Old friends

Mr. O'Hearn, my Uncle Bobby and my Grandma, Phyllis Catherine McNulty Droney (sent from Carolyn Nadeau)

I've heard the names Rose and Colin Nadeau throughout my life. They were some of my maternal grandparents' closest friends, and their five children grew up with my mom's family of five children. My aunt told me a while ago that one of the Nadeau daughters and her family are actually living in Madrid this year and I should get together with them. So, yesterday it finally worked out for me to meet Carolyn Nadeau and her husband and four children. They had me over to their flat for lunch (spaghetti with meatballs--reminded me of Grandma's recipe), then Carolyn and I talked over cafe con leche. I thought it was interesting how comfortable they were for me to be around--warm, like my family, a little bit eclectic, maybe, like my family, slightly scattered, perhaps (even the way their kitchen was organized reminded me more of my family than most families I meet). I felt at home. :)

Anyway, I also thought it was really cool that in meeting Carolyn, we were sort of honoring the really strong, almost family-like friendship than ran in our blood. Her having me over reminded me of this: "'Don't be afraid,' David said to [Mephibosheth], 'for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan... and you will always eat at my table.'" I love the idea that friendship can make you as close as family to someone--I have a few "sisters" in addition to my five wonderful ones (and brothers, too :)). And someday I hope my grandchildren show kindness to my their grandchildren, if they have the chance to.

Seth's visit

Notre Dame


inside

Seth and Ellen's visits overlapped by a day, and 24 hours after Ellen flew back to Atlanta, Seth and I flew to Paris for of our first time. We stayed with a friend of mine from Yellowstone, JS, and his hospitable family about thirty minutes from the city center. We were exhausted from sleep deprivation when we arrived (our flight left at 5:45 that morning, and we'd pulled an all-nighter the night before) so we slept on the shuttle that took us from Beauvais (the Ryanair airport... more about it later) to the city center. JS and his mom greeted us at their metro stop, where the drove us to their house. We probably took a nap immediately upon our arrival, and then headed to Notre Dame for the Easter mass that evening. JS told us about the history of the cathedral and some of the governmental buildings around it. The church was filled with thousands of tourists like ourselves--it wasn't the somber, reverent experience I was anticipating. But the church was breathtaking, and thinking something so magnificent being built in the 12th-14th centuries is just mind boggling. After our visit to the cathedral, JS walked us along the Seine and showed us around the Latin Quarter, right near Notre Dame. We ran into some random guys who wanted to trade us a little Eiffel Tower figurine for whatever we had that was more valuable than that, so Seth and I gave them our chap-sticks in exchange (I think we got the better end of the deal).


dinner with JS and family

JS's mom made us all an amazing French meal that night, complete with French wine, cheese and a little raspberry tart. She's my favorite. :) And then she made us breakfast the next day before Seth and I headed off to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees. It was cold and rainy that day, so Seth and I invested in an 8-euro umbrella with "Paris" written all over it. I think he's going to give it to his Nanny as a souvenir--don't tell her we already used it!

Seth and me at Eiffel Tower



Right next to the Eiffel Tower lookout point was a churros stand (long pieces of fried dough, this time covered in sugar, not dipped in chocolate). So, of course, we had to split a container of some FRESH ones--they were better than the ones in Madrid, I have to say (though I missed the chocolate).

Kate, Seth and Gen at the Pantheon

Kate and Gen, two of Seth's friends from school, were visiting Paris at the same time as us, so Seth, JS and I got together with them the next day. We hung around the Latin Quarter a little then went to Montmartre that evening (it's the hilltop of Paris). The Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur was really beautiful--such interesting mosaics on the ceiling (one of a very serious, cold-looking Trinity). We all split dinner dishes at this cool restaurant Gen had heard about in Montmartre. We met some friendly guys from a band at the next table over who invited us to their concert, and Gen, Kate, JS and another new friend actually went to it after Seth and I came back to Madrid! I love new acquaintances!


Montmartre view

Sacre Coeur

hilly Montmartre at dusk


The next day Seth and I thought we had PLENTY of time to catch our 8:00 flight back to Madrid that night. So we went to the Musee d'Orsay (with Kate and Gen), the Louvre, to McDonald's for McFlurries, then took the Metro to the airport shuttle station.

Van Gogh's Bedroom

our McDonald's splurge...

Upon arriving, we were informed that we were supposed to be there 3 hours before our flight (not 2 1/2 hours...). We got to the airport, knowing we could have made our flight, but the airport workers wouldn't let us on. So, we missed our flight and had to buy new tickets for the next flight 12 hours later. We went to a little grocery store inside the airport and stocked up on food for our night in the airport, got settled down on some chairs and around 10 an airport attendant came by to tell us that the airport CLOSES DOWN at 10:30! We didn't have any money to get a hostel, and we didn't want to risk missing our flight again, so we and about 20 other young people stayed outside the airport in the freezing cold rain that night. We were covered from the rain by an awning, but it was still miserable. The most miserable night of my life, maybe. We befriended some Italian kids and a Chinese guy and watched "When Harry Met Sally" on my laptop for the first two hours outside. We thought--this isn't so horrible. This might be a fun night. Then it really started to get freezing. We put on all the clothes we had but still couldn't get warm. The Italian kids and I started a FIRE in an CIGARETTE URN with Paris pamphlets we'd gathered beforehand in the airport. The bliss was momentary. When the airport doors finally opened at 5:55, Seth and I booked it to the Ladies' bathroom, turned on the hand driers and thawed for about 20 minutes--our plan from about 1:00 that morning. Then we checked in, wiped the Beauvais airport dust from our feet and slept through the entire flight to Madrid.


us with our new friends, still ignorantly blissful

It was a good learning experience. We now know a little bit what it feels like to be homeless, how easy it is to make friends with people in the same extreme situations, and to be treated "inhumanely"--what if we weren't young, healthy twenty-somethings? Well, we'd probably have money to afford a hostel. But what if we didn't? We also thought about the desire some people on the streets have to commit petty crimes. We did start a fire in a cigarette urn. But we also contemplated somehow breaking into the airport, or hiding behind one of the food vendor's registers before we had to leave the airport. I wouldn't want to relive that night for any amount of money (well, maybe SOME amounts of money), but I'm pretty sure we'll laugh about it someday.

Ellen's visit

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! There's just been too much to write about, I think. Ellen came for Semana Santa and, with Biz, we conquered the South of Spain (Granada first, and then Sevilla). To get to Granada we took a five-hour bus together, passing a beautiful, dry and rocky range of mountains about an hour before arriving at our destination. From the Granada, we could still see the mountains in the distance, but now we could tell they were snow-capped. There's not much in nature that makes my heart soar (you know the rush-feeling I'm talking about?) as much as snow-capped mountains. Seriously. There are a lot of beautiful things in nature, but you just throw some snow-capped mountains in the background, and you've got a breathtaking scene.

Ellen and me at San Nicholas Viewpoint

Highlights of our first day there: wandering Granada's labrynthine streets searching for the San Nicholas Viewpoint (where Bill Clinton took his family in 1997) (beautiful view of the Alhambra, the city, and the mountains) and looking for some caves we read about where Gypsies still live (and some hippies, too)! We found the caves but were scared off by mangy, barking dogs and the fact that these were people's houses, still lived-in, not yet historical artifacts. How would we like it if tourists came to peek in our homes? We decided to turn back around. But not before I snapped a couple pictures. :)

A modern cave-dwelling

That night we accidentally ran across a procession on our way to a bar. We were stunned by the seriousness and stillness of the people watching the two-ton floats being carried down Granada's narrow streets. The floats' main centerpieces are statues taken from specific churches in the neighborhood. Some of the statues are from the fifteenth century, and some are newer. I thought of all the eyes that have seen and adored these exact statues being carried down the street (on people's backs) every year for the past several centuries. I've never experienced anything like it.


from Alhambra vista

The next day we met up with our new friends Tim and Jeff to go to the Alhambra (Tim goes to church with Biz and me, and Jeff is his friend visiting from Canada). Since all the online tickets were sold out already, we (just the girls--the guys were still driving in from Malaga) had to wake up at the crack of dawn to wait in line for tickets--which is never fun anyway, but especially when you're on vacation. We spent most of the rest of the day wandering through the palaces and gardens, admiring the incredibly detailed handiwork--mostly Arabic poetry--carved into every square inch of ceilings or walls in every building the fortress. I followed Rick Steves' advice and tried to picture it back in the height of its glory--with colored walls, functioning fountains and maybe some snake charmers and hookahs attracting the young and old royal Moors.

with my trusty Rick Steves guide at the Alhambra


Alhambra wall detail

friends at Alhambra viewpoint

That evening, the group of us bought some bread, cheese and wine (and cider for me, of course) and relaxed on the terrace on top of our hostel. We got up there around dusk and watched the city turn to lights. An American guy and a Norwegian girl that Ellen had met the previous night came up to join us, and then a couple more girls from England decided our party looked like nice and sat down, too. It was freezing cold, so Tim fetched us blankets and we huddled up together on the couches, laughing and telling stories for hours. Afterwards we went to a little nearby hookah bar then returned to our hostel, dreaming of Arabic poetry.

Sevilla's skies clearing up

Ellen, Biz and I took the next day's bus to Sevilla, the world's Semana Santa destination (it's processions are the best). Sadly, it started raining right after we got there and the processions for the night were cancelled. We all sat in a cafe and wondered what we should do next--our bus to Madrid wasn't leaving till 1:00 that night, and it didn't look like the rain was going to stop. We decided to take a taxi to the bus station to lock up our bags and wait inside for our bus. After being there about ten minutes, the sky started clearing up and we were off to walk along the river, taking silly pictures and singing along to Biz's iPod on the way. The day couldn't have turned out lovelier, with sunbeams streaming through once storm clouds and changing the color of the river every few minutes. Biz and I miss our dear Ellen now--her vibrant personality, and her effervescent laugh.