Saturday, October 6, 2012

We plan to leave for the train station around 1:30 this afternoon to be there in plenty of time to catch the 2:10 AVE to Madrid.  We will arrive at 3:40 and then head to our hotel.  After we unpack, which will be an easy chore since it is a two-day stay, we will grab some lunch and at 7:30 we will head for the Gran Vía to catch Jorge Blass’ 8:00 PM show.  We will catch up with Jorge afterwards.

Yesterday morning Alicia and Inma came by to put the slipcovers back on the four sofas that we have here.  I took advantage of that time frame to get a new pair of glasses since my prescription has changed.  I had my prescription from Jeffrey Nilles, my eye doctor in Glendale and I decided to go to a rather small óptica that had helped solve some small problems with my glasses over the years and did so without charging me.  I was glad that I did.

They were very thorough and gave me another eye exam to make sure that there was no further problem with the vision in my right eye and after a rather thorough exam we proceeded to choose a frame.  The frame that I liked best was a Dolce & Gabbana model and since the charge for the frame and the lenses was the same that I paid for last pair of glasses I decided to take the plunge.  The glasses will be ready next week.

Since we had a 12:50 appointment at City Hall we left the house at 12:30 to make sure that we arrived on time.  When it was our turn we were informed that we needed to have photocopies of our housing contract and our visas.  The woman who was helping us told us that there was a copy store just around the corner and when we came back to just approach her desk without taking another number and waiting.  Once we had all the necessary document, the actual process took less than five minutes and our empadronamiento is now up to date and we have all the documents necessary to renew our visas.

Since Susan was meeting with Zahava at 3:30 we opted for an early lunch and a little after 1:30 we were seated on the terrace of Carusel.  We chatted with Jordi for a while and discovered that he is opening a new place nearby that will be more café-like and will feature entertainment in the evening.  After a while he headed back to the kitchen just about the time our appetizers arrived.  We enjoyed a cream of pumpkin soup, a tomato salad that was dressed with a white gazpacho, a playful version of a sandwich stuffed with tuna and peas and strips of fried fish served with a tartar sauce.  Our main dish was an arroz caldoso made with spinach, cod and squid rings.  Dessert was a coconut cake served with pineapple and a dab of chocolate banana ice cream.  A quick coffee to finish our meal and we were back home at 3:30.

While Susan was visiting with Zahava I had my afternoon siesta.  The rest of our day was rather uneventful.  There was some talk of our getting together with Brian and Ofelia in the evening, but Ofelia needed to work late at the gallery so we decided to postpone our reunion until next week.  I was in bed by 10:30 and Susan decided to stay up and read.  She read until 12:30 and her strategy worked because she slept straight through until 8:00 o’clock.

There will be no blog post tomorrow because I am not taking the laptop to Madrid.  I hope to have something to report either late Monday or early Tuesday.