The Overdue Apartment Post

Today marks 2 weeks that we have been in what will be our Astorga home for at least a year.  I have been waking up each day with "Apartment post" as the top entry in my mental to-do list.  And each day seems to fill itself with taking care of 'more urgent' things, like getting another cup of coffee or going for a walk around the charming town we live in.  Our walks are our transportation: to Spanish lessons with Maria, to the stores, to government offices, to have a snack, to the bank, and to the post office. We have not needed a vehicle to do any of this.

Going for a walk is a big part of our mornings, noon-time, afternoon and evening.  It takes hold of us and allows us to meet people and see things 'in a new light.'  That phrase has such a powerful meaning when one walks everyplace in a setting with great architecture and street art and other people on the street.  The way the light plays upon a tree, or rose bush, or cathedral or park bench or the Roman wall we walk along at least once a day.  'In a new light' deserves it's own post, so look for that one Real Soon Now.

So what does all this have to do with the apartment?  Light is so important and significant in the apartment as well as on the street level.  Windows here have roll-up metal coverings - I am sure they have a name, but that will do for now - that one adjusts to allow or prevent sunlight from coming in.  We use them to control the temperature as well as illumination.

There is little reason to close them for privacy as no one is looking in from atop the surrounding buildings.  We are on the what is called here the second floor, Americans would call it the third.  Here the ground floor is Zero.  Our building has an elevator and even a handicap lift for the dozen stairs one must climb to get to the elevator.

We have a plumbing supply retail shop on Zero, the street level, and a floor of apartments below us and one above us.  The buildings are all made of stone and retain heat well.  Almost all the floors are marble or porcelain tile.  Our living room and the bedrooms have wood flooring.  It is generally about 20 degrees C (68F) in our house even if is it 4C (40F)  or 28C (82F) degrees outside.  This is partially due to the stone storing and releasing the sun's warmth, there is no heating system turned on at this time of year.  Not bad for a building that is likely a hundred years old or more.

Guest room

Our place has two bedrooms, one with a double bed (called Matrimonial here) and one with two single beds that are wider than the ones we call twin beds in the US. Pillows here are the width of the bed, one big long one for Ann and I to share.  Yes, one of our first purchases was another pillow!

There are no closets in these old buildings so each bedroom has an armoire for hanging and folded clothing.  All this furniture is of a style that would have been in my grandmothers home and is way above our Ikea taste and style.



There is a piece in the entryway that looks like it should be in a museum.  It holds our keys, sunglasses, and spare change.  And we hang our hats from the upper trim-work.  Terrible.  But functional.

It also covered the only phone jack in the place so when the man came to install WiFi (pronounced 'WEE FEE' here) he had to trace down the wiring and drill a hole through the stone wall to install a jack in the living room.  It made a lot of noise!

View of the Cathedral towers

The living room has windows facing East and South to get wonderful morning and mid-day sun.  I write this facing the East window and have the shutter down to keep the early morning sun out of my eyes.  Normally it would be up to allow that wonderful warm sun to play upon the room and our skin.
There is what I would call a breakfront and Ann would call a hutch in the living room that again would look perfect in my grandmother's place.

Living/Work Room

Ann has filled the shelves with art she brought from the US, stone carvings and pictures that are linked to our friends and family.  We have art on the walls (using mostly hangers that were already installed) and we have a few more items to hang that requires me beating a fastener into the stone. Another to-do list entry.

The Gallery

We also made a gallery inspired by our language teacher, Maria, to hang pictures of family and friends on strings supported by a hiking stick.

Also in the living room are two couches and a large dining table, that, you guessed it, are in the grandmother tradition.  The couches were covered with throws but we removed them to display the original design in all its glory.  We use the dining table as our workspace for Spanish study and typing the occasional blog entry.  We eat in the kitchen.

The kitchen is simple.  It has a table that seats 4 reasonably and 6 if everyone is thin and flexible.  It holds our vital kitchen appliance: the coffee machine.  We have three now. The first purchase was a simple 2 cup thing from the dollar store, then the used Espresso machine from the flea market (mercado segunda mano) and now my big splurge, a mini-Nespresso machine.  Nespresso is very popular here, the supermarkets have a dozen or more brands and type of capsules at low cost.  It is so neat and easy to make a perfect cup of coffee with this thing before you've had your first cup.

The kitchen came with basic dishes, glasses and cups, silverware, a new microwave and refrigerator, stove, oven and an immersion blender, orange juicer, and scissors.  We had to buy pots and pans and some utensils and we are good in that department now. We have been eating almost all our meals at home these days.  The grocery stores are two minutes walk in either direction from home and we find almost everything we want on the shelves. In addition, each Tuesday there is a huge open-air market in the plazas and every day, except Sunday, there are stores specializing bread, pastries, chocolate, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and meats of all kinds. Peanut butter doesn't seem to be popular here so we had to settle for Nutella. Life is good!

So the place is ready for visitors.  We are less than one block from the Camino de Santiago route, two blocks from the bus station, the Cathedral and the Gaudi Episcopal Palace and five minutes walk from the Plaza Española, the main square where the Ayuntamiento (local government) building is an attraction.  On that main square are a variety of restaurants where families and pilgrims alike enjoy long leisurely meals and conversation. I am working on getting used to a slower pace of life, and the work is rewarding.

Next time more about seeing things in a new light.  Thank you for joining us on this page.  Please comment and ask questions to motivate me to do this more often. And less words!

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The Other Jew of the day is the historian and Toledo's Sephardic Museum director Santiago Palomera.  Read more about "After 522 Years, Spain Seeks To Make Amends For Expulsion Of Jews" by NPR.

Jardin de la Sinagoga

When I arrived in Astorga the first time on September 25th of 2016 I stayed at the Albergue run by the Federation at the entrance to the town.  Just up the street was an entrance to a park marked by an iron arbor covered in roses.  I had been in the habit of sending Ann a picture of a flower each day to mark my progress and to appeal to her love of flowers.

2019 Version

2016 Version

I asked someone to take a picture of me smelling a rose at the arbor and sent it to her.  I thought nothing of the place or meaning of the pathway into the park, it was afternoon and I was on my way to find food.  What I found was much more, but let’s stick to the park and flower-covered arbor for this post.

Fast forward to our arrival in Astorga on May 13, 2019.  We were following Google Maps directions to our Airbnb and it took us out on the walkway atop the Roman wall!  Cars are not supposed to be out there and a construction worker kindly showed me where to park and guided me to a safe path off the wall.  The park was right near our Airbnb and we walked there daily.  On one of our walks, we exited the back side of the park right through that arbor!

Later in the week, I asked Ann to take a photo of me smelling a rose in the same position as my 2016 picture.  The roses are amazing in color, size, and variations.  And of course, they smell great as well.

But here is the kicker for The Other Jew: This park was the site of one of the Synagogues of Astorga before 1492.  There was another as well, but I haven’t found that location yet. The park is known as Jardin de la Sinagoga in remembrance of the Jewish community that once existed in that corner of the city.  It is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the view, have a conversation with friends and, of course, stop to smell the roses. 

Here are some other pictures from the park.

  

 

 

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The Other Jew of the Day is McDonald's founder and CEO, Bob Bernstein, who took the idea of a Happy Meal from a Guatemalan franchiser named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño and made it a staple of the fast food industry.  Now that is obscure!