Home now...
Vacation was absolutely amazing. Thankfully my cold finally let up while we were in Cordoba and I was really able to enjoy the rest of my trip. Madrid is one of my favorite modern cities to visit because it is just so damn gorgeous. Beautiful buildings with ornate decorative work, big plazas to stoll through, great restaurants and some of the finest art museums that you could ever want to see. We visited the royal palace, the Prado museum and the Reina Sophia museum of modern art (and home of Piccaso's Guernica, perhaps the most amazing peice of art I've ever seen in my life). We drank too much wine, ate too much jamon and just had a splendid time.
And my skin actually has color now! Being of Russian heritage, I normally come in two shades - white and red. Now I'm actually tan (well... tan tinged with pink). Even my legs got some color. The only downside is that the skin on my legs is so sensative to the sun that I developed a nasty case of solar dermatitis (yes, it's a real thing). Basically, I had an allergic reaction to the sun all over my lower legs (or as my niece called it, an outbreak of the plague). It's now clearing up and my legs actually have a bit of color to them, and don't quite so much resemble something pulled dead from the bottom of a river.
Coming home... not so much of a good time. Should have known that the trip was going to be a rough one when my niece spilled a cup of hot coffee on my bare foot while we were waiting for the car to take us to the airport (it seems a ritual that if I travel with someone, they must spill something on me at some point in the trip). We then get to the airport and thanks to a complete brain fart I had while packing, I had all the nice bath products that I'd bought and stupidly packed in my carry on bag confiscated by security. Then before boarding the plane, I was one of the lucky three passengers "randomly" selected for additional screening. I had my bags searched and a thorough pat down. Was tempted to ask the security officer feeling me up that normally I expect dinner before being groped, but I don't think that would have gone over too well. My niece was greatly amused.
The flight itself was a bit rough. Lots of turbulence the whole way home (and there's nothing like having your plane shimmy from side to side every now and then), but we got in a half hour earlier than planned. Got through customs with minimum suffering (and thankfully no one was interested in finding out that I was bringing home a lot more wine than I was actually declairing) and now I've got pretty much every article of clothing I'd brought with me in the washing machine. I'm struggling to stay awake (in order to get back into a normal sleep cycle), and am jonesing for a pizza. Tomorrow with be relaxing, weeding out my veggie garden and reconnecting with Luna. My kitty missed me (if the tongue bath my ankles got while unpacking was any indication).
So the good points of the trip...
And my skin actually has color now! Being of Russian heritage, I normally come in two shades - white and red. Now I'm actually tan (well... tan tinged with pink). Even my legs got some color. The only downside is that the skin on my legs is so sensative to the sun that I developed a nasty case of solar dermatitis (yes, it's a real thing). Basically, I had an allergic reaction to the sun all over my lower legs (or as my niece called it, an outbreak of the plague). It's now clearing up and my legs actually have a bit of color to them, and don't quite so much resemble something pulled dead from the bottom of a river.
Coming home... not so much of a good time. Should have known that the trip was going to be a rough one when my niece spilled a cup of hot coffee on my bare foot while we were waiting for the car to take us to the airport (it seems a ritual that if I travel with someone, they must spill something on me at some point in the trip). We then get to the airport and thanks to a complete brain fart I had while packing, I had all the nice bath products that I'd bought and stupidly packed in my carry on bag confiscated by security. Then before boarding the plane, I was one of the lucky three passengers "randomly" selected for additional screening. I had my bags searched and a thorough pat down. Was tempted to ask the security officer feeling me up that normally I expect dinner before being groped, but I don't think that would have gone over too well. My niece was greatly amused.
The flight itself was a bit rough. Lots of turbulence the whole way home (and there's nothing like having your plane shimmy from side to side every now and then), but we got in a half hour earlier than planned. Got through customs with minimum suffering (and thankfully no one was interested in finding out that I was bringing home a lot more wine than I was actually declairing) and now I've got pretty much every article of clothing I'd brought with me in the washing machine. I'm struggling to stay awake (in order to get back into a normal sleep cycle), and am jonesing for a pizza. Tomorrow with be relaxing, weeding out my veggie garden and reconnecting with Luna. My kitty missed me (if the tongue bath my ankles got while unpacking was any indication).
So the good points of the trip...
- Spending time with my niece.
- Visiting one of my favorite countries in the world.
- Eating too much great food and drinking too much great wine.
- Visiting so many amazing historical sites (pictures to follow)