December 31 - HAPPY NEW YEAR

In Sevilla, New Year's Eve is a mellow holiday.  It is mainly spent with families at home and then right before midnight people congregate in one of the main plazas and try to eat 12 grapes during the 12 chimes of midnight and then return home to continue their family celebration or go to bars to party into the wee hours of the morning.

Many of the fancy restaurants and hotels have "special" dinners which are pretty formal and very expensive.

I went to the grocery store this afternoon to make sure we had enough food to get through the holiday tomorrow - it was a madhouse.  Many shelves were bare - not a grape (fresh, with or without seeds, or canned) to be found.  Luckily, we were not planning to head into the crowd at Plaza Nueva anyway, so we didn't really feel like we needed the grapes.

At around 9:30, I headed out to check out the streets.  As advertised, almost everything was closed and people were scarce.

There were a few restaurants taking walk-up guests - and they had long lines.  

I headed back in, and like true locals, we spent the evening together as a family.  We watched a few shows together and played dominoes - and ate enough that we definitely did not miss the grapes.

At a l11:40, we headed out to our bridge.  It was no Plaza Nueva, but there were a decent number of people out popping grapes and champagne bottles and noise makers.

There were fireworks starting to go off all over the city at midnight, so we headed back to the apartment and up to the roof to get a view.  There was no single big show, but there were fireworks in every direction and some even straight overhead.

It is now just after 1 am here...and I want to wish all of you the very best new year.  

December 30 - Odd Place for a Horse

We were all a little slow to start this morning, but Albert did manage to do some laundry and we all managed to do a little work.

This afternoon, I took a trip out to Costco for a few small things - primarily raspberries.   They are not widely available in our local store and when they have them they are very expensive.  However, they are relatively inexpensive and delicious at Costco.  Of course, while I was there I picked up a few other things as well, but it was a small trip (very small by Costco standards).

On the half mile walk from the store to the bus stop, I pass by a neighborhood of small apartment buildings that is surrounded by a wall with a gate.  Just as I was passing the gate, a man came out with a horse.  I am not sure where he had been keeping the horse...in his apartment?  But, he walked out, tied the horse to the back of his motorcycle, got on the motorcycle and slowly drove away with the horse walking along behind.  Very odd.

I am still enjoying the Christmas decorations and lights - with only one week left until the end of the official Christmas season, I am trying to really take notice of them every day.

We spent some time in the last couple of days working out final plans for the rest of the girls' visits.  We have tickets for a Flamenco show on Tuesday and then on Wednesday Emily heads home (we will really miss her), Rachel heads out to Tangier for a couple of days (but she is coming back), and I head back to school.  Then next weekend, Albert and Rachel and I are going on a mountain hike before Rachel goes off to her conference in Malaga.  

We don't have any big plans for tomorrow night -just eating 12 grapes at midnight and hoping to see some fireworks.  

December 29 - San Juan

This morning everyone spent some time working - for me that meant a couple of hours of Spanish.

After all the "Christmas eating", I needed my walk today more than ever. I walked back toward the channel of the river that runs behind us, and walked around a park that I had not visited since summer.  It was much greener now - and it was lovely and sunny, but today was in the high sixties instead of above 100.

After walking the length of the park, I found a narrow bike, motorcycle, pedestrian bridge that I didn't know was there.  The pedestrian part was a little narrow but it offered a nice view of the river and the community garden just on the other side of the river.

The little town on the other side is San Juan.  Usually when I cross the river, I cross further north into the small town of Tomares where there are some big box stores (Carrefour and Ikea for example) and a pretty downtown area.  I had never been to San Juan before.

There is a large church on a hill that is really beautiful along with a climbing path with the stations of the cross.  It was warm and sunny and I was the only one there.  I did not climb all the way to the top, but I did look around a little.

Before heading back over the bridge, I walked over to the metro station to check out the cool elevator up the hill.

The sun was going down and I still needed to go the the grocery store, so it was time to head back across.  Lots of good shots of the metro on the metro bridge from my little bridge.

Back on our side of the channel, there is a newish pedestrian bridge that allows you to cross the highway... 

When you exit the other side, you are walking alongside a military installation surrounded by a wall with barbed wire, I figured I would skip the picture taking for that stretch of road.  At the end of the wall is a large entrance - a picture seemed safe at that point.

Then a quick trip to the grocery store where I actually managed to have a conversation with the butcher that resulted in chicken breast fillets then home for a quick rest.  Although Albert had taken a long walk today, the girls had not left the house - so we gathered everyone up and headed down to the big waffle sculpture that has a Christmas festival with booths, lights, rides, ice skating, and a small stage with a local group playing Christmas music.

We stopped off at a couple of stores on the way home - shopping is still in full force here as folks prepare for New Year's parties and the gift giving of Three King's Day.  Then home for dinner and a movie and now off to bed.  

December 28 - Laziest Day in Sevilla

Wow - today is over and I feel like I haven't done much all day.

Kathy and Ric left this morning to head back to Lisbon.  Albert and I walked them to the parking garage where their rental car has been parked for the last few days.  I was sad to see them driving away - it seems like we have been planning for and counting down to their visit for months - and now it is over.  I know that the same feelings are about to get multiplied in the next couple of weeks as Emily and then Rachel leave.  I am not looking forward to it.

I did a little Spanish and read a little and then somehow it was 4pm already.  So, I put together a list and headed out to the store.  We had all eaten leftovers for lunch and were planning pizza for dinner - so just some basics at the store...and the ingredients for Sangria.  I don't drink wine, so I have never really had an itch to make Sangria, but we are in Spain and it is everywhere here - so I thought I would try it out.  I used a recipe that takes about 3 hours (most of that time is waiting).  So the idea was that it would be ready after dinner.

According to Rachel and Emily, it turned out ok.  I was not a fan - but as I mentioned, I don't usually drink wine at all - so I am probably not the best judge.  Albert had a glass as well and seemed to think it was ok.

While the fruit for the Sangria was "developing", I did a little more Spanish and then we all took a walk downtown to look at the Christmas lights.  It was a bit of a madhouse.  With the Christmas season really holding on until Three Kings Day, there is no after Christmas letdown yet in the city.  People are still shopping and going out to look at lights.

We didn't stay out too long - and we stopped for pizza on the way home and then out for gelato (lemon sorbet for me) yipee!

It appears that Rachel is hoping that Papa Noel will visit and fill up her shoe with candy...but sadly she missed him by a few weeks since he fills up shoes on December 6th.   Or maybe she just left the shoe there because she stepped in something....

All in all a quiet day.  No big plans for tomorrow, but if it is another sunny day like today, I will try to spend more of it outside the house.

Decmember 27 - Granada

Yesterday, we met up in the morning and headed off for the bus station.  We had a comfortable ride from Sevilla to Granada.  Then we took the tram to our apartment in Granada.  It was on the top floor of an 8 floor building and offered lovely views of the city.

With some lovely weather, we made our way into town for some lunch....

Then,  we were ready to spend some time walking along the river.

 Then home for a little while and back out for another meal....

Finally, back to the apartment for a game of cards and the end to a long, fun day.

This morning, we cleaned and packed and checked out of our apartment and worked our way across town and up the hill to the Alhambra for our 3-hour tour.

There were lots of beautiful views and interesting stories, and it was nice to spend the time together.

Then we made our way back across the city to the bus station and headed home.  

Tomorrow, Kathy and Ric head back to Portugal to head home.  It seems almost unbelievable that they arrived ten days ago.  With trips to Tangier and Granada and Christmas tucked in between, we didn't actually get to see many of the big sights of Sevilla with them.  But, I don't think we could have squeezed anything else in.

December 25 - MERRY CHRISTMAS

An early morning check showed that Santa found us in Sevilla with a few small things - traditions like a small jar (or can) of olives in the heel of each stocking to remind us that we may be far from home but we are still the same family.

We had French Toast and bacon (and homemade vegetarian sausage for Emily) for breakfast and Roast Beef and Baked Macaroni and Cheese and Veggies for dinner - all in all a pretty American Christmas menu.  And, a lot of the Christmas candy was consumed.

We did a little walking this afternoon - the weather was lovely and it was nice to get out of the house.

The people who were not cooking made it all the way to the Plaza de Espana, but I needed to get back to keep things moving.

Tonight after Kathy and Ric headed back next door and Albert, Emily, and Rachel decided that they were in for the night, I headed out for a walk into the city to see the lights and listen to the piped in Christmas music.  It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since we first saw them stringing up the Christmas lights around town.  I am happy that they really celebrate Three Kings Day in Spain -so we still have almost two weeks before the Christmas season really ends here and the lights come down.

The streets right in the city center near the cathedral were crowded and some of the cafes had reopened and were full of folks who were ready to get out.  But the streets down in the shopping district were deserted - after weeks of shoulder to shoulder shoppers, it was nice to be able to just cruise down the empty streets.

As I approached our bridge and enjoyed the view of our neighborhood from the other side, I took a moment to reflect on how extraordinarily lucky I am.  I miss Walla Walla and will be happy to back next year, but for now I am really enjoying this beautiful city!  Merry Christmas.

December 24 - Sunny Christmas Eve

This morning, I headed out to pick up a few last minute things at the store since the stores closed early today and will be closed all day tomorrow.  It was so warm, I didn't even need a jacket.  This is my kind of Christmas weather.  The store was an absolute zoo.  There were so many people, it was difficult to even navigate up and down the isles.  Luckily everyone seemed to be in a good mood. My cashier was even singing Christmas carols throughout the transaction.  The fish market folks were busy, and the cashiers were busy, and the produce folks were busy, and the bakery people were busy,....but nobody was as busy as the ham carvers.  The line of people waiting to get some (incredibly thin) slices of ham stretched for a long way... and the two carvers were working nonstop.

After my trip to the grocery store, I came home and unpacked and headed out to the produce market to get some jalapenos to add to tonight's soup.  Albert and the girls were at home working and Ric and Kathy were out souvenir hunting.  We all met up at home at a little before two and headed out to lunch.  

We had a reservation at a nice restaurant that serves Spanish fusion.  The food was good, and it was nice just to be out together.

After lunch we split up again.  I took a walk around the city and picked up some maple syrup, which is only available in a couple of specialty stores, for tomorrow's breakfast .  Then I headed over to Primark where I met Albert and the girls.  Each girl picked out a small  Christmas gift for themselves.  Our real gifts to the girls (and to ourselves) were the girls' trips to Spain.

With all of the shopping done and hopefully all the employees headed home to their own families - we all met up at our house.  I cooked Chicken tortilla soup, chicken tacos, and veggie tacos. 

After dinner, Albert and I walked the trash out.  Every cafe was closed and the street was nearly empty.  For a warm, beautiful evening at 9 pm, this was kind of eerie - on any other night it would have been a hive of activity.  I will say though, that we were not sad about the missing smoke from the chestnut roaster and the incense salesman. 

Our normal tradition on Christmas eve is to drive to the mountains and go sledding.  Of course it was in the high 60's today, so we have taken a year off on the sledding.  Then, we usually would come home from sledding, eat dinner, and watch a Christmas movie.  Occasionally we watch a classic, but mostly, we try to watch something new.  This often means that we watch something terrible... and this year was no different.  But also like in years past, it was mostly nice just to have everyone together.  After the movie, Kathy and Ric headed back to their flat next door.  They will be back in the morning for Christmas breakfast.

Now, one final thought before I sign out for the night... I love having my family here.  I love that Christmas gives us an excuse to put away our regular lives for a few days and just be together.  I intend to savor and enjoy every moment, and I am extraordinarily grateful.  "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."