Another Adventure
After visiting France, I was happy to spend a quiet weekend in Madrid with Valerie. We were so pleased to be together and to enjoy ourselves in that beautiful city!
(Valerie and I went to one of her favorite bookshops: La Central)
We had a grand old time:
(Val and her wonderful boyfriend, a PhD student named Jesus)
(The Christmas lights at el Mercado de San Miguel)
The next weekend, John came to Barcelona. My wonderful friends Pam and Eric Fitz (Americans from Colorado Springs--we met through my car insurance agent Brad) were going to Estonia for Christmas, so they loaned us their gorgeous house in Masnou, up the coast from Barcelona, for our entire stay in the city.
(My first tortilla de patata was a smashing success)
The house Pam and Eric live in was built in the 1880s or 90s. It features hand-painted vaulted ceilings and multiple stories of artistic tiling as well as a back yard with lemon and orange trees. Also in the back yard is a tunnel behind a fountain that leads to the other house: it was an escape route during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939--now Pam and Eric use it as a wine cellar.
The weather was beautiful. On our first day we went down to the beach and while we were looking for shells, John asked me to marry him!Â
(Before)
(After)
As you can imagine, the rest of our trip was full of champagne and celebration. I’ve spent the last ten days preoccupied with taking photos of the ring:
Also, I had planned four Christmas surprises for John, and they all went off very well!
We went to a bar famous for its gin:
(My hand is at my side because he hadn’t given me my ring yet)
We went to my favorite upscale restaurant in Born, Tantarantana:
We checked out La Opera Samfaina‘s tapas tour:
And finally, we had a Christmas dinner with a family of Catalans followed by a cooking lesson from a Catalan grandma.
Abuelita loved John. (I do, too)
Catalonia had an election on the 21st of December for a new government, and many of the ministers elected were indepentistas, but not all. For now, Spain has more Christmas-season vacation days than almost any other country in Europe, so nothing is happening in the government, no protests have been organized or executed, and all is relatively peaceful and cheerful.
Also, the tourism industry, which was severely affected by the independence referendum in the fall, resulting in the worst low season my company has ever seen, bounced back for the holidays. The streets are full of cheerful and New Year’s travelers, just in time for our 60-degree winter weather.
My flight leaves tomorrow for Jerusalem, so I’ll take lots of pictures and keep you updated on that adventure!
In three weeks: home!
