Surprise! I’m on the move yet again! Sorry I missed y’all yesterday, but I was in the car — driving from Chattanooga, TN to Bradenton, FL in a straight shot (I drove through quite a bit of smoke). Ten hours in the car all by my lonesome — I couldn’t have done it without a lot of loud music and some caterwauling.
Unfortunately, the reason for my trip is that we’ve had another death in the family — my father-in-law, after a fairly brief illness. He was a brilliant man and a class act right to the very end.
I’ll be down here for a while, helping to get ready for the memorial service and the accompanying family gathering. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a bit along the way, with some photos from my current environs, along with the last of my pictures from Spain…
Perched along the River Tagus, former Visigoth capital and eventual home to El Greco, Toledo is a cool little medieval town that’s maybe not quite up to the heavy tourist traffic that comes through every day.
The buses drop their tourists off along the main arteries through town, but the locals manage to squeeze their cars and trucks up and down the narrow, hilly, medieval streets. I don’t know how they get around some of those corners without taking the paint off the sides of their vehicles, but apparently they’ve been getting along this way for quite some time.
Of course, the biggest attraction in town is the Toledo Cathedral, which was under construction from 1226 to 1493. It is enormous, a maze of altars, tombs and rooms that will take your breath away.
We visited three cities in Spain — Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona. Toledo was very unique — a very small and picturesque medieval town overwhelmed by visitors — but the contrast between Madrid and Barcelona reminded me very much of Rome and Florence, which we visited a couple of years ago. The former from each pairing was official and urban and grand, while the latter was funky, breezy and artsy. I enjoyed visiting both, but if I was going to choose one to live in, it’d be Florence or Barcelona.
I didn’t get to take a whole lot of pictures in Madrid. We spent a lot of time in museums, where photography wasn’t allowed. This first image is the Royal Palace of Madrid, which has more rooms than Versailles, even though it’s a bit smaller. I wish I’d had more time to spend in the garden, but alas, with the Prado, Sofia and Thyssen demanding our attention, we just didn’t have the time.
We left Madrid on a high-speed train to Barcelona, which gave us the opportunity to see the inside of Madrid’s Atocha train station, which is breathtaking — and well humidified!
This week’s Friday Creature is some kind of an albino pigeon, I think, but since I spotted it in Spain, I’m not at all sure.
In the background, you can see a hint of the Gaudí tile walls at Park Güell. Consider it a bit of foreshadowing.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Stay safe, drive carefully, eat well and enjoy! (Oh, and don’t forget all the creatures over on the modulator’s ark!)
Well, I’m back, but too tired to say much, after spending a very, very long day flying over the Atlantic. I have some photos of my trip, some news and at least one rant (about the Atlanta airport) in the queue, all of which will hopefully appear soon. I also have two more journeys coming up — this time with the computer — so there will be even more to report on in the next few weeks…
Hello! I'm Alice, which is my real name (most of the other names here have been changed, though, to protect the innocent). I live in an almost-100-year-old house in downtown Chattanooga, TN with my first husband, G-Dog (who is from New Canaan, CT), and a cockapoo named Nonnie (the moniker comes from a Laurens van der Post book). We have one kid (that we know of) -- a daughter, Emmie, who plays a supporting role on the blog. She's off being a student, but she pops in often enough to keep things interesting.
I originally hale from Batavia, NY, a quiet little town in rural western New York. G-Dog and I met while attending college in Carlisle, PA, and then moved on to Chapel Hill, NC together before finally settling in Tennessee. Other places we've lived in long enough to have a mailing address include London and San Francisco.
This blog is about a lot of things -- the places I visit, things I cook, people I meet, photos I take, things I read, and -- of course, politics. I'm an unrepentant, arugula-eating, progressive, liberal, lefty, euro-loving, educated elitist and I'm looking forward to an administration that doesn't raise my blood pressure quite as often as the outgoing one did...
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