organic plans and not being tear gassed...

Well, I think I will start this Blog kind of "backwards" I have just returned from a night in Toledo (should have been five) it's a gorgeous part of the world, just not my cup of tea, I should have known when the man at my Hotel told me proudly that Catriona Rowntree had done a show from there (I'll bet she didn't stay long) I find her very irritating...

not even a two horse town...

Toledo is filled with shops that sell 
swords and knives (and suites of armour)  
with not very many outdoor cafe's as it is the most up and downy (not in a goose way) place that you could imagine, the tables would just slide away. It is the home town of Pedro Almodovar, and as I said to lovely Trudy earlier today, that's why he makes such interesting movies, there must be a whole lot of stuff going on behind closed doors in Toledo as there is not much action in the streets...
I ran to catch the 10.27 train...The Toledo Shuttle, with apologies to Bozz Scaggs...
                           

Strawberries or marshmallows dipped in chocolate, anyone?

no, no I want the one on the left...

I fell back into the welcoming "arms/foyer" of Room Mate Mario and
took myself off at speed to the San Miguel Markets for six oysters, two fabulous tapas toasts and two big fat stuffed olives (all from different stalls) washed down by a glass of Pommery bubbles, finished off with a wee piece of Creme Brulee... fantastic!

the Chico's

             


Just two nights ago Trish and I were very nearly involved in an International incident, and we were only going out for dinner... our chosen route was blocked off by a bazillion police cars and officers, they were clearing out Plaza del Sol of the student protesters...Trish has a friend who was once tear gassed in Greece, not to be outdone she insisted on having a look at the action. (Personally I had had a very big day having my eyebrows done by a woman from Columbia with the only common word we had being small (mine was a small change, I could only hope that she would understand I didn't mean small eyebrows...she did a great job)  

hmmmmm...

As it happened we got away unscathed (much to Trish's disappointment) even though this is not a very good photo, 
I still believe it was actually the fashion police that we saw :0)
A similar Police/Political event took place in Valencia whilst I was there, the students all ran down the street stripped off and jumped in the fountain outside the school...it was a brilliant distraction from class.

Madrid is gorgeous, not the spunky pretty little Valencia, but a grown up city that is big, busy a little harried but very confident of her place in the world, and seriously there is no time for "mucking around" Even the people that are begging are of the school of "don't fluff about" it could be that there is no sea breeze here...



We have seen the oldest flea markets in Europe that have been around for over half a Millennium, can you imagine! 
                         (and some things I'm sure were there from day one)

we should have picked a couple of these up for the other night  

You can buy every thing that you can imagine here, (although I didn't see any fleas) it's stretches for miles!   

Now THAT'S a Gherkin!

 
Trish and I did a mass of    things in our week, this included lot's of Metro trips, funnily enough one day I noticed the Thyssen-Krups name at the bottom of each escalator, I fleetingly wondered what it would be like to be a Thyssen...turns out you could do wonderful things!

Miss Spain of some years ago married Mr Thyssen, she was an avid art collector and eventually donated the lot to the people of Spain, what a fabulous few hours we spent at the Thyssen Museo.

one of our many Metro stops...just lovely!

Such a collection, to see this talent and passion is truly humbling, interestingly though it was very apparent (through the similarity in their work) that Matisse, Monet and Gauguin were all hanging out in the same coffee shops/bars drinking Absinthe with people such as Max Pechstein, Maurice Vlaminck  and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, but this group just never became quite as household "namish" I wonder why...
We saw an extra exhibition by Antonio Lopez, look this guy up, Spanish, so prolific in so many mediums, stunning stuff...

Finally, I want to send a big "shout out" to my dear friend Trish, who left yesterday, the best person in the whole world to catch delayed trains and the Metro with, to drink beer with lemon and eat chorizo and chips at 11.30 in the morning and a top navigator for Team Punto in Italy. A beautiful treasured friend to make memories of a life time with. 
Thanks buddy! xxx


If you made it this far "cheers" this has been another whopper, it's just amazing how much can happen in a few days...

I think it's a SIGN! :0)

Am rather spontaneously off to Malaga tomorrow...(to stay with Room Mate Mario's friend Larios) I can't wait (seriously look up the website it's brilliant) 
 www.room-matehotels.com


What an adventure!


Thanks for sharing xxx