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We had so much fun in Madrid!
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We are staying on a very busy retail street in the centro in Madrid, and was I ever delighted and surprised to see that an exhibition of work by sculptor Jaume Plensa was open, right here on our street! Plensa’s work includes the towers with faces and water in millennium park in Chicago, and a very large figure made of letters on the city wall at Antibes, France, as well as his distinctive long, narrow head portraits. The exhibition is at the Foundacion Telefonica, and there were also really excellent exhibits there by other artists, on the themes of telephones…
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On Christmas Eve and Day we walked to Retiro park, which reminded us of Central Park in New York. For sunset we met up at temple David, a 2nd century BCE Egyptian temple that was a gift from Egypt to Spain. It’s reconstructed on a ridge with an amazing westward view. Excellent intel from Zoe and Miles’s friends, we wouldn’t have heard of this site otherwise! Walking back we saw more holiday lights. Then back to our apartment for a wonderful Christmas dinner with the group. So yummy and we didn’t even have room for dessert, half a king cake…
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We took a bus from Granada to Madrid and have been enjoying the run up to Christmas here. Madrid is so vibrant and full of people, and the Christmas decorations and lights are super festive! Tonight, for Christmas Eve we made a collective dinner for the 4 of us plus Miles and Zoe’s friends Nick and Shep. It was such a lovely time, and we’re looking forward to seeing them on Christmas Day too, for another meal! We took a walk after dinner to the festive plaza. Feliz navidad!
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Wrapping up an amazing 5 days in Granada, here are some highlights. 2. The Alhambra. We stayed in the same street that Miles and Zoe live on, right across from the Alhambra. So we saw the massive fortress above us throughout our stay, and we visited the extensive grounds one day. We agreed that the Palace Nazaries is the most amazing building we’ve ever been in. 3. Flamenco. Miles got us tickets to a flamenco performance in a cave, in the neighborhood where flamenco was born. The show was intimate and very powerful. 4. Pomegranates. Granada and pomegranate vine from…
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We had some plans on Mother’s Day to go to an Amy Tan author event, but it was cancelled so we made up our own agenda for the day. Mary took the metra to union station in the morning and from there we walked along the river walk all the way to the lake. She’d never been on the river walk before and we always enjoy a chance to revisit it. After coming back home, we relaxed for a bit and then Liam and Bronwyn joined us for dinner. This mom got to pick the menu and that was easy…
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On Saturday evening we went to Miles’s friend Caroline’s graduation party. It was held in a meadery (very Portland!) and such a lovely event. She’s very musical and the crowd sang a lot of songs with and for her. The party lasted until about 1:30 am! After sleeping in the next morning we went on some job tours – first to Miles’s job at the book pub which is super nice and cosy. His coworkers and owner were excited to see him and meet me, very nice. Then we went to Zoe’s school, where she teaches preschool. The school is…
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We’d wanted to visit miles in Portland before he moves this summer, and while John wasn’t able to get away due to a lot of work travel coming up, I found a good set of flights and went myself. Miles was very nice to pick me up at the airport and we went to his place where I met Joanie the cat. Then we walked the 5 mins to a nearby Airbnb where I’m staying. He lives in a really lovely area called Irvington.
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