Spain
Hello family! Ian and I just returned last night from our whirlwind 7-day trip through Madrid (2 days), Sevilla (2 days), Granada (1 day), and Barcelona (2 days). I'm still struggling with the time change. We flew into Seattle at 9pm but I awoke at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. Then I was super-busy at work trying to catch up on all the stuff I missed while being gone, and had to see 33 patients! Holy cow! I'm utterly exhausted but wanted to check in with everyone and say hello.
Madrid was just a big working city; not too much to see there outside of the palace and the Prado museum, but we had a great hotel right on the main square of town where all types of rallies were being held. Very in-the-thick-of-it. Also the place i tried my first churros con chocolate -- think "donut tubes dipped in warm chocolate pudding". Yeah, good stuff. The pregnancy, if it indeed continues (as the ultrasound on Friday will confirm), did contribute to a few food aversions and cravings (at least, I'd like to blame the pregnancy), and Ian was a trooper about getting whatever he could to help satisfy me. Spain has a lot of bread and potatoes; I was surprised, actually. I expected a little more spice. It didn't go along with my South Beach diet, so I essentially burped and bloated my way across Spain. What a pretty picture. (By the way, I pulled a Peter by ordering boquerones off the tapas menu -- out came a large plate of tiny little whole fish swimming in oil! Disgusting!)
We headed next to the southern city of Sevilla, which was much quainter and more traditionally
"European old town" with it's narrow, cobblestoned streets, old cathedrals, gardens, more palaces, etc. It was more relaxing and laid-back; we learned a lot about Colombus -- all the Spanish cities have ties to him in some way -- and Ferdinand and Isabelle. We spent a full day in Granada which is known for it's Moorish inner city called Alhambra. That place was gorgeous!! Every surface was covered in intricate carvings or mosaics; all the gardens were lush and filled with water features. It was beautiful. Then we took the night "tren hotel" with our own private two-bunk room on the 12-hr trip to Barcelona. I was able to use a little bit of my highschool Spanish everywhere except Barcelona, where they speak Catalyan first and Spanish second. Barcelona had a TON to see; the whole city is really artistic. There are sculptures and gardens everywhere you look; tons of museums -- and especially interesting one was solely on Picasso's early development as a portraitist and landscape painter before he delved into cubism and then the crazy later paintings. Anyway, we spent our time seeing as much as we could see, exploring/wandering down lots of side streets, eating and drinking constantly, and taking advantage of the afternoon siestas. Seriously, EVERYTHING closes down between 1-4pm (except restaurants). Our only regret was that we didn't think ahead enough to book a soccer game into the itinerary; that would've been cool.
It's 9:15pm and I'm dead-tired. I'm off to bed to see if I can catch up on some sleep. I have my 9-wk ultrasound Friday morning and will post again when I have that news. I hope all is well with everyone!
Dobrina
Madrid was just a big working city; not too much to see there outside of the palace and the Prado museum, but we had a great hotel right on the main square of town where all types of rallies were being held. Very in-the-thick-of-it. Also the place i tried my first churros con chocolate -- think "donut tubes dipped in warm chocolate pudding". Yeah, good stuff. The pregnancy, if it indeed continues (as the ultrasound on Friday will confirm), did contribute to a few food aversions and cravings (at least, I'd like to blame the pregnancy), and Ian was a trooper about getting whatever he could to help satisfy me. Spain has a lot of bread and potatoes; I was surprised, actually. I expected a little more spice. It didn't go along with my South Beach diet, so I essentially burped and bloated my way across Spain. What a pretty picture. (By the way, I pulled a Peter by ordering boquerones off the tapas menu -- out came a large plate of tiny little whole fish swimming in oil! Disgusting!)
We headed next to the southern city of Sevilla, which was much quainter and more traditionally
"European old town" with it's narrow, cobblestoned streets, old cathedrals, gardens, more palaces, etc. It was more relaxing and laid-back; we learned a lot about Colombus -- all the Spanish cities have ties to him in some way -- and Ferdinand and Isabelle. We spent a full day in Granada which is known for it's Moorish inner city called Alhambra. That place was gorgeous!! Every surface was covered in intricate carvings or mosaics; all the gardens were lush and filled with water features. It was beautiful. Then we took the night "tren hotel" with our own private two-bunk room on the 12-hr trip to Barcelona. I was able to use a little bit of my highschool Spanish everywhere except Barcelona, where they speak Catalyan first and Spanish second. Barcelona had a TON to see; the whole city is really artistic. There are sculptures and gardens everywhere you look; tons of museums -- and especially interesting one was solely on Picasso's early development as a portraitist and landscape painter before he delved into cubism and then the crazy later paintings. Anyway, we spent our time seeing as much as we could see, exploring/wandering down lots of side streets, eating and drinking constantly, and taking advantage of the afternoon siestas. Seriously, EVERYTHING closes down between 1-4pm (except restaurants). Our only regret was that we didn't think ahead enough to book a soccer game into the itinerary; that would've been cool.
It's 9:15pm and I'm dead-tired. I'm off to bed to see if I can catch up on some sleep. I have my 9-wk ultrasound Friday morning and will post again when I have that news. I hope all is well with everyone!
Dobrina
posted by Okorn Family at 9:06 PM
2 Comments:
Wow Dobrina - sounds like you had a ball, good food and plenty to see. Did you have good weather also? Was the temperature moderate?, Warm?, cool? Glad your pregnancy really didn't interfere with your travels. You are definitely a trooper (and you too, Ian). Looking forward to Friday's news. Love u tons, Mom
Dobrina, boy o boy o boy o boy, what a trip. Really sounds like you had a blast, I'll be sure to thank Ian for helping to make that possible, I mean he did have to put up with the belching and so forth ;) I am excited to hear you had some great food and kept the tradition of tiny fried fish alive ! that's great, now if only Ata had been there to bite in to one we could call it project-complete. How is Ian doing these days? I hope you both are well. Miss you both, love pete
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