chit chat

As I first ventured down the narrow streets of Grenada, I grinned. For the first time in Spain, I encountered a place that spoke to me. The alley at the bottom of our hill is filled with tea houses, incense and Arab-African goods. And we have the choice of eating something other than Spanish tapas! Last night we had a delicious meal at a Lebanese restaurant, the day before we had dulces arabes (think baklavah).

Our street in Granada

And yesterday was the first day of Semana Santa, a very large celebration of parades down the streets every evening until Easter. Last night we saw a parade on the way home and today I found another. It's an interesting mixture of formality and informality, with costumes and structured groups, but people (locals and tourists) milling around between them at times. They move really slowly since they have to keep giving the guys carrying these huge floats filled with candles, flowers and statues a rest. After awhile, I just have to walk away since there is not much going on!

We arrived in Granada on Friday and have enjoyed not having a car any longer. We were very happy to hand the keys over! The train station (where the car rental was to be dropped off) was not marked very well and we drove by it twice in congested city traffic. Finally, we stopped at a taxi cue and paid a driver 5 euros to lead us to the train station, which happened to be 3 blocks away. But seriously, it looked like a bunch of buildings that could have been anything.

Shopping

Today we headed to the Alhambra which over 2 million people visit each year. It was beautiful and the only way we got through everything without a screaming child, was the promise of crackers, fountains or cheese. Oh, how simple our life has become...

Alhambra

We will be back in the states on Thursday and we are both ready to get back to life. The trip has been good, but there is a point where my mind gets mushy, then anxious to work again.

There's graffiti everywhere!

I'll be back in the studio next Monday and will return my emails and phone calls as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience!