Be a Tourist in Your Own Town, Part 472

Tuesday, 11 October, 2016:

A wise man, Jason Johnson, once encouraged me to be a tourist in my own town.

Over the years I have found this sage advice to be more than a bit helpful in helping to truly appreciate my surroundings.

With that in mind and with a list of chores to attend to, I was off to discover more about our new home, Arganda del Rey.

The Witches Cafeteria

Well, Halloween is just around the corner . . .

Our newer church

Nuestra Señora la Virgen

de la Soledad

Laurie arrives in a few weeks

It was nice inside the new church

Not a real body

I think.

A simple cupola

Nuestra Señora la Virgen

de la Soledad

 Dr. Tim Hicks

Sometime in the distant future?

One of Arganda del Rey's

many fountains

 Oh, it's a Tea House

Pardon me, I though it meant something else entirely.

Arganda del Rey's older church, San Juan Bautista, was open too, so in I went.

San Juan Bautista was

bigger as well as older

The BVM is BIG in España

Artsy Crucifix

San Santiago

Armanda del Rey is on a Camino de Santiago route after all.

The BVM holding a Scapular

Our son Mike is a big proponent of this Catholic symbol.

 The Plaza de la Constitucion

 Armanda del Rey's

Public Library

Of course this would be in the

Library's Entrance Lobby

My temporary Library Card

My permanent one will be ready in about a week.

Getting one of these has become a must during my EuroBall adventures as a way to secure English language reading materials and DVDs at no cost.

 Lots of English language selections

I checked out The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, it looked interesting.

I was told at the Ayuntamiento

that this was a good spot to eat

It was literally next door to the Library, so I gave it a shot.

I liked their tile work . . .

 . . . and LOVED their

Tortilla Española!

It earned the #2 spot in my Tortilla Española Power Rankings this week behind only the one served at Juana La Loca's in Madrid's La Latina district.

When I finished it, I went back into the kitchen to personally say GRACIAS! to the lady who actually made the fabulous Tortilla Español.

She smiled at my exuberance over her artisan skills.

A lot.

Yep, Halloween is nearing

 There is a small Plaza de Toros

somewhere in town

I'll find it eventually.

Lion Head Fountain

This Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

I liked the line that roughly translates into:

"This event is not for people with heart conditions,  it is only for the brave of heart."

 The city's ancient Lavadero

In days of yore, citizens would come here to wash their clothes when needed.

 Found at the Ayuntamiento

A nifty guide to the best places to dine in our new community, we just may take advantage of this handy booklet.

Older men engaging in

lively conversation

You'll see men like these three all over España in bars, in parks and on street benches having usually loud discussions about any and every thing including . . .

. . . Politics . . .

. . . Spain's Socialist Movement . . .

 . . . the concept that firemen are

better than policemen . . .

 . . . and, of course, that Spain's

many problems are due to

Blind Obedience

Once back at La Casa Grande, it was back to work preparing practice plan's for this evening's Guadalajara Stings practice.

During the planning sessions we were advised that the Spanish Federation had finally released the 2017 Serie B schedule.

The Osos Rivas will play an eight game regular season schedule with home-and-home contests with four other clubs. There will be two conferences again in 2017.

The clubs in the Osos' conference are:

 The Barcelona Búfals

The Mallorca Voltors

 The ANV Cuervos

ANV stands for Atletico Nuevo Versalles, a district here in Madrid.

The Gijón Mariners

This is the Osos' new coach Jesús Sánchez's former club.

The Osos' complete 2017 Serie B schedule of conference games with dates not finalized until field's are confirmed is:

January 21 or 22 at the Barcelona Búfals

January 28 or 29 vs. the Mallorca Voltors

February 11 or 12 at the ANV Cuervos

March 4 or 5 at the Gijón Mariners

March 11 or 12 vs. the Barcelona Búfals

March 25 or 26 at the Mallorca Voltors

April 1 or 2 vs. the ANV Cuervos

April 29 or 30 vs. the Gijón Mariners

May 13 or 14 Serie B Playoff Semi-Finals

May 27 or 28 Serie B National Championship Game

GO OSOS GO!

Coach Sánchez addressing the Stings

before Tuesday night's practice

Again, the Stings are one of the Osos' four feeder clubs and will compete in Spain's Serie C, nine-man football, in 2017.

Tonight we broke away from a fundamentals only approach and started implementing our conditioning program along with introducing a few running game plays.

I thought that the Stings did nicely tonight.

After the 9:15 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. workout, we joined six of the Stings for a typically late dinner. We were home by 1:30 a.m.

Reading Is FUNdamental

Crazy happenings all

over the globe

This was the fifth book by Andy McDermott that I have read. They are action packed to be sure but they are also becoming a bit formulaic.

Now that I am finally finished with the book I brought with me from California, it is on to my first book from the Arganda del Rey's Public Library!