Slide show of Madrid and Toledo

I tried to post these pictures a week ago, but it somehow got stuck! So, for those who like to look at more pictures, here are a few more that we took in Madrid and Toledo.

"Houston, we have a problem....."

We had a problem last Saturday morning. Our dear Hoover, that wonderful washer/dryer we have in the kitchen, sprung a leak! Lyle had just put in a load of clothes, left the kitchen for a few minutes.....and then I heard "Yikes....we have ISSUES!!" We had water all over the floor, flooding into the hallway. Having no mop in the house, we had to grab a bunch of towels and start soaking up, squeezing and wringing out. It was a wonderful way to spend a bright Saturday morning! I went downstairs and attempted to tell our "guardian", who doesn't speak any English. Luckily, she had some visitors who knew Spanish, so I told them what had happened and she came upstair to see for herself. She also brought a neighbor who speaks English, and between all four of us, we managed to decide to call the owners of the apartment and tell them the bad news. They came over later that day and called the appliance store, who told us they couldn't come until Wednesday. So.....Lyle washed out his clothes by hand, (NOT very happy about that!) and we tried to dry them. After over 5 hours in the dryer, they were still not dry. Hmmmm.....I knew these dryers took long....but not THAT long!

On Wednesday, Bernard and Caroline, the owners, came over to wait for the repairman (who was to come between noon and 4 pm.) And waited, and waited. At about 5 minutes before 4:00, he finally showed up. After pulling out both the Hoover and dishwasher to check the pipes, checking out all the tubes, and looking at how many other parts for two hours, he couldn't come up with a reason for the leak. However, there WAS a plastic container in the back of the dryer full of lint. Could THAT have been the problem? Why is the lint filter in the back of this thing, making it nearly impossible to keep it clean? Hoover.....you've got a problem!

Well, I am happy to report that after trying out a load this morning, we not only had a dry floor, but the load only took an hour to dry! So it was worth mopping up a floor to get a more efficient dryer working! Maybe now I can do TWO loads a day!

An afternoon at the Jardin du Luxembourg

Springtime in Paris is waited for and appreciated! After a rainy March and April, the month of May has been sunny and warm. Flowers are blooming, the grass is green, and the trees are full of thick leaves (they trim many of them here so that they are rectangles along the boulevards!)
One of my favorite places to go and walk is the Luxembourg Gardens. It is close enough to walk there, although I have also taken a bus. This park covers 60 acres, with chestnut trees, tennis courts, a pool for sailing toy boats, playgrounds, pony rides, and beautiful flowers of course. Chairs are situated throughout the park and last week while I was sitting and reading in the afternoon, I could hear two high school girls practicing their Spanish, a college-aged group discussing SOMETHING in French as part of a class, andI also just people-watched as many take their lunch breaks there. Here are a few pictures...... SPRINGTIME!!!

Madrid? Oui!....I mean, Si!

"I have a meeting in Madrid ......should we make it a weekend?" asks my dear husband.

SI! Wanting to see another country and even practice my Spanish, I got on my computer and looked for a cheap flight. There are many here....the competition must be fierce! I found one leaving on Friday morning and coming back on Tuesday. This could work! I was tired of the rainy weather in Paris and Madrid always has sunshine and is warmer, right?

Well, no. On Friday, we left sunny and warm weather in Paris, which we had been enjoying for over a week.......to a cold, rainy Madrid! How does that work? Didn't we go south? I left Paris wearing a short skirt and sandals.....and felt totally out of place in Madrid amid the jeans, knee-high boots, jackets, and scarves (again!).

Madrilenos have weird hours, even more so than Parisians. Their dinner hour doesn't begin until after 9 pm, after dining on tapas and drinking beer or wine for a few hours. We did try some tapas and then headed for a small restaurant that evening and tried to keep our eyes open after 10 pm.

Saturday was a drizzly day, so we headed out with our umbrellas and walked to the Prado Museum. This is where the great Spanish painters have their masterpieces.....Velasquez, Goya, El Greco, as well as some Flemish and Italian painters. I had heard about this museum when I was taking Spanish in high school and was anxious to see it. But how do you even take in over 7,000 paintings? We spent a good three hours there and were very impressed. (We both were amazed that at last 95% of the paintings were religious-themed.) This is the "Louvre" of Madrid.

That evening, we were invited for dinner by a couple who also work for IBM. We had a great time and Lisa told me she would take me on a walking tour of Madrid on Monday while Lyle was in meetings all day......

On Sunday, with the sun starting to come out and weather warming up a bit, we decided to take the fast-speed train to Toledo, known for it's beautiful cathedral and quaint, winding streets, as well as El Greco's home in the 1500s. It is still known as Spain's religous center, with Christian, Arab, and Jewish influences. The famous Toledo Cathedral was constructed for nearly 250 years, finished in 1493. Photographs weren't allowed so I can't post any from inside, but you can always google "Toledo cathedral" to see this amazing church. (My personal "help desk" from Rachel or Christa will have to tell me how to do a link!) We couldn't get over the gold, the carved stone and wood, the paintings, and the tiles (moorish influence). Spending Mother's Day here felt a little lonely, but we did both call our moms while sitting on the plaza in the center of town!

On Monday, Lyle had to work....and I was ready to tour! I met Lisa and her daughter and we walked, and walked. This 5 hour tour surpassed Frommer's suggestions! I think we covered at least 2/3 of Madrid! She took me to the plazas, famous chocolate and pastry shops, the "old Madrid" with 13th and 14th century streets, the king's palace, the parks, and amazing landmarks. I am including a few of the pictures I took, but I will attempt a slide show in the next post of more of the sights.

One of MANY fountains...

Standing on Plaza Mayor

The presidential palace (Palacio Real)

That evening, we had planned to go and see a Flamenco show, but we were both just too worn out. So we relaxed with a glass of wine near the palace and then walked to a wonderful restaurant in a narrow, winding side street (said it had been around since 1642!) where Lyle enjoyed a great steak and I had baby lamb, both specialties of the house. Steak isn't easy to find in Paris, so this was a treat!

Madrid was beautiful and it was fascinating to see another culture. It was very cosmopolitan, full of upscale stores and well-preserved "old madrid" streets. The parks and green spaces were impressive. As for using my Spanish, I had somewhat of a hard time changing my brain from French to Spanish, of which I am at least somewhat able to get around with. My problem was I kept saying "oui" instead of "si"! And...I had learned "Latin American Spanish", not the Castillian Spanish where they say "grathiath" instead of gracias! That was hard to get used to!

The wine country of Burgundy

We awoke to a sunny morning in Paris and headed southeast in our rental car for a few days in Burgundy. This is the wine country famous for the Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs and we were anxious to do a little wine-tasting! Before seeing the vineyards, however, we kept seeing seas of brilliant yellow blooms everywhere. Since we were headed towards Dijon, we thought, "WOW! Look at all the mustard!" Wrong! We later found out that, no, France imports nearly 90% of their mustard seeds from Canada now, and these were NOT mustard fields. They were "colza" plants, which give us canola oil!



We stopped in the town of Dijon and walked the medieval streets at the core of the city....

.....and stopped for a bit in Beaune, which is the heart of the Burgundy wine country. We drove a few more kilometers to our destination, Meursault, a village of about 1,600 people, and found our little "gite" that we had booked on the internet. This time we were not in a chateau or manor house, but a charming village home that was over 250 years old, owned by two wine-makers, with a wine-cellar in the basement below! We had the whole house, with kitchen on the main level, a walk-up to living room, a few more steps up to a bedroom, and another few steps to another bedroom. A true townhouse from centuries gone-by! The wines from the owner were waiting for us to try...and of course, we obliged!

The owner of this house has a small, but well-known, wine business and took us into his cellar to taste some of the wines from last fall's harvest, both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (Burgundy).

To contrast that, we toured a large winery, the Chateau de Mersault, a restored chateau from the 11th century, and toured the vast cellars beneath the chateau dating from the 14th century. This was a maze of halls and rooms filled with barrels, sheltering some 800,000 bottles!

So that you don't think that tasting wine was all we did, we also ATE! The first night, after a long drive and sharing a bottle of wine, we decided to walk to the restaurant that was recommended to us. We headed out of the little town and walked the a small road.......and walked......and walked. Three kilometers later, tired and starving, we found it. However it was full....and we were told that everything around Meursault was full! We started our trek back, but found a lovely small restaurant, found a table, and enjoyed a tasty bowl of boeuf bourguignon, of course!

The weather for our 4 days in Burgundy was absolutely perfect with blue skies, temperatures in the 70's (20's centigrade) and no rain. We did a lot of walking, either to get our pastries in the village in the morning, or the vineyards in the afternoon to view the beautiful countryside. We also drove the road from north to south, through a number of small villages, each famous for their particular regional wine. Life in a small town in Burgundy is quiet, relaxing, and rewarding.

Views of the town of Meursault




The signature of Burgundy, the roof made of multi-colored clay tiles.......

.......and dotted with views like this! This area is on the "wishlist" for the fall, when the vines are ripe and the fields of grapes ready for the harvest. We would love to come back!

Back to Paris

"But, Grammy, WHY do you have to go back to Paris?" says my granddaughter Ava, with a sad look on her face.

"Because Grampa is there and I am going to go back and be with him now".

"But you need to be with ME!"

How do I explain this to a 'nearly' four-year-old? The two weeks at home now feel like a whirlwind of seeing friends, spending time with families, and of, course, holding a new 6-week granddaughter. This time, when on the plane going back, a few more tears were shed. We realize that many people probably wonder how we can do this at this point in our lives....and sometimes we wonder too. But we know that this is still an opportunity that we needed to take and it will go fast. It does get hard, though, especially as relationships continue to build as our grandchildren get older. The little ones don't really understand time, yet, but we know that when we do return, we get huge smiles, and they run into our arms. Ahh.....

Hoping to see spring in April in Minnesota, one day we woke up to snow again......and then a few days later it was a beautiful warm spring day......and then it snowed again! The granddaughters were flexible, though, busying themselves with making coffee for Grandma, coloring out on the patio, and visiting the children's museum.

I returned to Paris on a rainy and cold day. Lyle was in Amsterdam, then Milan the next day. But I didn't spend the next day alone, as I met a new friend named Elizabeth visiting from St. Paul, who was here for a quick trip visiting the Paris she loves. We met at a Tea House down the street, walked around the neighborhood, and took in a new Italian restaurant for dinner. We had a great day.

Yesterday, our friends Terry and Jean flew in and are staying with us. We visited the Rodin museum a few blocks away (saw "The Thinker") and today we are all taking a car to visit Burgundy for a few days. It looks SUNNY now, so hopefully the weather will hold out for a great weekend. More on that when we get back!