Hi folks,
Hope everyone is well. Yesterday, Joe, Jenn, and I went to see the movie "Avatar" in 3D. The visual effects were good, but the story and screenplay were pretty bad, in my opinion anyway. We also went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday - then came home and played a game of Settlers of Catan. Joe won for his first time!
Joe and I are continue to get a little better every day. We'll be driving to Binghamton with Jenn on Wednesday to help her move into her house. Joe has tomorrow off from work for Martin Luther King's day. Kodak, at least in Rochester, doesn't celebrate that as a holiday.
It's been warmer here - in the 40s - and the snow is almost all gone. I took down the Christmas lights outside yesterday.
I've been reading "The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour" - a follow on to reading "The Lacuna" - recommended by John. I'm really enjoying it and am learning a lot about post-WWII that I didn't know.
Back to Madrid -
On our second day, Wednesday, 23 December, for breakfast we went out for hot chocolates and churros. Then we went to tour the Real Madrid football (soccer) stadium. The tour included a museum in the stadium, the locker room, the field (first picture above), and the press room. It was a "do it yourself" tour - there was no tour guide. It was pretty impressive. After that we stopped to eat, and in the restaurant was a framed picture of the burial of the sardine. We didn't know at the time that's what it was, but the "Sardina" caught our eyes (second picture). We have since looked it up, and it appears that Spain celebrates carnival before the beginning of Lent, and in Madrid the end of carnival on Ash Wednesday brings the "Burial of the Sardine" parade, with the participants all dressed in black carrying a cardboard sardine in a coffin which is theatrically and mournfully buried at the Fuente de los Pajaritos, marking the beginning of the fasting and reflection associated with Lent. Supposedly, the sardine is a symbol which reminds people that they will now be eating fish instead of meat. There is also a Goya painting, "The Burial of the Sardine". That evening, we went to see the language institute where Jenn took her classes (third picture), and then went on a "tapas crawl" - going from bar to bar buying tapas and drinks, all around the Plaza Mayor. Thus, the end of our second day in Madrid.
Kind regards,
Terry
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