Update 2: Family in Logrono for Christmas!

On December 23rd, the seven of us made it to Logrono in the afternoon to all go to the grocery store together to buy what we would need for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals in Spain. My family thought it was crazy how the the people pulled around little mini carts in the grocery store. Ben and I have become accustomed to them so it was funny to see how new people laughed as we had done right away. The mini grocery carts remind me of a wash bucket that you use to clean your floors but on wheels and having holes in them. They are very small so you always have to pull a couple around in order to fit all your groceries.

For Christmas Eve, Ben and I decided to venture once again in making the turkey, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, a fabulous salad and vegetables meal like we had once before for Thanksgiving Day here in Spain and sort of failed at it then. This time though, the meal was a success! Like on Thanksgiving Day our power went out again but this time we were prepared and everything was finished all together. Ben and I treated my family to traditional Christmas treats. In Spain they have many different Christmas goodies that are excellent at Christmas time. My family liked them so much that they all packed a few away to bring back to share with people in the US. I also was able to show my family the greatest candy that I have ever had and they all fell in love with it too. I have never liked candy so much as I do here in Spain. There are candy stores everywhere in my city and they seem to always be busy all of the time with children and even adults. We took my family out for the traditional churros and chocolate for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning. They were great!

My mom, dad and I went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve at the beautiful cathedral near our apartment and we also went again on Christmas Day with everybody. It was interesting both times because it was all in Spanish! Everybody could kind of understand at least the traditional Christmas tunes they played during the masses.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent relaxing with the family catching up in our apartment. It was a great time being able to have all 7 people together staying in our apartment. It was a tight squeeze but we all managed great and it was really nice to be able to spend all the time together. We also spent the days here wandering and exploring the city.

Here are some photos of the places in Logrono we visited.

Here is "a" for Abby!

Here is my mom, Rob and I at the RiojaForum. The RiojaForum is a concert hall and also used as a building for where the Congress of La Rioja meets.

Cities in Spain are known for the traditional 'tapas' or appetizers. It was exciting going out for tapas with my family during the Christmas time. Most Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights families in Spain go out to many different bars and eat small appetizer foods together with a glass of wine or beer. It is a fun time to wander the streets and visit with people. Here we are above in one of Ben and my favorite bars in Logrono to visit for tapas. It was especially exciting during the Christmas time since there were many small local bands playing Christmas tunes marching through the streets and stopping to play outside for the crowd. It really made it feel like Christmas even though there wasn't any snow or cold weather! During Christmas they also had two different little outside markets to buy handmade goods from people that came here from all over the world. We all bought a few gifts from there to remember the markets.

After Christmas Day my family took two more day trips to the cities of Bilbao and Zaragoza. They are both cities within 2 hours away from Logrono by bus. I will update you later on the excursions of both those cities. Goodbye for now!

Some Excursions in Spain

We have had the opportunity to do a lot of different things living here in Logrono so far and it has only been 2 months! Here are a few things that I have enjoyed doing since the middle of October.

Ben's high school invited him and I to go along to a tour of a new museum that has opened up just outside of Logrono on October 18th. It is called Museo Wurth. It is a German/Spanish museum made with many different art pieces from all over the world that one German man had collected and now put in a museum. There was a book opening the night that we went to the Museum. We were even given the book as a free gift for going to listen to the speeches. We got to explore the museum for about an hour and then were able to feast on many different types of tapas (appetizers) and wine for free before heading back to Logrono. I enjoyed the museum a lot! Here are some photos from the museum.

On October 20th Ben and I enjoyed traditional food from Spain. We indulged in churros and also another thing I can't remember the name of. It is like fried mini potato chips and then you either put spicy ketchup, guacamole or garlic mayonnaise on them. They both were very good! We bought them at a local place called "La Perla". It is a small shop set up right on a corner of the street and they open every night.

On October 27th, we went on a tour of a local winery, Franco-Espanolas, that is just across the river from our apartment. We met up with Juan, our friend, who was confused about just being able to go there on our own. We ended up talking with one of the tour guides and getting a personal tour for just the three of us! It was my favorite wine tour. We even received diplomas from the place after the tour was finished!


Here is a photo of some beautiful leaves in Logrono during the fall. It is weird. I think that since they grow a lot of grapes here for wine that the soil must make the leaves in the fall turn especially darker red colors. I have never seen such brilliant colors in the fall.

On October 28th, Ben and I received free tickets to go watch a local basketball game in Logrono. It was fun to go watch a sports event live. Our team here is called Caja Rioja. Caja Rioja is the name of a large bank company in Logrono.

On Halloween night Ben and I carved a pumpkin. We had all of our friends that are doing the same as us here over for good pizza and then went out to an Irish Pub afterwards. It was lots of fun! At the bar they had scary people dressed up with chainsaws and would turn off all the lights in the bar and run around. I was scared!


This photo of the cathedral by our apartment was taken very late on Halloween night. It is one of my favorites here so far!

One important holiday in Spain is celebrated on November 1st. It is called All Saints Day in the United States. They celebrate All Saints Day a lot more than they do Halloween. The week before All Saints Day the flower shops sell huge amounts of flowers and then people visit the cemetery on that day. They also have no school on that day. They have two types of pastries that are very popular for that day as well. They are called Huesos de Santos (Bones of the Saints) and Bunuelos. Ben and I tried one of every flavor. They were great! The bunuelos are on the left and the Huesos de Santos are in the middle next to our favorite bread here to buy!

This is just a quick tour of what we have been up to lately in Spain from October until now. There will surely be a lot more on its way. I can't wait to celebrate the Christmas holiday season here! I am also very excited that my parents, Tony, Rob and April are coming to visit us from December 20th - December 31st. If anybody wants to come visit us here just let us know! We would love to have visitors any time and have seen some great roundtrip prices for the spring months. Have a great rest of your Monday. Also, make sure you read the next blog below this one. I was so ambitious today I wrote two blog entries and don't want you to miss out on either one! Bye and until next time.