a busy 1st night in Madrid

It all started with a GREAT dinner at a Cuban restaurant (mmmmmmmmm...) with David, Amelia & her husband Jose, me, and David's wife (my friend from L.A. & Baldwin Village) Keysha,
followed by a long walk to burn some calories; got this shot from Plaza Sol
before we stumbled across the OLDEST restaurant in all of Europe (or so they say) established in 1725
where they let us go down to the wine cellarwhich was also a hiding place during the inquisition


Next we came across a memorial statue

before heading back to the royal palace for a nice night pic
and discovering that Spanish is the exact same as English!!! (ok, ok, some pronunciations are a LITTLE different... :-)
Finally, it was good to discover that there were some places he didn't go

I got home around 2. Promptly went to sleep on a still full stomach and happy day of memories

A busy 1st day in Madrid

The Spanish Flag
w/ a monument to Christopher Columbus (remember him?)


Catedral de la Almudena

The Royal Palace

Plaza Major



I am at the center of Spain (0 km mark)


Palacio de Comunicaciones


Nature vs. Man
(pretty, I think)


Estadio Santiago de Bernabeu
(home of the very famous futbal team, Real Madrid, for whom David Beckham used to play (before he left Manchester United a week before I saw them play in Los Angeles in 2003!), present champions of the Spanish League)


& of course, a bear eating strawberries from a tree...

Live from Madrid!

coming soon... (because I just got here and will start exploring tomorrow!)

The Endless Journey

Tunnels of light and dark,
exits of unmarked door,
sounds of mysterious origin;
the planes rise and fall,
the clouds gather and dismiss their rain,
the sun and moon glow always.
Feet ache and back falters, carrying the weight of the the world.
Step by step the destination can occasionally be seen.
But the next hill awaits.
Winds blow and carry news -
cold and heat arrive in the changing times,
but I must obey my choices, my paths, my way.
Until the end the journey never stops,
because as soon as you stop, there the journey just may end.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Me, Ben & Kelly


Ben blowing out the candles (best chocolate i've had in... oh... 1.5 years) :-)


Ben @ home finally getting his Bulek F.C. t-shirt (9 months & 9000 miles later) with matching WAGS shirt for Kelly
(WAGs = Wives And Girlfriends)

Ben @ Beach


Ben @ Work

Bishop's Palace Gardens

A perfectly manicured lawn to take a nap on...





with Chichester Cathedral

West Wittering (Ben's Beach B-day BBQ)

Does this shirt make me look fat?

Actually, with the wind in my sails, my first impression of this photo is that I appear to be a wee bit pregnant... :-) Don't worry, I'm not!