SECOND WEEK FULL OF FAMILY!!!!

Hello again from Valencia!  Sorry I am a day late, but our cable system had a “fit” and it took me a while to get access to the internet again. It has been a week full of events wall to wall.  Here goes.

Last Thursday, we went shopping for a belated wedding present for Coque (Nuria’s brother) and Patricia, who got married last November.  We couldn’t go to the wedding, as it was just 7 weeks before we were set to come for this trip.  So, off we went.  Got some great things, but we cannot reveal them here.  There are being delivered on Saturday when this couple comes to Rose’s party at our house, so we can’t leak the news just now.  Then, we had a great dinner at Nuria’s that evening so that we could present Cristina with both her birthday and Three Kings (their gift giving time) presents. Here are some great pics from that night, including the obligatory “bath” pictures that will be used against Cristina for her whole life!

Unlike the “Bear” pics above, this one will take some explanation. Cristina has the paper over her face, but the present is a toy “TV” with a dozen different cards you put into the screen.  But the big deal is that it has its own remote control, which Cristina already loves to play with (the real ones).  You can push six real buttons on the controller, and it asks questions about the pictures on the screen (and it knows which program you have put in).  Finally, the remote control has two language options, and can talk in either Spanish or Italian.  So, Cristina can start her “tri-lingual” education right now (Spanish, Italian, and English).

The adults also exchanged Three Kings gifts, with Rose and I getting beautiful scarves and Gerri getting a purse.

We had a great light dinner.  And we also got to meet Rosa, their nanny and housekeeper who is from South America.  Rosa is going to be our house cleaner every two weeks on Saturdays.  She started last Saturday and did a great job.  We will have to get a picture of her to put in a future blog.  But, the picture of this night was when Gerri was entertaining Cristina and decided to use some of her toys to put on a show.  Look at this!

This is the real Gerri!  I can’t decided if the style is more Star Trek or Mork and Mindy!!!

Friday was taken up with hair appointments for both Rose and Gerri.  Rose uses the same salon that Nuria does, and likes them a lot. She has been getting a different look from the one she has in Marlboro the first two weeks and likes it, but next week is going to go back to the “perm” look.  Gerri has a stylist she really likes, Mary Lou (really Maria Luz, but she uses the American style form of it.  She gives Gerri the “pixie look” you will see in the photos below.

On Saturday, we had lunch with Alfredo and his 7-yr. old daughter, Lucia.  It is in a favorite Italian restaurant near his home, which has two rooms, all adult groups in one room and adults with children under 10 in another room.  In that second room, one of two large tables are play tables with a lady who organizes the making of crafts that can be presents for their parents.  Perfect!!

Lucia!

They are great together!  Lucia was playing with a friend from her school, Elena.  At the end of the meal as we were preparing to leave, we couldn’t see Lucia and Elena’s mom couldn’t see Elena either.  A small investigation led to find them both, along with Elena’s younger brother, in the ladies restroom.  The play table was closed by then, and they invented a new game.  There were spreading liquid soap over the whole floor and making bubbles with his by splashing a lot of water on the floor!!  So, both parents went into discipline mode.  Instead of going to Alfredo’s sister’s house to play after they walk with us to the bus, Lucia was “grounded” and they went home.  Se le vie.

Sunday was set to be a bright, warm day as it got over 70 degrees. We had heard from Alfredo on Saturday that there was going to be a major 10K race in Valencia on Sunday, as there was a “kids” running event that Lucia did on Saturday before our lunch.  While getting ready for breakfast Sunday morning at about 8:00, Gerri looked out the terrace window and said: “Look, the runners!”  The river of culture is a 5 mile long dry river bed (from a diverted river for flood control) full of parks, arts, and other attractions.  They use the streets running along side this dry river as the course for this kind of event.  So, from our balcony, you could see them on the far side of the river, turning to cross on the bridge just south of us, running back north on our side of the river and right in front of our building. The runners went on for at least 30 minutes and their must have been over 10,000 runners.  Look.

So, with this good weather on Sunday, it was time to take a drive and show Rose the Albufera Lake, which is only 15 minutes south of us.  It is a fresh water lake where they grow rice and fish, especially for the local delicacy, small eels.This lake is only separated from the salt water Mediterranean Sea by a strip of land about 1/4 to 1/2 mile wide!  The road down this strip of land is partially a national park and full of great restaurants.  So, we had a coffee and snacks at one restaurant, and then a paella on the beach at another.  Nice day!

We had just finished a meal starting with an appetizer of the local specialty, a stew with potatoes and eel, followed by this now consumed paella called a Senyoret.  It has two kinds of shrimp and small langostos to go along with the rice.

As if that wasn’t enough for a Sunday, we went to visit with Alicia Ribes, and her husband Juan and son Ernesto in the evening.  This was also to both visit and to deliver Ernesto’s birthday and Three Kings presents.  He is only one day older than Cristina.  It was a such a nice visit that we forgot to take any pictures.  But we’ll get some pics of them when they come to Rose’s party tomorrow night.

This week has been involved with daily living, including shopping at both the supermarket and the huge Mercado Central where there are over 250 vendors of meats, veggies, fruits, nuts, cheeses, and seafood.  We love this place and go every week.  We were shopping in both places for both our normal menu and for the party food for Saturday’s party.

For years, but especially these two times when we were here for three months and going every week, we have hoped to “bump into” friends here.  This week, it happened!!  Nuria’s father Pepe came up to us as we at our favorite cheese stand!

Pepe talks so fast in Spanish that we only get a little of what he is saying!  But it is always so much fun to see him that we don’t care!  All his family is coming to Rose’s party tomorrow.

We end this week with a tale that happens to most US visitors to Spain.  They start to crave some American food.  Rose has been hankering for a “great hamburger”, but we didn’t trust any of the local restaurant versions of that here. Last week, we found the solution and this week we acted on it.  In one of the markets, we found a great meat shop that has an entire case of nothing but burgers: beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, veal, duck, and more.  And then one’s with veggies, spices, etc.  And they are big and thick too.So, we bought three straight hamburger patties plus a “Texas” burger that had coffee and barbecue sauce, and we had a feast for lunch yesterday.  VERY GOOD!  ALL THE RIGHT  TOPPINGS TOO!

So, we started cooking for the party yesterday and that goes thru Saturday evening.  We are so looking forward to having over 20 people here to greet Rose and visit.  Pics next week.

Love to all,

Gerri, Rose, and Dale