Advertisement
The last two weeks, Mari was with her family in Hungary, and Leslie and I in Bangkok. School is over...one more year, and one year closer for Leslie to highschool....imagine, he is going to be 10 this summer...time is flying by so fast! So on the plane last Wednesday to Frankurt, follow by few trains to Luxembourg....back to the grand-parents. Leslie is going to enjoy some quality time with his grand-parents, in Luxembourg, but also around on the roads of Belgium and France. Most important, he will also attend his first summer camp...he is so exited...and should be brushing off his french for few days.
So I flew to Madrid, and 24 hours later...Mari was there too. My greatest memories of Madrid date back to my student years....around 17 years ago. I do have the souvenirs of a lot of parties, very few hours sleeping...more partying, and visiting El Escurial. But since then, something was really missing, I never took the time to visit El Prado. So this time, Museo del Prado...done!
This weekend Madrid was also to stage her annual Gay Pride. I never saw the thing close-by, but the all city was indeed very "gay"! Well, I
did not see any of these guys in the Prado...seems old paintings and gay pride do not speacially mix.
I also enjoy a proper stroll along Calle de Serrano...this is the equivalent of Madison Avenue (NY)....gorgeous women, gorgeous couples...and wonderfully well dressed children...and no, I did not find my joy this season at Carolina Herrera or Loewe. Shopping...will have to wait the end of July!
It was also 2 days of football with the quater-finals of the world cup. Saw my first few minutes of the World Cup with the end of Brazil-Netherlands...nice...but also the match Spain-Uruguay...and Spain moving to the semis...
But the highlight of this little break was easily the Plaza Mayor...love the place...and yes, the Prado. To make things better, there was even a special exhibition on Turner and the Masters....so after few hours of El Greco, Velasquez and other Goya, I was a happy man!
So you may ask...what are you guys doing in Madrid? Yes...eating and drinking nice wine....yes getting reunited with Mari after being two weeks apart...but most important, this is our gateway to the month of July...a month of South America. So consider this only as an amuse-bouche, the
solid stuff is coming very soon.
I'm writting this from a basic hotel room in Puerto Viajes, few miles out of Caracas. We had to queue 90 minutes for passport control, the surrounding of the airport is less than nice. Food is average and seriously on the expensive side...but we knew about this, because tomorrow ealry morning we are flying to paradise...and it seems you need to go through hell to get there!
So enjoy, because we do....and we should enjoy even more from our little paradise tomorrow morning!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 20; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0338s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Donna and Neil
Donna and Neil
Have fun!
Hope you have lots of fun in paradise and the diving is good! Looking forward to reading your South America blogs, will bring back some memories for us. Great pics of Madrid...once you have been away from Europe for a while you really appreciate the grand European architecture. Safe travels Donna and Neil x