Madrid, Spain Part 1: Thanksgiving with Josh Rouse
My final trip in November was to Madrid to visit Kara, my friend formerly of Geneva and Athens (and who I visited there earlier this summer). Being from Texas, she’s fluent in Spanish and is currently spending a year teaching English at a school there.
It was my first time outside of America during Thanksgiving, a fact that was amplified by the fact that my Grandma Maurer had passed away earlier in the week. While it could have been a miserable trip, the fact was, since I couldn’t make it home for the funeral it was better to be away from work and spending time with an American friend than anything else I could have done. I tried to make the most of it, remembering Grandma’s words that I should do all this (traveling, etc.) while I can.
My flight arrived the afternoon of Thanksgiving and Kara successfully found out that the city’s TGI Friday’s had a special Thanksgiving menu (Hard Rock Café apparently also did, but they were completely booked). We made our way there and I fought the urge to not order the Thanksgiving food in lieu of a burger. We got a quesadilla as an appetizer which helped. The food was decent, though not exactly what you might expect (i.e. Shrimp Chowder to start, sliced turkey wrapped around stuffing and liberally covered in gravy). However, the novelty of the experience made up for any lack of quality.
The menu, which also featured an explanation of the meaning of Thanksgiving on its reverse
Me enjoying my dinner and cherry-spiked champagne
After dinner, we proceeded to a venue called Joy Eslava to see singer/songwriter Josh Rouse, an American expat who now lives mostly in Valencia, Spain. I never had the chance to see him when he was based stateside so it was cool to have the chance now. While his music can sometimes veer towards the really mellow side, in concert the full band brought it much more to live. Perhaps because the place doubles as a dance club the bass was really notable and really made the whole performance groove. He played a set heavy on tunes from his two latest albums, Subtitulo and Country Mouse, City House, and (my favorite) Nashville.
This cow was atop a bar inside the venue. Seemed about right.
All told, it was a good, if moderately unconventional Thanksgiving made much better by virtue of sharing it with an American friend who also appreciates its meaning. We even found ourselves quite full and tired by the end of the night, which I suppose means we celebrated appropriately.
It was my first time outside of America during Thanksgiving, a fact that was amplified by the fact that my Grandma Maurer had passed away earlier in the week. While it could have been a miserable trip, the fact was, since I couldn’t make it home for the funeral it was better to be away from work and spending time with an American friend than anything else I could have done. I tried to make the most of it, remembering Grandma’s words that I should do all this (traveling, etc.) while I can.
My flight arrived the afternoon of Thanksgiving and Kara successfully found out that the city’s TGI Friday’s had a special Thanksgiving menu (Hard Rock Café apparently also did, but they were completely booked). We made our way there and I fought the urge to not order the Thanksgiving food in lieu of a burger. We got a quesadilla as an appetizer which helped. The food was decent, though not exactly what you might expect (i.e. Shrimp Chowder to start, sliced turkey wrapped around stuffing and liberally covered in gravy). However, the novelty of the experience made up for any lack of quality.
The menu, which also featured an explanation of the meaning of Thanksgiving on its reverse
Me enjoying my dinner and cherry-spiked champagne
After dinner, we proceeded to a venue called Joy Eslava to see singer/songwriter Josh Rouse, an American expat who now lives mostly in Valencia, Spain. I never had the chance to see him when he was based stateside so it was cool to have the chance now. While his music can sometimes veer towards the really mellow side, in concert the full band brought it much more to live. Perhaps because the place doubles as a dance club the bass was really notable and really made the whole performance groove. He played a set heavy on tunes from his two latest albums, Subtitulo and Country Mouse, City House, and (my favorite) Nashville.
This cow was atop a bar inside the venue. Seemed about right.
All told, it was a good, if moderately unconventional Thanksgiving made much better by virtue of sharing it with an American friend who also appreciates its meaning. We even found ourselves quite full and tired by the end of the night, which I suppose means we celebrated appropriately.
posted by Aaron at 3:12 PM
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