Got on the plane for Spain on my birthday and it felt terrific! I cannot think of a better celebration. In Spain, we visited friends, drank wine, ate pork and did the tourist thing. Given I am an early bird it was strange to adjust to the schedule. The kids didn’t even get up for school until 9 am. One time we tried to get coffee at 8 am this was not easy. We ate dinner one night at midnight. This was dinner not a snack. We had a big flounder type fish. The first two nights we were out until 3 am. We quickly adjusted this schedule as it was not conducive to our tourist plans.
We visited the Prada museum and Reina de Sofia. Funny though, the hours of Reina de Sofia are strange too so when we got there it was closed. We had to wait an hour so we went across from the museum to get a coffee. Apparently this is a pretty common tourist “problem”. Well, really any excuse to get a coffee and dessert is fine by me.
I ate some desserts instead of meals. I love European desserts. I would move anywhere in Europe just for the desserts. I was surprised by the wine selection. It is either red or white. You do not see the Merlot or Pino Noir options. So that is what we drank. This trip was riddled with drama. I had an anaphylactic-like attack on the train and went to a pharmacy because of the aggravated constant cough. I got a throat spray that is not sold in the US to ease the issue. At this time I did not make the connection it was the wine. I did not figure it out until two years later when I took a food intolerance test and grapes was number one. That is another story though. We did not let it stop us although there were some embarrassing moments like coughing crazy in the Prada museum. I am sure if they knew me I would not be invited back. I got to see Las Meninas and other very dark works of Velasquez. We were able to see Picasso’s Guernica in Reina Sofia and then visit the Basque country, Bilboa where that painting was inspired. In Bilboa, we visited the Guggenheim museum. It was a very art filled trip!