Spring in Alcala

A collection of random sightings in Alcalá early this spring.

Classic Euro-mullet:

What is left standing of a very large building on the outskirts of Alcalá.

I think that it is cool that you can see the holes left by the floor beams where they stuck into the brick walls.

This window made a nice frame.

The Henares river runs along the southern border of the city and at one place concrete was laid down to make a ford. It is a favorite hang out for ducks on a hot day.

This is the dirt path that parallels the Henares.

Despite the weather warming up significantly, I still found patches of ice near the river.

On one of my walks, I decided to walk along the river away from the main path around a couple of empty fields. It took me quite a ways from buildings and other people. But then I stumbled upon what I think was to become some sort of clandestine meeting of a whole bunch of old Spanish guys. You can see three  of the five in this picture. One would think that they were just our for a walk until you realize that none of them seem to really go anywhere, but shuffle around the same 40 feet or so. The one in the grey is taking a leak.

Apparently Michelle thought it fit to include this one in the post.

ZooQuarium

I don't know who decided to put an aquarium in the middle of the Madrid zoo, but they were a genius. Not only do we get to enjoy both land and water animals, I get to call it a ZooQuarium!
Michelle and I each bought a season's pass to the zoo, that also includes most of the amusement parks, water parks, and zoos in Spain. So we immediately went to the Zooquarium, and then a couple weeks later, to the local amusement park. Also awesome. Here is a collage of some of our favorite pictures:

A stunning pose of Hollis and a bear; Michelle and the flamingos; self portrait of Michelle and Hollis posing as lemurs; the bears giving Hollis the cold shoulder, and both of us with a porcupine. 

It was chilly and few of the animals were up and about, but it didn't stop these lemurs from being adorable!

These bears were being all photogenic for the camera and not hiding like the stupid tiger was.

PostScript Editor's Note (May 2012): Since Michelle has been pregnant, she has been endowed with the super-sniffer and we have yet to go back to the ZooQuarium.

Around Alcalá

These are some pictures from October when we first wandered around Alcalá.

There was a bonsai showing of miniature trees of all types from all around the world. These two were our favorites.

If you look closely, you can see the wire holding up the stem. Most of the trees had to have some form of support, either on the stem, or holding up the branches.

Alcalá is known for its storks, or ciguenas. I had never actually seen storks before, but they have nests all over historic downtown because, not only have they been there for years, their nests are protected by law. Once they go up, they can't be taken down. There is one perched on the top of the weather vane on top of this tower.

Los Veranos Canopy Tour (September 2010)

Hollis and I bought two spots on a canopy tour that my relatives had been on before and really enjoyed. We were quite excited to get started!

The zip lines were awesome - phenomenal views and exciting speeds! We loved our guides too. After we were done with the tour, we got to spend some time in their small petting zoo.

So many cute little monkeys that we got to feed, and we also got to hold an iguana, snake, and rabit! It was a long day, but well worth our money.