New puppy

Our new puppy is a Bichon Habanero. His name is Cuddles. His tail is wagging like crazy. 

I gave him the last  name Suárez after an ex-president who just died.  That is to differentiate him from all the other Cuddles in Troy's family.  

Sorry Nelson, that we did not get him a week earlier when you were here. 

Wyatt savors pumpkin pie with a baby- food spoon. Troy saw the ingredients and thought it looked good. We were all swooning in raptures. 

The Prado and the President

Why does a new saucepan have to be seasoned? Nelson is giving Wyatt an explanation of  molecular physics. 

Spain's first president after Franco's dictatorship was Adolfo Suárez. He died this weekend and the public viewing was across the street from the museum. All the roads to the Prado were blocked. After being forced into circles twice, I asked a police officer. He said it was better to go walking.  Everyone I talked to really admired Suárez. 

We got there eventually. Here's a group of Korean tourists.

 I still love El Geco best but I like this Carbonero of an exiled prince. 

Isn't he sad? The painting is HUGE, not a little Mona Lisa. 

Lovely cathedral nearby. 

We are going to Switzerland this summer. There's the Swiss cross in our neighborhood. 

Segovia

The Romans built the aquaduct 2000 years ago and it still carries water!

My most vivid memory of Spain from 28 years ago is of the aquaduct of Segovia. 

It runs right down the street  between the houses, though I guess you would have to say that the aquaduct came first and the houses after.

You can see how it crosses a valley, so that this is the tallest part.  Once you climb some giant stairs to the right, the town goes on at normal scale to the church and castle.

Massive. 

But perfect. 

I love this guy looking up. 

A private secret garden tucked under one of the arches. 

Dramatc sky, snowcapped mountains, busy square... 

The city symbol on a little brass plaque

The giant stairs

The city symbol on a bollard, and the aquaduct disappearing into the city, where it eventually goes underground. 

The church and square where we had lunch

City symbol in pink!  For recycling of clothing.  

Back where we started. 

Winston's Birthday

We drove up into the mountains. 

And then back down the other side to Segovia. 

I have more pictures of this spectacular town, the aqueduct and the church. 

We had lunch and then ran out of time and didn't get to go to the castle. 

Back home for Winston's birthday, we had lemon cupcakes and watched Frozen. It was not the Harry Potter extravaganza he had envisioned, but we had fun daydreaming about it for weeks ahead of time. 

Winston and his friend César. Happy Birthday, Winston! 

Quest for Coffee

Malasañas is the new hip place to go, now that the tourists have taken over the formerly hip places to go.

Nelson loves coffee, so we made a special trip to try "the best coffee" in Madrid at Toma Café, which means Drink Coffee. Nelson, said it was really good and carefully made.

Note the designer lighting.

Tiny coffee  made with love.

Nice streets in bright colors.

Nelson after a good night's sleep. I did not think he would go for the selfie, but he was a good sport.

The modern bronze is just to the left, looking at the classic marble.

Temple of Debod

Bicycling in Madrid is quite difficult.  My Spanish teacher told me not to, but I supposed that she only said it because her idea of physical activity is a standing appointment with the chiropractor.

Most of the trip was in the cycling park, following the cable car.  But then we hit the narrow streets and road blocks: first the river (Madrid has a river?) then the highway, then the train tracks.  Down a backstreet and over a neglected, grafitti-ed overpass was a nice surprise: the Goya monument.

Goya's most famous painting is this wartime execution of Spaniards by French soldiers.  The martyrs are buried right behind the monument.

The goal of our excursion was the Temple of Debod, which was excavated when the Aswan Dam was built in Egypt. It is the real thing, given as a gift and reconstructed brick by brick. My Spanish teacher said it was her favorite park in Madrid.  It really is simple and serene.

Nelson was quite jet-lagged but he came along with me like a trooper.  It seemed like a good idea at the time: stay awake, get some exercise and sunshine to help you acclimate...  maybe not such a good idea since the route was difficult and I had never actually done it.

As you can imagine the boys are beside themselves to have their uncle here.  They kept sneaking up to see if he was awake from his siesta.

Evening outing to the palace

The real goal was not in fact the palace but the Famous Madrid Cheap Tapas Restaurant "100 Montaditos."  My friend assured me it was great for kids.

Winston said he wants to get to know the city.  The nearest Montaditos is at the movie theater in the middle of nowhere, so we took the Metro to a different one in the city.

East of the palace is a garden with statues of kings of Spain.  There was apparently a project to represent every king with a statue and now they are all over town and the butt of many jokes.  Whose head is that?  Ramiro had his enemy's eyes put out, not beheaded, so I don't know the answer and neither does Wikipedia.

Montaditos!  Found it!  Every other place was completely empty at 9:00 on Sunday evening.

The 100 in Montaditos is for the 100 different tiny sandwiches for 1€ each.  We really liked what we got.

I was trying to catch the crush of people in this selfie. We were the only ones in there under 20 and over 25, except the staff from South America.  It was good fun, but I am not sure I would recommend it as family-friendly.

Palace, statue, dog; there were enough people out to make it nice. Winston asked what made me laugh that day, at our church small group. The two two-year-olds were a barrel of fun.  One stole everyone's corn chips and toddled all over the garden with them clutched in his hands.

For Winston it was a game that involved getting one's feet tangled up in a rope
and tripping.

The back seat thought this was extremely funny.  Ahhh, sunny Spain.