This week we finished off our time in Spain in Madrid, then set out for the north.
We left Santiago de Compostela and drove through the green, foggy mountains onto the flat and surprisingly also green plain of central Spain. We stopped in Segovia, a beautiful town with a perfectly preserved Roman aqueduct, a confection of a cathedral, and a 19th-century Romantic idea of a medieval castle. It’s a great city just an hour’s drive from Madrid.
We drove through a mountain range to the main event: Madrid. There was a huge rain storm, followed by driving the highway that goes for several km under the city center. They routed the traffic underground so that most of the center is pedestrian only–one of our favorite things about Europe! We arrived at our AirBnB, got the car parked, and were tucked into our little apartment. We had just started unpacking when the massive rainstorm that we encountered in the mountains caught up with us again. It was dramatic!
We set off to find live music, but it found us as soon as we got on the metro—there was a guy busking on our train car. We wandered around a bit, but it was mostly a quiet Monday night, so we settled for a very tasty pizza and turned in. The next morning, we headed for the center of Madrid and a walking tour. We were in the city for a few days in 2019, but there was much of it that we didn’t remember so well. We visited the famous places, like Plaza Mayor and the Gran Via. We didn’t;t save any time for the museums (again), but we did have some good food and enjoyed our lunch at an Argentinian steakhouse. We decided on the spur of the moment to go see a musical and we chose to see a production of Gypsy, directed by Antonio Banderas and entirely in Spanish. Nathan played in the pit orchestra for a production 30 years ago and I saw it a couple times, so we both knew what was happening. Nathan likes to challenge himself with the foreign languages he’s studying. I just enjoyed the interesting staging and the listening to the superfast dialogue.
From Madrid, we caught a flight to London. We were ultimately bound for Southampton to board another cruise ship. I’ll tell you all about our England and Scandinavian adventures next week. Happy Mother’s Day to all you dear ladies and I’ll talk to you next week!
Paradise
Happy October! We hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year! Some people dream of paradise on a quiet tropical beach, listening to the surf with a drink in hand. Not this girl! Give me mountains, especially drenched in autumn color, bursting with new spring leaves, or covered in snow. We are spending October in one of our favorite places–Big Cottonwood Canyon just east of the Salt Lake Valley. We are loving the gorgeous golden aspen with the deep pine greens. Hiking is great and so is the smell of fresh forest! Nathan’s sister, Liz, and her husband, Christian, joined us one morning for a lovely hike through the woods. We got to experience a powerful thunderstorm and then a full day of snowfall. Our condo for the month is just right for us and we love having access to a pool, hot tubs, sauna, and workout facilities. We especially like that we can pop back to the valley to do some shopping or see family and friends. So far, so good!
Fun Family Time
We have had a lovely couple of weeks in Utah. We’ve been able to rest and recover from five months of travel, help Nathan’s mom at her house, and spend time with family.
Full Circle
Five months ago we flew to Rome from Utah. We had a summer of trying new places and experiences and revisiting old favorites and now we’re back where we started. Since we get the question a lot, I thought I would share some of our favorites from our travels in Europe this year.