Saturday, July 21, 2012

Juliet’s train arrived fifteen minutes late and the good news is that in spite of a rather complicated trip she was able to make the train.  Her original flight to Spain on United was canceled due to mechanical difficulties.  Fortunately, Juliet was able to male alternate arrangements and flew via Swiss to Zurich and from Zurich to Madrid.  Her suitcase is somewhere between New Jersey and Madrid and will hopefully make an appearance tomorrow.  Her flight to Madrid did not leave on time, but the good news is she made it to Atocha and got on her train a full two minutes before the train pulled out of the station.

It turns out that Juliet will not be teaching in the Canaries.  She has been granted a sabbatical year that includes her salary and a small stipend and the decision was made to spend that sabbatical year in the Canaries where the girls can attend the American School and yet be in a situation where they can learn Spanish.  They are close enough to the peninsula to make visiting easy for them and us.  They are also close to England where Juliet’s parents live.

They have located Juliet’s suitcase and it turns out that is still in Newark.  They will send it out today and it should arrive here in Valencia today or tomorrow.  That’s good news.  Yesterday, however, Susan and Juliet went shopping to pick up a few necessities and when they returned it was close to 9:00.  They put things away and off we went to La Comisaría.  On the way we said hello to Francisco and Quique.

La Comisaría was jammed.  There was not a table to be had.  Fortunately I had planned ahead and made a reservation so we took our place at an outdoor table.  We said a quick hello to Eddie who was truly under fire trying to get all the food out to all the tables.  He looked frazzled and understandably so.  Service was a bit slow, but given the crush of orders being generated, it was not surprising.

Dinner was delicious.  We samples the ravioli stuffed with goat cheese and lemon grass, the langoustines, some shrimp and pork gyoza and a Thai crispy veal dish.  We shared a dessert and we decided to have our after dinner drink at home.  The Carmen was jammed and we were barely able to make our way through the Plaza de Tossal.  When we got home it was a little after 11:30.  I opened up the bottle of ronmiel and we had a nightcap.  Then it was bedtime and off we went to our respective rooms.  Hilary and her son arrive today so we will have a full house for the weekend.