Hi friends and family,

Christmas in Caceres; everything appeared closed. Our hotel did not know if even the churches would be open - "Perhaps." And the day was overcast, a definite drop in temperature, to about freezing. I told Don we might have to be on an enforced diet that day (which wouldn't hurt us a bit, I know), since we had eaten all available snacks the evening before.

We got in the car for sightseeing in the direction of Merida, a town with a few Roman ruins still recognizable. This area of Spain had been settled by the Romans pretty extensively. Passed a lot of bulls in acorn tree-studded pastures, which we commented upon. This is not a sight commonly seen in the US. We are used to seeing lots of cows and an occasional bull. This mystery and the lack of pig sightings was cleared up for us by Mel Ramos:

Your trip to Spain sounds very familiar. The area between Avila and Salamanca has many many oak trees that drop acorns. These ranchos raise Toros Bravos (fighting bulls) and as the tale goes the bulls eat the acorns and it gives them a bad case of gas making them fart a lot. This is what makes them so pissed off. The reason you don't see pigs grazing is because they are all raised in granjas, (indoor pens) along with chickens, and rabbits. Cows and sheep graze outdoors.


Spotted this ruin of an aqueduct on the outskirts of Merida, also a convenient stork roost.

Rather annoying, but the old Roman ampitheater and a neighboring temple were enclosed by barbed wire and a wall of hedges, which was closed on Xmas day. We snuck some photos through a gap in the hedge, but they have been deleted from this email for lack of space.

Hey, there is a parador in Merida. They have customers staying with them; they might serve food.


To the Parador, Merida.

Not fasting after all. Our Christmas dinner. We burst into the dining room as soon as it opened, which was 2:00 pm.


Trying to decipher the Spanish menu. The parador was serving a special Menu Almuerzo Navidad 2010 (Special Christmas Dinner). The martini glass holds a very creamy foie gras; you also see croquetitas de perdiz (croquettes made of quail - I think) and Lascas de Lomo Iberico (some type of Iberian ham).


Era staring down a prawn (Ensalada de Langostinos al Vinagre balsamico).


Future Doctor - some things are the same the world over; a kid doing his best to amuse himself.


Don doesn't seem to be able to direct Era's gaze towards the camera. Apparently she is fascinated with her food.

Our main course: Don had the Navidad dinner menu entree: Cochinillo Asado acompanado de patatitas salteadas. It had been described to us as pork so tender that it could be cut with a fork and would melt in your mouth. It was delicious and incredibly tender. We found out afterwards that this is because it is from a little baby suckling pig which hasn't had time to develop any muscles. We saw one later in a Segovian restaurant window, lying small and uncooked with a smile on its face, looking adorable, as if it were happily sleeping on a bed of crushed ice. Someone at this same restaurant in Segovia ordered it at a neighboring table and they brought it to them, roasted with crispy skin and quartered it with the edge of a dinner plate - with a disconcerting crunching sound - which is the traditional way it's done, to show how tender it is. Fortunately, for us, we had no idea this is what we were eating, and so totally enjoyed it.

I was already a little overdosed on pork, so asked for fish and received some lovely sea bass on a sort of tapenade of eggplant, peppers, onions.


Our waitress, showing us the Cava (Spanish champagne) we are about to have with our dessert. We also quaffed a Chardonnay de Torres - D.O. Penedes and a delicious Vino Tinto Muriel D.O. Calificada Reserva 2004. Not sure what type of red wine this was, but it was so good we looked for it in different wine stores afterwards and could not find it. The cava was Cava "Juve Camps" Reserva Cinta Purpura. Those little wrapped goodies on the plate are great little Spanish cookies and candies. We are bringing some back to the Magnolia crew. They also served us a sort of cheesecake with apricot inside and fresh fruit.

And now some hardware shots for the men. We, especially Don, became obsessed with the beautiful door hardware and studs.



Our after dinner stroll, we took in the Temple of Diana, which once stood at the crossroads of 2 major Roman roads. This was right on a small central street in Merida. It seems that they are building a museum to surround it.


More Temple of Diana.


Roman bridge, street lights have been added since. And that was our Christmas, folks. Our daughter, Marisha, says that her white Christmas is mostly white concrete and plaster dust covering all the surfaces of our house. She was able to escape for a Christmas Eve feast with her Farnsworth grandparents and some other family, and a Christmas day feast with Squeak Carnwath and Gary Knecht. Thank you, kind hosts, that relieves some of our guilt and makes us feel a little less like bad, bad parents.

Love,

Era and Don

Dear friends and family,

You know you're a child of the 'sixties (in America and Britain, anyway) when a certain cool retro futurism makes the soundtrack from James Bond play in your head, and you don't mind.

If you read our last email, we drove through the snow of Avila, and down through the Jerte Valley, and drove into Plasencia at dusk. I wanted to stay in at least one parador, and from my research one of the better ones appeared to be in Plasencia. So we followed the signs for the parador and saw a sign for parador parking which appeared to point into the side of the fortified city wall. So strains of 007 soundtrack playing in our heads, we watched while the gated door opened and we squeezed our car into the tiny elevator space allotted to us. Glad we weren't driving something large.



















 Inside the car elevator, we were lifted up 3 floors to their parking garage, underneath the city. Did they excavate this?



















And that's how big the space actually is. You can't just drive through; first they enclose your car into a little sealed capsule and check you out, I guess.


This really is the most beautiful parador. This wide hallway/lounge surrounds the patio and inner garden on 4 sides. The rooms come off these wide corridors. Our room was a small suite: An entry room, a bedroom, and the bathroom.


This jaw-dropping room is where they served a lavish breakfast buffet the next morning.


Outside the parador. There is a beautiful church next door; that is the entrance to the right. Our blind luck, the weather is gorgeous. People are stranded in snowbound airports in Northern Europe. This is the day before Christmas.

Plasencia is a small town and so we stayed for only one night. Next stop: Caceres, its entire historical center has been designated a World Heritage site. (From the UNESCO site) The city's history of battles between Moors and Christians is reflected in its architecture, which is a blend of Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles. Of the 30 or so towers from the Muslim period, the Torre del Bujaco is the most famous.

Many of the conquistadors who explored and plundered the Americas came from this area, the Extremadura, which is the province which contains Caceres and Plasencia. They brought their riches back to what is essentially a rather poor area. Very impressive architecture results.

Our hotel in Caceres was perfectly nice, but much more modest and not terribly interesting, so no pictures. Here are some photos of the old town of Caceres.



Detail of the intricate stone carving.

Love,

Era and Don

Dear friends and family,

Thanks so much for everyone who wrote Madrid recommendations. We are not as up to date as we would like, so are often writing about places we have just left. It was fun to read and dream about what we might have done, and some things we did do.

One last tapas meal before leaving Madrid. Don just commented that it looks like a lot of food for 2 people. It was, but we managed.



L to R: peppers with garlic and olive oil; eggplant, lighted breaded and fried (yummy), Merluz (or hake) cooked Romana style (battered and fried), grilled asparagus with aioli. At Vina P.

Picked up a rental car at the Madrid airport and headed out. A huge ring road around the city and then the usual ugly industrial sprawl after the blocks of apartments which seem to surround most European cities.

We gained ground and it started to snow. Then a mist came down and the whole world was in gray tones.



The beginning of the oak trees, which later cover the plains of the Extremadura. Oaks, acorns, jamon.


It was beautiful, but eerie. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Were we going to get stuck in the snow like all those poor stranded people at the airports?


Arrived in Avila; once headquarters for the Inquisition.


Found a cheerful place, Bar Palomar in Avila. A good meal does wonders towards helping you see the sunny side of life. Don is eating melt-in-your-mouth cheek of cow and some frites. His first course was white beans.


I had chicken and a melange of some different chiles; at least one was pasilla. My appetizer was small squid in salsa verde.


Back on the road. 2 burros. We have seen sheep, cows, horses, burros, but not one pig. Only their hams. We think maybe they are too valuable to be allowed to graze on their own.


A spectacular El Greco sunset, as we descend into the Jerte Valley.


Famous for its cherry orchards.


It's still snowing.

Love,

Era and Don

Hi folks,

A word about jamon (ham). The Spanish probably make the best in the world. We can't really call it ham because it bears almost no resemblance to American ham. Sorry, Italia, but pata negra or Jamon Iberico de bellota (from black pigs fed on acorns) and possibly even Serrano ham is better than proscuitto. In Madrid there are many cafes with dozens, even hundreds of jamon hanging from their rafters. At prices up to $90 a pound (for pata negra), that is quite an investment.


A guide book we read said the Spanish craze for pork products started in the Middle Ages when eating jamon and pork or hanging one in view of your threshold, signaled you were a true Christian - definitely not a Jew or Muslim. Torquemada, don't look at me!! Somewhat like before we went into that crazy war and many Americans flew the flag from their cars, houses and anywhere they could.


This shop is called the Museo de Jamon.

Well, whatever its possibly ludicrous origins, the Spanish have developed their jamon into a thing of beauty. It is nutty, rich and an absolutely melt in your mouth burst of complex flavors.

Took a little break from Madrid and went on a day trip to Toledo. The fast train from Madrid now gets you there in 35 minutes and costs about $20 round trip.


Truth be told, Toledo was a little too squeaky clean for us. The whole town looked as if it had just been sand-blasted. There were not hordes of tourists, as it is winter, but the town sure looked like they were gearing up for the influx.

Hi friends and family,

The next day, after one last visit to the mill, where on the way Don had to fight against sliding off the icy roads, we drove into Brussels and managed to return the van to the correct train station. Stayed overnight in Brussels. Blue sky, but quite cold. It was raining and snowing intermittently and the cobbled and stone-paved streets were slick with ice. I hydroplaned a few times, but managed not to fall, mostly by taking little mincing steps.



Brussels main square.

Went to the BOZAR (where Don and I once had a piece exhibited - Thank you, Randy, who curated us into the show) and saw a Wim Delvoye show. Liked some of his architectural pieces a lot, like the Gothic church below. The stained glass windows are images of body parts, mostly intestines, I think.



Large Gothic cathedral, modelled in vectors.

The BOZAR also had a Cranach exhibition. We didn't see the whole thing. Too religious and dreary, but there were a couple sketchy portraits which were breathtaking.

Almost embarrassed to admit that we once again took a Ryanair flight to Madrid. Don was a little annoyed to be subjected to their drill sergeant-like service, but it was a matter of saving about $500 for a 2 hour flight. Or we could have taken the train for about a thousand dollars. The snow had started as we left Brussels, Charleroi Airport. The plane was delayed as they had to de-ice the wings. (Now we hear they've run out of de-icing fluid. Hopefully, they're getting more.) A flight to Istanbul had been canceled and flights from London were pretty much at a standstill. After landing in mild Spain, we heard that many flights from Northern Europe were cancelled. We got out by the skin of our teeth, it seems.


Now we're in Spain.


Land of tapas.

We arrived at our beautiful, roomy apartment in central Madrid a bit on the late side. We were hungry and I suggested going out. "Are you kidding," said Don, "it's 11:30." I told him, "This is Spain. They eat late here." We went to a tapas bar where we could barely get in the door, it was so crowded. And plenty of people arrived after us. Fabulous food: tiny, salted padrone peppers, fried calamari rings, olives, grilled shrimp. All delish. We left around 1:00 in the morning and the place was still packed - standing room only. We forgot to bring our camera, so these pics were taken the next day.

Also the next day, we went to a great tapas bar/restaurant, Vina P, and got into a conversation with the people at the next table, who insisted we try some of their delicious fish (Merluz, or the less melodious name in English "Hake"). One of their friends, maybe their agent, took a photo of us, unfortunately with blurry results. But they turned out to be famous comedians, who have a tv show in Spain, Los Morancos. Pretty funny cross dressing skits. Their agent probably thought we would be thrilled to have our picture taken with them, but we didn't have a clue who they were until our waiter told us as we were leaving. Just seemed like nice fellows. Los Morancos are on either side of Don and me.

Don pointed out later that one of Los Morancos, the one who was spoon feeding us, had reached across the table and speared his friend's fish, not his own. Probably part of the comedy act. His friend didn't seem to mind. Check out the link below the photo.


Blurry photo of Don and Era with Los Morancos.

Here is a link to a UTube video with a skit all of us women are familiar with, the waiting line for the bathroom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNdkZLChRY&feature=related

After dinner, a Spanish guidebook said, it is usual to go to from 1 to 3 bars for after dinner drinks. These people are party animals, extremely social. Animated conversation everywhere.



View of the Temple of Debod, given to the people of Spain in 1968 by the Egyptian government in gratitude to Spain for its assistance in saving the temples of Abu Simbel when the Aswan Dam was built.


In case you were wondering where exactly Era took her less than wise jump, Don has eagerly helped you all to picture the exact place at the back of the reconstructed Temple of Debod in a Madrid park, Parque del Oeste.

(From Don: "I still walk very fast. Era manages to keep up, even with her shorter stride. Only once she asked me to slow down. Apparently, it's good therapy. Her knee is doing better.")

Shortly after this incident, a much more unfortunate incident occurred. We were just finishing up a meal at a Madrid restaurant when a young woman missed her footing at the top of a very steep, long and narrow stairway and tumbled all the way down to the bottom and around the corner to the basement toilets below. We were horrified and almost paralyzed. She started moaning, so she was thankfully still alive. Also thankfully, there was a doctor eating at the restaurant who quickly came to her aid. We stopped by the restaurant two times to inquire about the young lady. The first time we were told she was taken away by ambulance, and the second time we were told that she was okay. Extremely bruised, I'm sure, but she will be fine.

Staying true to my motto of never passing a toilet by without using it, I had shortly before gone down these same steps and they had reminded me of our own former long, narrow, steep and winding stairs (which many of you have probably heard me reference "as if you are traveling down an animal's gullet"), which have now been torn out of our house and will be replaced with something much more beautiful and much safer.

Love and Happy Holidays!

Era and Don

Dear friends and family,

First, quick and clever Ms. O (I'm spilling the beans, finally, it's Deborah Oropallo) sent a photo of an alternate reality; if we had stayed home with our construction. Note: smaller portion size.









































And our friend Hung Liu sent her thanks for having a sympathetic sore knee (I recklessly jumped off a wall in Madrid).















 Love,

Era and Don