.

More Spanish politics
on my way to . . .

The Mahou beer sponsored
Armanda del Rey Tapeando!

A Tapeando is a Tapas Crawl.

This was the first of two Tapas Crawl weekends, Friday through Mondays, in our ciudad.

Twenty-one different bars and restaurants were participating in the promotion. For 2.20 Euros, about $2.40, they would offer the Crawler a signature tapa and a Mahou beer.

It was still warm in the late afternoon of a glorious Spanish Saturday. Why not?

We were asked to rate each tapa on a 1 to 5 scale.

Tapeando Stop #1
La Almazara

The tapa was a trufa de morcilla rellena sobre milhojas de pera and an ice cold Mahou beer.

Tapa Rating: 3.5 

It was a solid combination of salty and sweetness.

Tapeando Stop #2
Bar D'Pulgas

The tapa was a delicia de brandada de bacalao and an ice cold Mahou beer.

Tapa Rating: 4.5 

Delicious.

A Tapeando on a Camino Path

Works for me.

 Atlético de Madrid fans waiting
for the bus to take them to tonight's
Atlético-Granada soccer game

I'm sure that they were overjoyed by Atlético's dominating 7-1 victory. 

Tapeando Stop #3
Fidalgo

The tapa was a pincho moruno con adobo Fidalgo and an ice cold Mahou beer.


Tapa Rating: 5.0+

YIKES!

Armanda del Rey's old
church looked good today

Tapeando Stop #4
Restaurante La Tertulia

The tapa was a creps Tertuliano con queso gratinado y salsa boletus and an ice cold Mahou beer.

Tapa Rating: 5.0+

DOUBLE YIKES!

The Mesón Taurino Chule

Part of the Tapeando, they were not serving their signature Tapeando tapa until later in the evening.

Thus I opted for a racion of my go to Tortilla Español and a cafe con leche to counter act all of the ice cold Mahou beers.

Our server threw in two tapas for free, the chorizo one was perfectly spiced and the cheese one was smooth as could be.

This mesón has a bullfighting motif and I engaged a couple of the wizened veterans sitting at the bar with me about Arganda del Rey's bullfight scene.

It turns out that I just missed our ciudad's week long fiesta brava in September that includes a running with the bulls ala Pamplona fame.

One vet spoke in awe of his younger days running with the toros. The other one said that his friend was crazy to have ever done it.

I was also informed that Arganda del Rey has no permanent Plaza de Toros. Instead, they block of the main square, add the needed sand/dirt and bring in grandstands for their corridas.

That would have been interesting to see.

 Tapeando Stop #5
Bar Salamanca

The tapa was uno de bravas and an ice cold limon Mahou beer.

Tapa Rating: 3.0

The sauce was average but it was a large portion.

The limon Mahou beer was really, really good!


Tapeando Stop #6
Cafetería Amaya

The tapa was a pan preñao and an ice cold Mahou beer.

Tapa Rating: 3.0


The cheese was good but the chorizo inside the bread was only average.

Six was enough, I needed to walk back to La Casa Grande to be with my new family.

Berenice, two year old Luna,
Jesús and one year old Camila

Good, hard working people with two incredibly cute and precocious daughters.

Life gets better on a daily basis.

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