How much do things cost over there?

We get this question a lot so I thought I would dedicate this post to answering that very question.  I tend to buy generic and the largest quantity I can so I don't have to repurchase every week.  I do miss my Costco!

Milk- Skim 1.5L €1.50 or .396 gallon $2.05
Cereal- Special K 750g €3.85 or 26.455 oz. $5.26
Flour- Generic 1Kg €.56 or 2.20lbs $.76
Sugar- Generic 1Kg €.84 or 2.20lbs $1.15
Laundry detergent- Generic 3L (44 washes) €5.79 or $7.91
Yogurt- Generic 4 pack that are 125g each €.83 or 4.409 oz cups $1.13
Eggs- Generic 1 Dozen €.98 or $1.34
Grapes- Red seedless 500g €2.15 or 1.10lbs $2.92
Apples- Gala 1Kg €1.29  or 2.20lbs. $1.75
Bananas- 1Kg €.84 or 2.20lbs. $1.14
Water- Generic 1.5L €.22 or .396 gallon $.30
Soda- 1 can Coke Zero €.54 or 12 oz. $.73 (you can only buy it by the can here)
Butter- Generic 250g €1.35 or 8.818 oz. $1.84
Gas- 1L €1.35 or .264 gallon $1.83 (making a gallon $6.94!!!!)

Halloween in Spain

The celebration of Halloween isn't common here in Spain, but Jeff found this pumpkin for me at the local grocery store.  It only came in one size, but I will take it.  It was around €3 or $4, a bit step in my opinion. 

I did see some little children dressed up for daycare on Halloween.  Of course, there were also some bar aged adults dressed up the weekend prior to Halloween. 

Prior to surgery:

 

 

After surgery, prior to radiation:

 

 

During radiation:

 

Things I miss...

from the States.  Don't get me wrong I like living here overall, but there are some convienences from home I miss.

-windows and sliding doors with screens (here they don't exist)
-finishing a load of laundry within an hour (here just to wash takes 120+ minutes and another 111 minutes to dry)
-ability to wash more than 2 pairs of jeans/3 shirts in a load of laundry
-my dishwasher (here I hand wash the dishes as we don't have one)
-my garbage disposal
-American cable
-buying fruit when it might not be in season in Illinois
-my full sized oven
-closet space (we only have 2 closets in our home, in the master bedroom)
-being able to jump in my car to run to Target or the grocery store (here I need to plan my trips by the bus, tram and train routes)
-being able to shop on Sunday (everything is closed here on Sundays with the exception of restaurants and the movie theatre)
-driving
-all my kitchen appliances (kitchen aid mixer, toaster, blender, etc)
-our grill (not very common here and we are not allowed to have one per our lease)
-good cuts of beef (here the red meat isn't very good)
-customer service (here you don't need to tip, which is nice.  although, service usually sucks since servers don't need to work for their tips)
-banks open for more than 6 hours a day (here banks are open usually from 8:30-2 and not on weekends either)
-our large bed (it was just a queen, but here we have a double and that is the biggest we could get)

London: Part II

Both Jeff and I have been to London several times, seperately for work, but there were still things we hadn't done.  So this trip we decided to complete the "to do" list, we visited; St. Paul's Cathedral, went up in the London Eye, had English tea service and visited the Borough Market.  Overall, it was a good trip and hope to visit again in the near future.

The Marble Arch:

The Orangery at Kensington Palace where we had English tea service.

This is what you get when you order English tea service, plus tea of course.  It was lovely and can't beleive I have never had it before.

Here I am preparing my tea, I think I added to much milk in my first cup.

These are the gardens at Kensington Palace.

Parliment/Big Ben from the London Eye.

A pod on the London Eye.

The London Eye.

Postre

Here is a glimpse of what kind of sweets there are here.  When I say that I can't find things like chocolate chips, brown sugar, etc, here people always wonder then what kind of sweets we have here.  What I wouldn't give for chocolate cake with some buttercream frosting, yum!

 

 

The cakes below are pretty expensive, starting 30 Euro each.

 

London: Part I

Jeff had to work in London for a week in October, so we decided to make a weekend out of it.  It was nice to visit a country where we spoke the local language.  If you never been to London it is a lot like the US, similar to NYC.  There is a Whole Foods in London so I was able to purchase some items that I can't find here in Spain, such as; oatmeal, brown sugar, syrup for pancakes, chocolate chips, corn syrup, coffee for french press, a cake mix and tub of frosting.

The Free Mason building:

St. Paul's Cathedral:

From the top of St. Paul's Cathedral.  Jeff climbed to the top while I waited downstairs.  There were some 500 steps to the top, about 450 too many for me.

There was a protest in front of the cathedral while we were there.  They were protesting the cutting of benefits in the country.

 The Monument:

 Jeff and I at the Tower Bridge.

 Cheese sandwiches being made at the Borough Market.

 It was sooooo good.  It was cheese, onion and capers...all for 5 pounds.

 Big Ben:

The London Eye:

This post reminds me I still have to post pictures from Madrid when we were there in July.  Stay tuned there are more London pictures that I will post.

Lisbon, Portugal: Part 3

We were told to check out the pastries in Portugal, so we stopped at a very popular bakery/cafe.  There were TONS of people in this cafe and were lucky to find a place to sit down. 

Here you could look in the kitchen where they were being produced.

Here they are...I forget their name.  In the middle is custard in a pie like crust, yum!

 Here Chris is sitting in the front of the bus as he is so tall (6 foot 7 inches) and he needed the leg room.

Comercio Square:

Tram 28 that we rode up to in order to get to St. George's Castle.

After getting off the tram we got a bit lost and ran in to this art piece.  It is a bunch of still wool hanging in a courtyard of an apartment complex.

St. George's Castle:

View from St. George's Castle:

There was a bunch of a stray cats within the castle walls, poor things.

A peacock within the castle walls.

 Lisbon Cathedral:

 This is a elevator in the city that locals use to get up and down a large hill. 

 The Ruins from on top the elevator platform.