A New Home

Thursday, 6 October, 2016:

Today we had ourselves a new home, the spacious three bedroom La Casa Grande in the Madrid suburb of Arganda del Rey.

Let's take a quick look at our new digs . . .

The Living Room is . . . 

. . . BIG!

So is the Kitchen

By Euro Standards, this is a

HUGE refrigerator/freezer

 A Bedroom

My shower area

 My Bedroom is . . .

 . . . spartan but Good

The overall space in La Casa Grande is probably as big if not bigger than any place that we have ever been fortunate enough to live in during any of our EuroBall experiences.

We won't have a high speed internet connection until sometime next week forcing me to drink lots of Cafe con Leches at a nearby tapas bar in order to use their wifi connection.

It is pronounce WEE-FEE in Spain by the way.

My handy nearby tapas bar is only

a short block from La Casa Grande

Somewhat settled in and after doing some shopping with Jesús for some needed, shared supplies, I was off on a long walk to discover more about Arganda del Rey.

Climbed a small hill to see . . .

Our new series of apartment buildings.

A random tower

at the top of the hill

I was told that it was erected specifically to warn La Casa Grande's residents in case of an imminent attack by Visigoths.

It is good to be safe.

 The view towards Madrid from

the base of the tower

On to the oldest parts of Arganda del Rey . . .

Arganda del Rey's

City Crest

 Interesting

Armanda's New Church

 This calls for a FIESTA!

 Miguel Cervantes' Epic Work

 Armanda del Rey is on two Camino

I know that this must come as quite a shock to David Lassen.

What is the Camino Ucles?

The Camino Ucles is a pilgrimage

from Madrid to Ucles

For the moment, that is all that I could find out about it.

Even though there are two Caminos going through Arganda del Rey, I saw no one today that even remotely looked like a pilgrim.

Nice tile work

I think that it depicts Arganda del Rey's older church, San Juan Bautista.

 More contrary Camino Signs

 Nice Home

 Love Spanish street signs

Which way do we go?

 Men's Barber Shop

I am due for my yearly haircut.

San Juan Bautista Church

tower in the distance

The Church Tower is tall

The city's main plaza is

near the old church 

Back at San Juan Bautista Church

This monument in the church's inner courtyard is dedicated to the memory of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and the town's residents who died during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) fighting for the Fascist Nationalist side led by General Francisco Franco.

Primo de Rivera, the leader of the radical right Falange, died the war's early days in the city of Alicante if memory serves me right.

After his death, whenever Nationalist trips assembled for a Roll Call, the final name called was Primo de Rivera's. In unison to show their resolve and belief in their fallen leader, all the assembled would yell "PRESENTE!"

On the sides of this monument are the names of all of the Nationalist town folk that died in the war.

Note that at the bottom of the monument it says "PRESENTES!" to honor all of them as well as Primo de Rivera.

Yes, Spain's Catholic Church aligned with the Fascists during the Civil War, "Death to the Communists".

On to happier thoughts . . .

Practice in Guadalajara

with the Stings from

9:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Agility Drills

The Stings are so quick that

they are just blurs on cameras

Blocking Drills made my

night lots of fun!

We are getting better.

The turnout was good and Jesús got a chance to talk to the Stings coaches about all sorts of organizational things during the first hour while I ran things.

The Stings remember are one of the Osos Rivas four feeder teams.

It was a GREAT night for an American football practice!