• Shared today on Twitter

    RT @AWSCloudANZ: Experienced leaders can can help you challenge convention, learn, and grow your career. However, landing time with your dr…


    @andre_verheij Always.


    Dinner onboard the RJX262 from Munich to Budapest-Deli. We ordered on the railnet site and they delivered to our seats! 🍺🚞 @_DiningCar https://t.co/yCaki7An5T


    @_DiningCar Argh, typo! It’s the RJX 261.


    @Herri_HSV96 @_DiningCar It’s meant to be Tiroler Gröstl mit warmem Krautsalat 😂



  • Shared today on Twitter

    @davefarley77 There’s been a lot of good stuff, but right now I’m happiest about fighting my way through a thicket of bureaucracy seven months ago to hire a guy from Belarus and help him and his partner migrate to Germany. Didn’t realise how important that was going to be.


    @BrisJS Awww, miss you lot! ❤️ Thanks for the shout out. If you find any great folks to add it to it, please let me know.


    RT @BrisJS: Hey all! Happy #InternationalWomensDay from BrisJS too! – maybe consider some cool lists, like this one I’ve been following by…


    RT @codepo8: 🧠📺 The old Wonder Women show is full of wisdom. https://t.co/IwH5x4TRNd


    RT @primarymark: “We took in some Jewish children who often sat in front of the fire every evening, quietly crying because they had no idea…


    RT @obiwankenobi: Between darkness and defeat, hope survives.

    Watch the new teaser trailer for #ObiWanKenobi, and start streaming the limi…


    The Obi-Wan trailer reminded me that I did bring this treasured souvenir along to Germany with me. 😍 https://t.co/AUtB9oRbh3



  • Tapas and art in Madrid

    Tapas and art in Madrid

    Our first trip together in 2022! My boss asked me to come to Madrid for a meeting so it seemed like a good excuse for a weekend in Spain. We headed off a few days early to play tourist…

    Flight to Madrid

    The morning flight from Madrid featured gorgeous scenery.

    Lake from above

    We were staying at the Eurostars Madrid Tower, which isn’t close to the city but is close to my office. We were very lucky and the weather was absolutely beautiful. From our hotel room, we could see mountains in the far distance.

    View from the hotel

    It was lunchtime, so we headed to the nearby Paprika Cafe. It’s a very small place, but the food is outstanding. I had gnocchi with oxtail and truffle, and we shared a piece of cheesecake for dessert. The guy at the cafe told us that the cheesecake had cream, blue, and parmesan cheese, and it wasn’t super sweet. Delicious though.

    The Snook had a homemade pastrami sandwich, and he really enjoyed it.

    Pastrami sandwich

    After a few hours napping and relaxing back at the hotel, we caught the metro into the city. I had booked us into a tour with Walk and Eat Spain, and to our delight, we found we were the only ones on it! So we ended up with our own personal guide, Margit, an American expat who made us feel right at home.

    Us and Margit

    The tour took us to several venues in Malasańa, a pretty happening part of the city. Our first stop was Mozzare Atelier de Quesos y Lacteos, a cheese shop and wine bar. We had several different local cheeses, including a “mystery” cheese that definitely wasn’t Parmigiano (because of course, that name is protected) but bore a, uh, strong resemblance! 😂🧀

    Wine and cheese

    It was a beautiful night to wander around Madrid.

    Plaza del Rastrillo

    Look at this gorgeous fellow.

    Snookums

    As we walked through Malasańa, Margit told us about local history and about daily life in Madrid.

    El Barto was here!

    Our second stop was local vermutería called Pepe y Josefa. We had vermouth (on tap!) and some lovely garlicky green olives.

    Vermouth and olives

    We also had tostas – toast with tomato puree and thinly sliced jamón ibérico on top.

    Tosta

    Our next stop was Bodegas El Maño, which was heaving. Thankfully because of the tour we had a reserved table in the corner.

    Bodegas el Maño

    We had beers and patatas bravas, which I LOVE. We dunked the hot, crispy potatoes in chili sauce and aioli.

    Patatas bravas

    The final stop was Bodegas Rivas, where we had seared red tuna with tomato, ginger, and soy sauce. Oh, and more wine. 🍷

    Tuna

    What a fun night! We said goodbye to Margit and headed back to the hotel.

    Us and Margit

    It was another beautiful day the next morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and thankfully weren’t too hungover from the night before.

    Breakfast

    We caught a cab to the city for our next adventure, a “combo tour” of the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Prado Museum. We headed for the Plaza de Oriente bright and early to find the Monument to Philip IV and meet up with our tour group.

    Monument to Philip IV

    Our first stop was the Royal Palace of Madrid

    Royal Palace of Madrid

    Once we went through security, we found ourselves in the Plaza de la Armería. There’s a grand statue of King Charles III of Spain.

    King Charles III of Spain

    We entered the Palace via the Grand Staircase

    Grand Staircase

    At the top you’re greeted by the Coat of Arms of Spain. This Palace isn’t just a tourist destination; it’s the official residence of the Spanish royal family! (These days it’s really only used for state ceremonies though.)

    Coat of Arms of Madrid

    And then you look up, …and WOW. Those ceiling frescoes are by Corrado Giaquinto, and they’re breathtaking.

    Ceiling Frescoes

    Selfie time!

    Ceiling selfie

    There’s really only one room of the tour you’re allowed to take photos in, which is this one. Our tour guide mentioned that it’s been used for a lot of state occasions. The carpet is rolled up so it doesn’t get worn down with all the tourists traipsing through, and it also gives a view of that beautiful marble floor. (Our guide spoke to us via little wireless earpieces, which is what the Snook’s wearing there.)

    Marble floor

    Real tapestries on the walls! Pretty sure she said they came from famous tapestry weavers in Germany.

    Tapestry

    That’s the point where we went into the parts of the palace you’re not allowed to photograph. And let me tell you – we’ve visited several castles and palaces over the years, and most of them aren’t nearly as luxurious or, well, palatial as I expected. Either the original furnishings are long gone, or the owners ran out of money to complete more than few rooms of their folly. (*cough* LUDWIG) But this one? This one was stunning. Many of the rooms were decorated in a lavish Rococo style, which the Snook found creepy but I absolutely loved. The banqueting hall was mind-blowing. It took us an hour to get through all the different rooms.

    At this point, we had a short break before we began the next stage of the tour. The Snook and I used it by soaking up the sun in the Plaza.

    The Snook

    From the Plaza, you’ve got a lovely look down into the Campo del Moro Gardens.

    Campo del Moro Gardens

    One last shot of the facade of the Palace against a clear blue sky.

    Palace facade

    At this point, the combo tour takes you on about an hour’s walk across the city. (If you go directly it’s only about 25 minutes, but our guide wanted to show us some highlights.) We started up the Calle Mayor, one of the most important streets in Madrid.

    Calle Mayor

    Along the way, we learned about how in 1906 an anarchist tried to assassinate King Alfonso XIII and his new bride Princess Victoria Eugenie as they passed in their wedding carriage. The King and Queen survived, but others did not. Now there’s a memorial in front of the Monastery of San Jerónimo.

    Memorial

    This is the Casa de la Villa (old city hall) in the Plaza de la Villa in the Palacio neighbourhood.

    Plaza de la Villa

    Off the Plaza, our tour guide made a special point of taking us to Calle del Codo. This is a very narrow street with a ninety-degree bend in it, which is why the name translates to “Elbow Street.” (You can see the sign with the bent arm on it.)

    Calle del Codo

    At last we made it to the Plaza Mayor, a famous major public square in the city. I loved the frescoes on the outside of the Casa de la Panaderia.

    Casa de la Panaderia

    We had been told that the Plaza was usually crowded with tourists (and thus a target for pickpockets), but thankfully it wasn’t too bad that day.

    Plaza Mayor

    We left the Plaza via the Arco de Cuchilleros and walked down the Cava de San Miguel. Our tour guide was very excited to show us Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world in continuous operation!

    Sobrino de Botín

    We wound back around to the Plaza and then headed out the other end at Calle de la Sal (“Salt Street”).

    Calle de la Sal

    This gorgeous place – the Petit Palace Posada del Peine – is a 400-year-old hotel!

    Posada del Peine

    Our next landmark was the Puerta del Sol (“Gate of the Sun”), another famous public square in Madrid.

    Puerta del Sol

    One of the landmarks in the square is a statue of a bear and a strawberry tree. It represents the coat of arms of Madrid, and our tour guide told us it was good luck to touch the bear. (You can see that his heel and his tail are showing wear from lots of touching by thousands of people!)

    Status of a bear and strawberry tree

    This is the Palacio de las Cortes (Palace of the Parliament) where the lower house of the Spanish legislature meets. They had banners up for International Women’s Day when we were there.

    Palacio de las Cortes

    Finally we reached our destination – the Prado Museum, housing one of the finest collections of European art in the world.

    Prado Museum

    Our guide led us inside and on a whirlwind tour of the museum highlights. Honestly, you could’ve spent an entire day in there but we’d already been on our feet for 4+ hours so we were flagging. No photos were allowed, but I was mesmerised by Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. We both loved Rubens’s The Three Graces and Velázquez’s Las Meninas. I also admired Caravaggio’s David and Goliath (which we’d see later version of, a week later in Vienna). The final room of the tour was all Goya, including his bleak The Dog and Saturn Devouring his Son. (I bought the latter as a fridge magnet. 😳)

    The next day I worked from the AWS office while the Snook went off on his own adventure. At one point, I was surprised to spot the tour bus of the Paris Saint-Germain football club outside our hotel! (Sadly, I did not spot Lionel Messi at the hotel breakfast buffet that morning…)

    Paris Saint-Germain

    While I was working, Rodd headed into the city again. He was delighted to get to see the towers of the Gate of Europe, which apparently feature prominently in a Spanish-Italian film from the 90’s called The Day of the Beast. (He’s adamant I’m going to have to watch it someday.)

    Gate of Europe

    His destination was the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (National Archaeology Museum), and he spent a couple hours exploring its treasures. He said, “They basically have the whole history of human habitation on the Iberian peninsula, from the initial migration out of Africa through to the Moorish period.”

    MAN and Snook

    He saw prehistoric art carved on bones, loads of gold treasure from the Celtic period, and quite a lot of Roman marbles. He especially liked this carved and gilded wooden dome ceiling.

    Ceiling

    After the Museum, he went to check out the nearby Buen Retiro Park. He got a shot of the Monument to Alfonso XII across the pond.

    Retiro Park

    One final shot across the Retiro. Look at those fabulous trees! Thanks for a lovely weekend, Madrid…

    Retiro


  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @schnoerpsel: ich lache und weine seit einer stunde gleichzeitig.

    es gibt ein neues lied von NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK mit RICK ASTLEY. und…


    RT @RealSexyCyborg: I’ve speculated before that the Maker Movement was primarily about the gentrification of shop class and this focus on f…


    RT @jeffbarr: Breaking the Bias – Women at #AWS Developer Relations – https://t.co/Ue5HxK67Rw – Guest post by @RashmiNbr featuring @Vel1217…



  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @GunnarGrosch: We’re live now! Join us for some AWS Step Functions action! https://t.co/m9j3PuDJMu


    @lynnlangit Oh good lord. @the_snook and I nearly broke up early in our relationship over a particularly contentious game of Monopoly, in which I sold a Glaswegian the red property he needed over the Snook’s impassioned cries of “BUT STATISTICALLY THAT’S THE MOST VALUABLE–“



  • Shared today on Twitter

    Breakfast with a view. Only a little seedy from last night… 😅☕️ @ Madrid, Spain https://t.co/XLoe09OtiI



  • Shared today on Twitter

    TFW you manage to each solve the day’s Semantle puzzle right before your flight takes off… 😅✈️ @ Munich Airport https://t.co/U2Pd7zHEnj


    Time to eat our way through Madrid! First up is oxtail gnocchi with truffle for me, homemade pastrami sandwich for the Snook, and an amazing cheesecake with smoked and bleu cheese. 😍 https://t.co/OH8osvVrY8


    If you’re wondering if we followed that meal up with a siesta… we did.


    RT @SamRamani2: Germany shuts down Russia in an argument about Nazism https://t.co/VS71bzgWHO


    Booked a food tour tonight in Madrid and we were the only ones on it! So Margit was our own private guide to tapas in Malasaña. 🧀🍷🍺❤️ https://t.co/QOeGXKvWYV



  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @rjourdan_net: Today, I opened 7 Developer Advocate roles… net-new positions to cover topics like cloud infrastructure, web developmen…



  • Shared today on Twitter

    @MelissaKaulfuss All three of those things are tough. Hang in there. ❤️




ABOUT

My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.

No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.


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