Julie & Shelda go to Spain......

What a fun week – lots of adventure, excitement, exploring and shopping – who could ask for more????

We played lost and found –

Day one we lost each other in Heathrow resulting in me flying alone to Madrid and Shelda having to catch a later flight. How did this happen? Not sure – seasoned travellers as we are! Anyway the day ended with a happy reunion in our Madrid hotel. The rest of the week Shelda clung to me like glue……

Day two I lost my wallet – well not lost exactly, it was stolen from my bag while we were enjoying the sites in Plaza Mayor, a very popular tourist spot. It all happened very quickly and we were both very impressed with the pick-pocket’s skill – we had no idea until a few minutes later when I noticed my bag was unzipped. This incident set us on a very different course to that of exploring tourist. We spent some time at the local police station with an absolutely gorgeous young policeman who was not only mesmerizing but also extremely helpful although doubtful of us recovering anything. Thank goodness Shelda had a cell phone that worked as I had to make and receive quite a number of phone calls - mostly back and forth with Visa and also with John who was working in Alaska. I learnt some valuable lessons – have less cash and always keep cash and credit cards separated and wear a money belt next time! Luckily I still had my passport and Shelda’s support was invaluable as she propped me up for the rest of the week with cash and use of her cell phone – thanks cuz! I was also extremely impressed with Chase Bank who called within 30 minutes of the incident to say that they noticed some unusual activity with my credit cards and would now block them. They also organized for an emergency credit card to be delivered to my hotel – wow, I was amazed (the credit card however didn’t arrive until the end of the week but I was certainly impressed on the night of the crime!)

I've since learned that Madrid comes in at No. 4 on the list of top 10 worst cities for pick pockets - makes me feel much better that I was ripped off by professionals and not some tacky little amateur!!

Anyway it was only a wallet (albeit a Burberry one filled with cash, credit cards, driver’s license and my Texas ID card!!!!) and we weren’t physically hurt, so it was time to move on and concentrate on enjoying our time in Spain.

Of course there is always a positive to be found with any situation and after the dust settled Shelda felt a poem coming on (she’s soooo talented and a published poet to boot!)

Pick-Pocket by Shelda Rathmann ©

Flamenco dancer swirls arms,

stomps heels in frenetic flourish of

staccato moves and rapid rhythm of

strumming Spanish guitar. Her carriage

stands strong, proud; she claps, calls

and with a crescendo of chords,

her flaming red torso gyrates,

a raw, pulsating gypsy spirit.

Captivated crowd tosses coins,

oblivious to sly, stalking predator

eyeing vulnerable victim. Passing

pick-pocket performs; a magician

with sleight of hand, he swallows wallet –

a quick trick vanishing act.

Castanets click in frenzied finale.

Tourist applauds; naïve puppet in

sinister, Underworld sideshow.

Not to be outdone, my creative juices gave birth to this amazing literary piece…

Where Art Thou? by Julie Ruth

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I’m in Madrid without you!

Where could you be?

You should be with me!

Missed your plane?

How insane

Seasoned traveller as you are

Was the trip a bit too far?

Finally you knocked on my door

And I was happy once more.

We explored and shopped the town

Loving everything around

Then when I was rolled

You were my pot of gold!

Thank you dear cuz

With you our trip was a buzz

We found ourselves in the middle of 2016 Olympic Host City excitement. Madrid was one of the 4 cities running for this honor and was in full Olympic swing. Their logo is named "Corle" and represents a hand in the colors of the Olympics, welcoming foreigners to the games. The silhouette of a 'M', representing Madrid, is also hidden in the hand. Unfortunately they were pipped at the post by Rio de Janeiro however we really enjoyed mixing with theSpaniards and sharing their excitement waiting for the final decision.

Madrid is such an impressive city – the architecture, the cobbled streets, even the street signs were beautiful. Lots of narrow streets struggling to accommodate all the traffic – so many cars, so many people, so many smokers!! Police presence was also extraordinary – they were everywhere and oh so handsome (think I mentioned them before……)

We spent an afternoon in the Prado Museum – amazing! We saw works from Rubens, El Bosco, El Greco, Botticelli, Brueghel, Murelli – absolutely awesome. We sat outside and listened to a Spanish guitarist and then hopped on a tourist bus which took us around the city. So much to see, so little time. Our favourite artwork was a piece by Rubens "The Three Graces" - three women celebrating cellulite! The woman on the right was his second wife, Helena Forment.

We both ate some interesting foods during our stay. Shelda tried many of the local foods including several Tapas dishes (paella, sardines, potatoes etc.) as well as the famous Jamón - Spanish ham. She also tried the locally made marzipan and was brave enough to try a very interesting hot chocolate mixture that came with 5 churros sticks (churros is a long and thick deep fried Spanish doughnut. Apparently they are normally eaten for breakfast dipped in hot chocolate – whoa!) I had a couple of amazing cold soups – a delicious gazpacho and a melon & mango soup – just delectable. We both also ate lots of mixed salads made to perfection. We made friends with a young man working at a little café near our hotel and he served us falafel wraps (so delicious, however not too raw…..) All in all we ate really well over the week including lots of fruit – yum!

We watched some bull fights on TV (unfortunately it was all in Spanish however we really didn’t need the commentary) and were absolutely gob smacked at the so-called sporting spectacle. Hooley dooley – my heart was with the bull! Still not sure how so many thousands of people can get so excited watching an animal being killed – very barbaric. We actually went into a café in Plaza Mayor where they displayed mounted bull’s heads on two of the walls and on the 3^rd wall they displayed very detailed photos of matadors injured by a bull – exceptionally gory. Needless to say we chose somewhere else to eat…..

On Wednesday we caught the metro and then a train to the little town of Avila for the day. Avila is well known for the amazingly intact wall surrounding the city and for being the birthplace and home of Saint Teresa of Jesus (a devout Catholic nun famous for writing poems dedicated to Jesus in which she expressed her devotion to Him). It’s a real medieval town and we spent most of the time clicking the architecture with our cameras. We were so engrossed with our surroundings that we hardly noticed the rain. The town is also famous for "yemas", a delicacy made with egg yolks and sugar – we didn’t get to taste one ‘cos when we had finished our sightseeing it was siesta time and all the shops were closed. Oh well – next time!

The following day we packed our bags and headed by train to Toledo for 2 nights. The Madrid train station is amazing - very welcoming.

In Toledo we quickly discovered Damasquinados jewellery - very popular in every store and made locally. The craftsmen recreate the Renaissance motifs displaying variations of birds and flowers on jewellery by hammering gold onto steel. It's just gorgeous and of course we wanted to help the local economy so we purchased several pieces.

Old Toledo is breathtakingly beautiful - it sits on a large hill and is encircled on three sides by the Tagus River. This old city retains its medieval road plan – thus we often got lost walking in and out of the twisting streets and irregular terrain. Getting lost was an adventure and we discovered new things every outing and met some lovely locals each time we had to ask for directions. We hopped on a little tourist train that drove us around the city – very, very bumpy but a lot of fun.

The Holy Church Cathedral in Toledo is huge and it just tookour breath away. The place was absolutely dripping in gold and even had a 'treasure' room displaying the gowns and jewels worn by Cardinals and Priests etc. It's the biggest cathedral in Spain and extremely impressive - if you're into gold and riches!

We just love Toledo (then again we love Avila and Madrid) – definitely want to experience the rest of Spain one day……

The last night of our week together was in Madrid and the hotel gave us a complimentary upgrade. We were rapt and enjoyed a fabulous spa bath in our room before retiring for the night. Before that however, we decided to face our fears and headed back to Plaza Mayor. We sat in an outdoor café and studied the crowd looking for pickpockets. Of course we didn’t see any as they are so clever although we pinpointed several possibilities (don’t think we’ll give up our day jobs though…)

Our week was filled with so much – drama, adventure, excitement – all in all just wonderful.

It was over so quickly and we said farewell in Heathrow Airport - however we will be reuniting in 11 weeks in Hawaii to celebrate Blake’s 30^th birthday.

Life continues to be really, really good……..