Kaffe mit Leche und....

Say What!!!???

"Kaffee mit Leche" is what I said at the Cafe Bar in Granada - Spain. So I got the "Leche" right. It is very confusing - german with a sprinkling of Spanish. Best if I just used full on English maybe? Kendra ordered her dinner beautifully in German at dinner as well - and the Spanish waiter grinned and said it was very nice. Haha

That's what we get. It's a mish-mash. But funny and we have a good time laughing at ourselves. Although, when Rachel replied "gracias" to the waiter (after the 3 of us had already), he launched into a question for her in Spanish. To which she apparently replied appropriately.

She has an ear for accents and is in her 2nd Semester of Spanish (teacher from Spain). Obviously she's picked up the right tone - which the rest of us don't have. But I didn't try my West Sacramento Spanish accent on him - maybe next time. :)

It's October break, Herbstfereien, and we went back to the Costa del Sol, near Marbella, again for a few days before Bart had to get back for 3rd quarter reports. So the girls and I have a few days of down time, my dad will arrive on Friday for 2 weeks and we will see Bart again when he surfaces sometime Sunday afternoon/evening.

The weekend was nice with some expected weather. We had hoped to take the ferry over and tour Tangiers but based on weather forecasts, cancelled. That day it poured. We used the indoor pool & gym facilities and hit the Mall. Felt like we were in So. Cal minus the indoor pool/drenching rain. We did drive to Granada for a tour of the Alhambra and took a trip to the Rock - Gibraltar.

So - soon as the pic's are loaded, I'll share - we stood in the room Christopher Columbus was in when Isabella of Spain declared the financing for his America's expedition. On Columbus Day! I only knew it was Columbus day in the States since Mom had a day off - I think only the Fed's get it off at this point.

Our trip home was delayed due to the local Air Traffic Controller's (ATC) strike in France. Which affects anyone flying over French airspace. Tiresome! Our SwissAir flight was just sitting there out the window - ready to go. A crewmember was sitting on the back stairs of the exterior jetway just waiting in the late afternoon sun. We were lucky though - some airlines (esp. discount airline EasyJet) had to cancel flights. Fortunately, we were going to our final destination. I always feel for those who still have connections which might not be met. At least they get to overnight in Zurich as opposed to, well, we won't name names but a Portuguese city comes to mind and it wasn't enjoyable.

Many countries are pushing for a unified European ATC and while it may not solve union issues themselves, it would reduce the complexity of air travel in Europe. Many flights could be streamlined if there were not the individual country ATC restrictions and no-fly zone restrictions. Can you imagine if every State in the US had it's own ATC and air-space restrictions? Some restrictions/no-fly zones have to exist - that makes common sense. But the switch over from system to system and the air flight patterns - could be made more efficient in both time and fuel if they would unite. Although Switzerland is usually stand-offish on "uniting fronts", this is an issue they'd like resolved. Makes sense considering the size of the country and who they're surrounded by.

OK - enough with lectures today. Laundry to do, pictures to sort and, oh yeah, have to unbury the guest bed for Dad!