Deciembre

Amigos,

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I apologize. The last weeks before Christmas went very fast with lots to do.

First things first, during El Puente (see previous post) Carmen and I visited the surroundings of Madrid by making trips to Toledo and El Escorial.

Toledo is a must-see but unfortunately I feel there are too many giris (tourists) wondering around. There are more souvenir shops than panerias (bakeries). Anyway, it is a good place to stock up Christmas presents and this is what we eventually did. The visit was made in company with Herman (pictured next to me in front of the famous Toledo cathedral) and his family who were visiting Madrid during the Puente. Other pictures include me with the Cruzcampo (beer) man and me inside the synagoge of Toledo.

The day we went to El Escorial was the two-year anniversary of me and Carmen. Some of you reading may remember the day we first met on the boat from Stockholm to Talinn, in the Aluminium bar on deck 7 – also known as the ‘fun deck’. The warm memories of that night were nowhere to be found in El Escorial – our chosen place of celebration. It was literarily freezing and – to make things worse – we had to wait one hour in a queue to get in!! But this didn’t spoil the festivities of the day as we could use our anniversary presents (a hat, scarf and thermos can) to the full extent!