11/11/24 Madrid, Spain
A very lazy start to the day, I think we are a bit worn out
after two days of walking. We rallied at 1100 and headed NW to the Market San
Miguel, a very cool market selling fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, wine and
beer. You could buy premade dishes or take your purchases home with you. The
building was steel from the era of the Eifel tower, very beautifully restored.
Next, we walked to the Puerta Del Sol, a go to spot for gathering in a large public square according to the internet. Rick Steves calls it the Time Square of Spain, but we thought that the Puerta De Mayor was more inviting as a public square. We moved on to the Galleria Canalejas, a beautiful galleria of high-end shops in a beautiful old building. A quick look to take in the interior art and architecture of the place and we were out.
We walked west to the Royal Palace of Madrid, a beautiful palace possibly larger than Buckingham Palace. There was a dignitary leaving the Palace with all the pomp and circumstance afforded royalty, guards, horses and drums for the departure. We never found out who it was in the car, but it was impressive.
We proceeded south to Porto de Toledo, the west entrance to the city. From here it was east back to our neighborhood. We grabbed a table at a café on the square next to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for a glass of wine, or two and a bite to eat. We watched the crowd ebb and flow until it was getting too cold to sit outside. Time to go home.
We went for a walk in the evening hoping to see the Christmas lights coming on, but too soon, no lights yet. We did stop for a bottle of wine to go with our dinner for the evening.
11/12/24 Madrid, Spain
Another beautiful day in Madrid as we pack to leave for
Barcelona. A short walk to the train station, luggage in tow, gave us plenty of
time to find our train. The train station is huge and beautiful, not to mention
well organized. Our first-class train ticket gave us priority boarding, always
a nice feature. As before we enjoyed huge leather seats, meal service and a
great view of the landscape rumbling by. Green fields, fallow fields, olive
trees and rolling hills were punctuated by small towns, always with a prominent
church steeple.
Arriving at Barcelona Sants Station we decided to take the
subway to our apartment near the old port. We know better than to do this, long
halls and stairs generally make this arduous when carrying luggage, but we did
ok. Once on the subway the signage makes it very clear what stop is coming up,
very helpful. Once at the station we took an elevator up to the street and we
found our way to the apartment in a light drizzle. We had a short walk to the
apartment, but as always it was confusing as to how to unlock the electronic
doors. Long story short we got in and our apartment was very nice, plenty of
natural light up on the third floor, which is actually the 5th
floor. I mention this because the apartment in Madrid was very dark, buried
between two small courtyards it had no natural light, but it did provide some
fresh air.
The rain came down hard as we settled in and assessed our
new home. When the rain stopped, we ventured out for some groceries to stock
the apartment, plenty of nearby shops in what appeared to be a university
neighborhood. For dinner we walked to a restaurant, La Fonda, that had great
reviews for their Paella. The atmosphere and the food were good, but Suzette
still wins the prize for her Paella. Anticipating a big day tomorrow it was
early to bed for a very quiet night and a comfortable bed.
11/13/24 Barcelona, Spain
Today we are returning to IMO where Suzette had her detached
retina repaired in May of ’23. They did a great job; we felt very confident in
their abilities and knowledge. Having no luggage, we opted for the subway and
bus giving ourselves plenty of time to get to her 1030 appointment. As we were
boarding the subway we discovered that a couple of the stations were closed, of
course it was the one we wanted. We took the subway as far as we could and got
off. According to google it was going to take as long to walk the rest of the
way as it would to take the bus, assuming we got the right bus, and it was
timely. We started walking but managed to flag down a taxi and arrive on time for
our appointment at IMO.
When Suzette had her Retina repair, they indicated that the
formation of a cataract was likely and, as promised, she did develop a cataract
last spring. She had cataract surgery at Kaiser, but the results were not good,
complications left her with very poor sight in her right eye. Working with the
doctors at Kaiser they explained why the surgery was not entirely successful
and suggested that a laser polishing would provide some improvement. Not
feeling very confident in their prognosis, her kaiser retina specialist worked
with us to provide the data we needed to give to the doctor at IMO. At that
point she scheduled an appointment at IMO for November 13, knowing that we
could easily pass through Barcelona on our way home from the boat. And here we
are with an apartment for a week to accommodate follow ups.
We spent most of the day at IMO, pictures of the eye, tests
and a consultation with Dr Garcia. He determined that there was a hematoma in
the retina and recommended a procedure where a needle is inserted in the eye
and the hematoma is injected with something. ( I may have some of this wrong as
I am just a fly on the wall trying to understand all of this medical stuff in a
Spanish accent). We would return on Monday to check the progress and assess the
need and timing for replacing the lens. Within a couple hours this needle
procedure was completed. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Dr Garcia, upon further
review of the tests and pictures determined that the current replacement lens
was rubbing on the retina when the pupil was dilated, and this was causing the
hematoma to form. His assessment was the need to replace the lens immediately.
He explained that a new lens could be ordered and would
arrive in 7 to 10 days. The surgery could take place upon receipt of the lens,
and he would need a few days after surgery for follow up. Looks like we will be
staying for a while. More tests were done to properly assess the size and
configuration of the new lens. Upon payment for the new lens they would order
it and give us an ETA for surgery. We waited while they got pricing so we could
pay and keep the process on track. How cool is it that you can order a body
part, have it Fedexed to the hospital and install it! So now we wait to get a
commitment for the delivery time before we make plans to extend our stay here
in Barcelona and change our flight home. As we look at the calendar it looks
like we will be trying to get home on Thanksgiving, not the best time to be
flying in the USA.
We took a Taxi back to the apartment and celebrated in the
relief that Suzette’s vision may be back to normal at some point soon. We
stopped at a beautiful bakery for fresh bread and walked home for a well-deserved
glass of wine and dinner as we could finally relax a bit knowing that there was
a good plan shaping up. Now I need to see how we will spend the next 2 weeks in
Spain. We have this apartment until the 19th, but we could go anywhere
we want after that…
11/14/24 Barcelona, Spain
A good morning to sleep in and a sunny day to play. Time to
collect my thoughts and check up on real life, bills, appoinments, etc. With
our return home being delayed we had to rearrange some appointments at home.
After lunch we headed south to the America’s Cup Compound.
The displays were still there with the added attraction of the Alinghi Boatone
being on display. Amazing when you consider that these boats are 75 feet long
and have no keel, only retractable foils, and they can do 50 knots! We could
see that this boat was worked hard, it was their practice boat ahead of
receiving their race boat. We did not revisit the exhibition hall since we had
seen it before. We did stop at the official store and pick up some more Cup
wear.
In the evening, we put on our glad rags, maybe the only clothes that were clean, and walked to the Palua de Musico Catalunya for a show. On the way we passed the Palua Guell, a building by Gaudi. I would not have guessed it to be Guadi, it was dark, foreboding and gothic looking, but it did have his signature playful capitols on the rooftop turrets. Our walk took us through the Gothic District past the Cathedral de Barcelona that resembled a sand castle with its many spires.
The theater was a modernist architectural marvel from 1908. A steel frame with curtain walls, unique for the time period. It was playful and full of mosaics on the façade, not unlike a Guadi feature. Inside the Mosaics, reliefs and stained glass were like nothing I had seen before. When the show started the lighting made the reliefs come alive around the stage. The show was 3 guitarists, a percussionist and a pair of flamenco dancers. The guitar work was amazing, the sound that they could get out of those folk guitars is baffling. The percussionist set the tempo, and the dancers were superbly graceful as floated across the stage. This group has been performing for a number of years, this performance was a tribute to Paco de Lucia, a famous Flamenco guitarist.
Walking home we were amazed to see how many people were out on the streets and still filling the restaurants at this late hour. We don’t get out much at night…I guess.
11/15/24 Barcelona, Spain
A little overcast, but it cleared by the time we were ready
to venture out. First stop was just around the corner at Mercat de la Boqueria.
This is a huge open market for everything food. The displays of prepared and
unprepared foods were fabulous. This provided lots of inspiration for what to
serve at our holiday gathering at home. It is Saturday and the crowds are huge.
From here we walked up La Ramblas taking in the shops and beautiful buildings. Meandering through the Gothic Quarter the shoppers were out in force, including us. Suzette continued her mission to find a new coat, but I found a few things for myself as well. Passing the Placa de Catalunya, a huge public square, we found ourselves among the high end shops where we only window shopped as we walked north.
I was shopped out as we headed south for another pass through the beautiful Gothic quarter and back to our apartment for another great dinner prepared by Suzette.
11/16/24 Barcelona, Spain
Sleeping in and, well, lingering in bed for the morning is a
good way to start the day. We finally became motivated after lunch and walked
north to see a few more of the Gaudi houses that he designed. I am convinced
that Barcelona is the biggest open-air shopping mall and eatery I have ever
seen. The first floor of every building is populated by restaurants and shops.
First stop was the Casa Batilo, a very playful building on Pg de Garcia. Next was Le Pedrera Casa Mila, more austere with very artful balcony railings creating a unique look. Last stop was Casa Vicens Gaudi. This was my favorite, probably due to the smaller scale of this residents and some semblance of uniformity and order. We skipped the Familia Sagrada, Guadi’s unfinished church, since we saw this on a previous trip to Barcelona.
Now that we have seen a number of Guadi’s designs it is clear that he influenced the architecture in Barcelona. The balconies stand out with their unique railings and the roof tops have playful adornments.
We did manage to mix in some shopping and Suzette found a
coat that she liked. A very sophisticated wool number that fit her well.
Working our way home, after a lot of walking, we stopped for Tapas and a Gin
and Tonic at one of the sidewalk cafes, but the interior of the restaurant was
so inviting we moved to the inside.
Back in our neighborhood we stopped a well-stocked bottle
shop for a couple bottles of wine and our favorite bakery for some fresh bread.
We were happy to get home and put our feet up after another long walk through
the city.
11/17/24 Barcelona, Spain
We spent the better part of of the morning shopping for a
new apartment in a new neighborhood closer to the IMO. We had the current
apartment until the 19th thinking we would be released by the doctor
to go home. This was opportunity to hang our hat in a new neighborhood and
explore the north part of the city.
After lunch we took advantage of the warm sunny day, donning
our shorts we headed to the rooftop lounge area of our apartment building. Not
much of a view since we were only on the 7th floor of a building
that is buried in the city at sea level, but the sun was just right and the
loungers were comfortable.
We were heading out for an evening walk, but we were met by
4 travelers trying to access the apartment building. It turns out that the
automated lock system for the building was not working! We scrapped our walk,
let the guests into the building and contacted the building management. They
were fairly responsive and had the system back online in about an hour and a
half. We let the others know that the system was back on line and went for our
walk. It is Sunday evening, and I am in awe at how many people are strolling
the streets and in the restaurants. There is no question in my mind that Europe
has become overburdened with tourists. I guess I am part of the problem.
Comments
Post a Comment