A Good Day for a Ride

Football, No like American Football, In Spain!

Sunday we went and saw the Mallorca American Football Club, The Voltors (Vultures).  It was a sunny day out, the game was at the RCD Mallorca stadium, and tickets were free, so we had to go.  After a Spanish Tailgate (making to-go drinks and walking to the stadium) we made it to the stadium to find out that the game was actually on a practice field beside the stadium.  No biggie.

The practice stadium was full and we walked in to a 12-0 score on the scoreboard.  And when I say scoreboard I mean a chalkboard easel.  Since the 'scoreboard' didn't tell us who had which points, we first had to figure out which team was which.

Touchdown, team in white!  Which it turns out was Alicante, the other team.  With the other team lining up for a PAT to make the score 12-7, we were discussing how good our kicker must be to have 4 field goals already...and then when they missed the PAT we realized we were just sterotyping Spanish people as good kickers of balls because, you know, soccer.  Nope, lots of missed PATs, a missed field goal, general bad kicking all around.  Yes, its a different ball, but c'mon.

As the game continued the Voltors proceeded to run over the other team.  Literally and figuratively as passing is very limited (and they play with college rules, FYI) in Spanish American Football.  After a rousing halftime drum show and the discovery that they serve beer (it's Spain after all), we hung around until the Voltors finished with a winning score of 54-6.  

Yes, I bought a t-shirt, No, I cannot wait for more Spanish/American Football!!!!!

Brussels, Belgium

We took the train from Cologne, Germany to Brussels, Belgium and tried to enjoy all of the beer in town...

The famous little peeing boy statue

A much bigger peeing boy on a nearby wall.

A great shot of the old and new that come together so well in Brussels.

Hitting up the beer museum.  We somehow were given 2 free beers. 

 It was a good day.

Getting some vin chaud (hot wine) from a street vendor.

Its like cider but better (wine-y-er)

Awesome streetlamps.

Observing the arts, and then sitting on them.

A statue of Peter Pan.  Seems like an odd amount of statues

of small boys in this town...

The Delirium Cafe, because its Belgium, thats why.

Everyone Knows You're American When...

Even after you dress up to go to the cafe on the ground floor of your apartment and buy a baguette while you're there and get a cafe con leche...

A) You got it para llevar (to go) &
B) You don't want at least two packs of sugar for it.

Remember, the key to a good cup of coffee is to add enough milk 

and sugar to drown out that coffee taste.

Cala Boquer

We still have lots of details to add from our New Years trip through Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands- but in the meantime, I wanted to share a little hike we did yesterday! 

We took the bus about an hour North to Port de Pollenca.  We wandered around until we found the path to Cala Boquer.  The hike was only 2.9 Kilometers and pretty flat.  At the end of it was our own private beach!  It was cloudy so the blue in the sea didn't quite "pop" like it would on a sunny day- but we look forward to going back on a warmer/sunnier day!

 Chilling a little champagne in the cool water

 A very Spanish lunch

 

 A goat!

 

Happy February!

XO, Kelly & Will

Cologne, Germany

After Kelly's parents went back to the States after Christmas, Kelly, Mike, and I caught a flight from Palma to Cologne, Germany.  Why you ask?  Because it was dirt cheap.  Lots of Germans come to the island for the holidays so the return flights are empty and cheap.

 Greeting us at the Cologne airport was this awesome sign because, you know, why not...

Once we were in Cologne, we wandered around the city center.  The city was bombed to the ground during World War II, so there are no old buildings like alot of Europe.  There is a giant cathedral and that is about the only building that is from before 1945 so the city has a different vibe than what you think of as a European city.

Eventually we found the Christmas Market in a square near our hotel.  It had a large ice-skating rink and lots of vendors selling food and things.  Oh, and there was a flea circus.  Like, for reals.  It took us seeing the guy playing around with a city in a briefcase a couple times to realize what it was, but it was a flea circus.  It was also all in German so we understood none of it, but from the look of the crowd, Germans really like flea circuses.

 Big 'Ol brat in Germany

Fried bread-y things, delicious

We wandered around the city center for most of the night in search of a cheap beer.  I always thought that beer in Germany was dirt cheap and served in giant glasses.  At least in Cologne, this is not true.  The beer (Kolsch beer is from Cologne or Koln in German) was expensive (note:we live in a country where there is 20%+ unemployment and so everything here is cheap, but still...) and came in little .2L glasses.  Who knew?

 Looking over the Rhine River at the cathedral

We literally stumbled over these small bronze plaques in the sidewalk.  They were in front of a house and had the names of the Jews who had lived there and were taken to concentration camps along with the number they were assigned in the camp and the date they died.  These were the only ones we saw so I don't know who put them there or how many there are.

All-in-all we found Cologne to be underwhelming.  We have heard great things about Germany but Cologne, with its newer building and industrial and touristy feel was not our favorite stop.  It has some great museums and is easy to get to and from by train though.  And lets be honest, if flights there are cheap again, we'll probably go back, traveling is never that bad!

This is great!!