Madrid

Madrid blew us away.  What a great city with amazing culture.  We got very used to the daily life of the Spanish. 

11:00am - wake up
12:00 to 2:00 - sight see
2:00 to 4:00 - tapas lunch with canas (small beers) or sangria
4:00 - siesta
6:00 - sight see some more
8:00 - happy hour with cava
10:00pm - long dinner with more tapas and wine


 We arrived late on Friday night. An 11:00 reservation at Ten con Ten, and the place was still hopping!

 

One of the best bike tours we've been on. We saw all of Madrid's main sights in three hours and capped it off with a stop in Retiro Park for an Estrella.

 

Temple de Debod

 

Almudena Cathedral

 

The Royal Palace

Plaza Mayor

The gardens of Retiro Park

The Glass House

 

Lunch at the highly recommended Mercado San Miguel

 

Thanks to a few family members we were able to spend some time in the famous Prado Museum for free (as well as the Reina Sofia)

 

 

Followed by a drink on top of the Thyssen Museum

Madrid at night

 

Some live music to accompany our cava

 

Dinner at Lamucca

 

Museum Reina Sofia- my personal favorite!

Dali

Picasso

 

El Rastro- Europe's largest flea market

 

Tapas in La Latina neighborhood- Since we couldn't read the menu, we were unaware that you get a free cana for every tapa ordered.  Unfortunately or fortunately, we are big eaters, and 6 canas showed up on our table.

After our siesta, we were off to Las Ventas to watch a bullfight.  A great experience, a bit gory, but the epitome of Madrid culture! And it eased my mind that the horse never got hurt.

Another great dinner out at Baazar

 

Our last healthy lunch of a cheese plate, deep fried cheese balls, a loaf of bread and beer :)

Dirty Dancing

We layered up and biked down to Cobo Beach to watch Dirty Dancing and catch the sunset.  We packed a picnic and shivered through the showing :)

Dip & Dine

When the weather is nice, the perfect way to spend your afternoon is at a Hotel Dip & Dine (or so we thought) - eat lunch and use the pool and loungers for free.  Little did we know that the one that was highly recommended to us would be over run with hundreds of kids.  Thanks to Josh for putting up with the splashing and screaming of what was supposed to be a very relaxing Saturday.  And to top it off, the amazing scallops that we had for lunch gave us food poisoning causing us both to miss work on Monday.

Bike Ride- Pub Crawl

A sunny Saturday we took the opportunity to bike ride from pub to pub through the parish of St. Martins.  Obviously, that is the responsible way to get around after a few pints, cups of Pimm's, and Vez's vodka jellies.  It started out as a very low key afternoon soaking up the sun and ended with a synchronized swimming routine and a birthday cake for the birthday girl (me)!

 

London Olympics 2012

I think we were the only people to get excited about Olympic "Football" because after entering the lottery for this, and only this, we got the tickets. 18th row at the Men's Quarter Finals ended up being a fantastic match.  Mexico vs Senegal, and it was 2-2 into overtime and ended 4-2 Mexico.

Trafalgar Square

Wembley's arch in the background

A quick lunch with a few beers

Inside the stadium...85,000 people in attendance

 

 After the game, we met up with Jenna, a friend from Dallas.  We took her to the oldest wine bar in London, Gordons on Villier St.

 And then it was to Sophie's for drinks and dinner

 And finally, Josh, at the end of the night with the weird one-eyed Olympics mascot.

Sunday morning we woke up to the women's marathon right outside our hotel

 

The runners followed us to St. Pauls where we were going for lunch.  We took the tube, they ran.

A great weekend in London, and so unbelievably cool that we have been to the Olympics!

Guernsey Guernsey Guernsey

Poor Guernsey seems to fall to the wayside with all the travel we do.  Here are a few highlights over the last few months of our time on our little island.

I participated in a 16 mile Cancer Cliff Walk around the Southern 1/3 of the island.  To say the least, it was June and NOT a very nice day...but it was for a good cause, and the cliffs are quite a workout.

The bluebells in full bloom

 A cold and rainy Sunday in June (shocker), Josh was supposed to be participating in a sprint triathlon.  After a few too many trips and not enough training, he decided to pass.  We went to watch and cheer them on anyway.  There were 40 participants...a little different from the states.

 The kayak rescue if needed

 The run from the swim to the bikes

 The week before the Olympics, Prince Charles and Camilla made an appearance on the island.  I saw them (kind of) from my office window as they spent an afternoon at Castle Cornet.

Sundays, when the weather is nice, Candie Gardens has a concert series.  The sun was shining, so we took advantage...