Wild Wednesday: Autumn Already?

Shoe designers are releasing their Autumn-Winter 2012 collections for presale and the month of July is not even over. While I am excited for all the new shoes and boots that will be hitting store shelves, I am lamenting the soon-to-be loss of bright pumps and sandals. This is why I have chosen a fantastically bright shoe from Nicholas Kirkwood's new collection for my Wild Wednesday post. Although he features many unusual shoes in traditional fall colors (dark red, black, etc), he has also created quite a few designs with bright fall colors, such as orange, gold and fuchsia. This week's Wild Wednesday heel (by Nicholas Kirkwood) displays a peep-toe front, with a thin orange stiletto heel and front platform, as well as a bright fuchsia upper, with orange and gold detailing. These fun heels can be paired with dresses or shirts in striking colors for maximal effect.

(Left) Stretch charmeuse v-neck dress by Vera Wang, (Middle) Orange and fuchsia stiletto by Nicholas Kirkwood, (Right) Long-sleeve blouse and cropped pants by Peter Som

And to set off the beautiful gold sparkles in the shoes, a set of rose gold earrings and a rose gold (or gold) necklace make the perfect accessories.

(Left) Ippolita wavy pendant necklace in rose gold, (Middle) Lana three-tiered hoops in 14-k white gold, rose gold and gold, (Right) Coach floral bib necklace

These dazzling and funky Nicholas Kirkwood shoes are the perfect Summer-Autumn 2012 transition heels - brightly-colored to shine with summer outfits and warmly-colored for fall outfits.

Menorca: Days Six and Seven

Yesterday, D and I flew from Barcelona to Menorca - a quick 50 minute flight. We then waited in the world's slowest moving line in order to rent a car. We were very excited about being able to rent one of the cute little cars seen all over Spain. Alas, it was not to be - we ended up with Hertz's brand new SUV - a Hyundai. We started our drive (in Mao) and headed off to Ciutadella with the map provided by Hertz. We quickly realized that we needed a much better map given that ours was missing street names in Ciutadella - most notably, it was missing the street where our hotel is located. After making it to the outskirts of Ciutadella, we made a strong attempt to find our hotel - this attempt almost resulted in the end of our marriage. D was driving and I was navigating. Normally, this would not be a problem, but the suv barely fit down most of the teeny-tiny cobbled streets and the map gave no indication which streets were one way and which streets were not actually streets that you could drive on. We finally gave up, parked the car and walked around until we found the hotel. The hotel owner, a very nice man, walked us back to the car and drove the car to the parking lot where tourists could park without paying a fee. Amusingly, he was very excited about the suv and hoped that one of his friends would see him driving it!

By this point, it was dinner time (almost 8:30 pm). We ate near the Port de Ciutadella and had champagne sangria to celebrate the survival of our marriage.

Me standing by the Port de Ciutadella

D looking stunned (and weary) and grateful for champagne sangria.

Today, D and I got up early, determined to find the Roman fort near Cap de Cavalleria. Fail. Even with our new and improved map (which was still missing street names - turns out that there aren't very many named streets), finding the remains of the Roman fort was too challenging. But, it wasn't completely a loss. We found Cala Pregonda - a beautiful beach with gorgeous aqua blue water - and decided to stay there for the day.

Cala Pregonda

Along the hike to the beach, we saw these little piles of stones. They're very unique, but we were unable to find any information about them.

Strange piles of stones at Cala Pregonda.

Having converted to eating much later at night, D and I are now off to wander around Ciutadella and find a little tapas restaurant.

Montserrat: Day Five

Breakfast (in truth, it was much closer to lunch) this morning was paella de pollo - a tasty dish of rice, chicken, peas and other random stuff that all went together perfectly.

Paella de Pollo para dos - it seemed like for 4 people!

Today we went to Montserrat mountain which has the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat. The monastery is known for the statue of the Black Madonna, patron saint of Catalonia. It took us about an hour and a half to get there by metro from Barcelona. Upon reaching the Aerie de Montserrat stop, we then took a cable car up the mountain to reach the monastery and basilica. 

The view from the monastery at Monsterrat.

The organ inside the basilica - that's someone actually playing it.

D and me in front of the basilica and the Museo de Montserrat.

And in case anyone is wondering, the trains in Barcelona are not nearly as easy to navigate as the trains in Madrid. Exits (or salidas) and directions to specific trains are not clearly defined or labeled. In fact, it is possible to switch from the metro trains to the FCG trains (which are completely different) without changing to and paying for the proper ticket types, only to discover on the way back that they will not let you leave the train station without the correct (and paid for) ticket type. Furthermore, they will try to charge you 50 euros to leave. Very frustrating.

Barcelona: Day Four (Too tired...)

I am too tired to post an in-depth description of our day. Suffice to say, we walked around Barcelona - at least 8 miles. Tomorrow is an early morning in order to go to Montserrat. 'Early' being 8 am. Nothing opens here before 10 am!

D insisted of a picture of me and this rose because a man walked into our restaurant selling roses and when we insisted that we didn't need a rose, he gave one to me anyway. The guilt ate away at D and he paid for the rose.

Hopefully, I can post a longer description of Montserrat tomorrow evening!

Madrid to Barcelona: Day Three

Last night, D and I discovered that our hotel room did not have an alarm clock. Since we have not been using our phones (no cell phone coverage in Spain), we were at a loss as to how to wake ourselves up this morning. Ahhh, yes. Wake-up calls. On a side note, our hotel room in Barcelona also does not have an alarm clock - apparently, waking up is not a concern for Spaniards! Anyway, we managed to get an early start and headed back to the Parque del Buen Retiro for a row boat ride in the little lake near the Palacio de Cristal. D found my rowing 'skills' very amusing - I have never actually rowed a boat before!

My first timing rowing a boat!

The Palacio de Cristal from our row boat.

We started our way back to the hotel to pick up an early lunch and head to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. However, for the second time within a 12 hour period, the police had blockaded entrances to our hotel due to protestors. Last night, protests against the Spanish austerity measures began around 11 pm and continued until at least 3 am (Spanish austerity protests). These protests were right outside our hotel near the Museo del Prado.

Protests against Spanish austerity measures outside the Museo del Prado.

After a fairly uneventful flight, we checked into our hotel on La Rambla and decided to wander down to the Port de Barcelona. La Rambla was packed!! So many restaurants, shops and people, all jammed into one small area. There is a large shopping center in the Port de Barcelona and in order to get to this shopping center, you have to walk on a floating boardwalk. Now imagine this floating boardwalk filled with people shoulder-to-shoulder. 

D imitating a buoy in the Port de Barcelona.

After leaving the Port de Barcelona, D and I wandered up Via Laietana and saw one of the two best surviving remnants of Barcelona's Roman walls, rebuilt in the 3rd and 4th centuries after attacks from Germanic tribes in the north.

Roman wall in Placa de Ramon Berenguer el Gran with the Capella Reial de Santa Agata on top.

For the first time, we actually managed to wait to eat until after 8 pm. Around 10 pm, all the Europeans wandered in to dinner, so there is still plenty of room for improvement in our meal schedule!

Madrid: Day Two

It's amazing what 12 hours of sleep will do for a person's well-being. After a wonderful night's rest and an unusual breakfast buffet, D and I headed off to the Museo del Prado to view the Spanish royalty's art collections from the 15th - 18th centuries. Several hours later, a very cultured D and I picked up lunch and then headed off to the Palacio Real. The Palacio Real was commissioned by Felipe V, but since he died before the palace was finished, it ended up being only 2,800 rooms - a quarter of its intended size. Bummer.  As you can tell from the pictures below, it still ended up a pretty decent sized castle.

D and I in front of the Palacio Real

In the 'guard' house in front of the Palacio Real.

Immediately across from the Palacio Real was the Catedral de Almudena (posted yesterday). Somehow D and I found the Catedral de Almudena and completely missed the Palacio Real. In fact, we also missed the front of the Catedral de Almudena that faces the Palacio Real - go figure!

The front of the Catedral de Almudena (and D's head).

From the Palacio Real we wandered down to the Muralla Arabe, the fortifications built by Madrid's early medieval Islamic rulers. The majority of it was torn down and replaced by a Christian wall.

In order of front to back: D, the Muralla Arabe, and the Catedral de Almudena. I think that might be the Christian wall in between the Muralla Arabe and the Catedral de Almudena, but I'm not sure.

Then it was time for a tasty dinner of suckling pig and off to the bullfight. 

Suckling pig - tasty!

I am not a fan of hurting animals, but the bullfight was definitely an event to see. The matadors are incredibly athletic and decked out in intricately embroidered and bedazzled outfits. And the bulls are terrifying. But don't leave in between matadors! They won't let you back into the amphitheater until the matador has killed the bull (poor bull!) and they are in the process of resetting/cleaning the field.

Matadors entering the arena at the beginning of the bullfight.

Look how close the matador gets to the bull! This particular matador got a standing ovation from the crowd complete with waving white handkerchiefs.

D and me at the bullfight. It was 9 pm and still daylight out!

So far, D and I have both happily managed to avoid terrible sunburns despite the amount of time spent outside. Hopefully, we can continue that trend as we go on a boat ride tomorrow morning and then head off to Barcelona.

Madrid: Day One

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous that we (my husband, 'D',  and I) were going to actually make it out of Chicago. First, the cab that we reserved did not show up. Next, in a new cab (that required an extra 10 minutes of walking), we merged onto I-90/94 and just sat. And sat. And sat. And then the skies opened up and a torrential downpour commenced - there was a clear forecast (umm, fail?)! And we were still sitting. After convincing the cab driver to get us to the closest El stop, we ran with our luggage (in the pouring rain) to catch the Blue line to O'Hare. We made it to our gate with time to spare, but found out shortly thereafter that the plane was not at the gate because it was also stuck in traffic - ohhh, the irony. After a delayed boarding, we made it on to the plane - yay! No. The weather was not done with us. It began to pour again, resulting in a ground stop and a 2 hour delay. But, we made it out! Hola, Espana!

Today we had to force ourselves to adjust to a new time zone - a seven hour time change. In honor of D's father, we did a forced march around the Madrid districts of El Retiro, Huertas and Toledo - roughly 8 miles.  Our initial march started off at the Parque del Buen Retiro, right near our hotel. We had a goal - to find the oldest tree in Madrid. It took us about 2 hours to find it - mostly because it was right in front of us at the main entrance to the park, a rectangular section called the Paseo Parterre. Additional oddities in this section were some strange, perfectly pruned trees that strongly resembled broccoli.

Madrid's oldest tree, planted in 1633

D sitting underneath the broccoli trees.

We did part of a bus tour, but true to form, I fell asleep almost immediately after the bus started moving and eventually whacked my head on D's shoulder. We had to get off the bus and start walking. Luckily, there are many beautiful cathedrals in Madrid which made the walk back towards the Parque del Buen Retiro much more enjoyable. The Basilica de San Francisco El Grande had a beautiful garden and a lovely view of the city.  About 2 blocks up the road was the Catedral de la Almudena which features stunning carved artwork on its front doors.

D and me in the garden at the Basilica de San Francisco El Grande

The front doors of the Basilica de San Francisco El Grande

On our way back, we encountered several street artists. For some reason, the noises they made to attract interest (strange chirping and squeaking sounds) fascinated me. This particular street artist completely captivated me - ooo - shiny and sparkly!

Street artist

We were headed back to the Parque del Buen Retiro for one purpose - to see one of the few statues of the devil (in the world!!). This statue is called El Angel Caido or "The Fallen Angel." Quick weird fact: this statue sits exactly 666 m above sea level. Definitely strange.

El Angel Caido

D and I have now been up for about 30 hours straight. After some well needed rest, we plan to see the Museo del Prado, take a boat ride at the Palace de Cristal and go see a bullfight - all tomorrow!

Wild Wednesday: ¡Tales Zapatos Hermosos! (or "Such Beautiful Shoes!")

In honor of my upcoming trip to Spain, I have decided to blog about a fantastic Spanish shoe designer - and included, of course, are a couple of other wonderful Spanish clothing and accessory designers. Founded in 2001, Chie Mihara is a star amongst footwear couturiers.  Her current Spring-Summer 2012 collection features earthy and gold tones with playful embellishments such as feathers, fruit charms and fluffy pom-poms. 

(Left) Long green and orange dress by Anjara Garcia, (Center) Besas by Chie Mihara, (Right) Silk shirt-dress by Alma Aguilar

Besas is a fabulous brown-patterned sandaled heel with a burst of color from the strawberry charm accenting the front. These unique sandals can be easily partnered with a long moss-green and orange (also earth tones) Anjara Garcia sun dress for a fun daytime look or with a bright rose dress by Alma Aguilar that matches the strawberry tassel for a sultry evening outfit. And nothing complements earth tones better than gold jewelry by Anna Nadal!

The Alex collection by Anna Nadal: Earrings (left) and Necklace (right)

And just to make this a true Wild Wednesday post, take a look at Nabila by Chie Mihara.

Nabila by Chie Mihara

Do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? Maybe take a look at the shoes around you!