Marty Kaplan's Blog

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Little did we realize it then, but the wheels that would propel us to a decision to live on a permanent basis in Spain were set in motion in the summer of 1974.  We had just finished our first year of teaching at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia and I had been charged with setting up a Mini-Term in Spain program that would parallel the Mini-Term in France program that had been initiated during our first year at the school.  The school gave us sufficient funds that allowed us to fly to Spain and visit several possible locations for the program and so in July of 1974 we flew out of Boston for what was our first trip to Spain and, for me, my first trip to Europe.

A slight mix-up at Logan Airport worked to our benefit.  When we approached the ticket desk we were asked to leave our luggage and come back in thirty minutes.  We did just that and when we returned to the desk there was a big hullabaloo going on generated by a rather large group that was to travel on our flight.  When it was our turn, we explained that we had been instructed to leave or luggage and return in thirty minutes and those thirty minutes were up and we would like our boarding passes.  The agent patiently explained to us that there had been a slight overbooking problem and that all economy seats were filled.  They then told us that they were going to upgrade us to First Class and would that be all right with us.  So, my first ever trans-Atlantic flight had Susan and me sitting in First Class and it was an amazing experience.

That summer we visited Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Seville and Granada and we decided that we would establish the Foxcroft program in Madrid and that the Estudio Internacional Sampere would be our host institution.  In March of 1975 the first ever Mini-Term in Spain group headed out from Dulles Airport.  It turned out to be a learning experience for all of us.  We would repeat the program a number of times and Susan, Rachel and I would always stay with the same woman who was our hostess in 1975, María Teresa del Toro.  We established a very close relationship with her and the members of her extended family.

When we moved to California and I started teaching at Westridge, I set up an Interim program in Madrid and that particular program ran several years.  It was not offered in the 1989-1990 academic year with the intention of allowing other overseas trips to get their oar in the water.  I recall that there was one student, Ritu Kumar, who had been looking forward to going that year and because Iberia was offering flights to Spain at a ridiculous price. I decided that I would spend my Spring Break in Madrid and I told Ritu’s family that I would keep an eye on her and be available if any problem were to arise while she was studying with Sampere.  While I was there in April, I walked into what was then Madrid’s only magic store and I met two Spanish magicians who are still two of my best friends in Spain, Ramón Ríos and Antonio Hernández García.  Antonio accompanied me to a meeting of the local magicians that Monday night and that was when I got to meet Spain’s father of close-up magic, Arturo de Ascanio.

That summer Westridge gave me a very generous grant that allowed me to spend a great deal of time in various parts of Spain.  I landed in Madrid and from there I went to Toledo to attend my first Spanish National Magic Convention.  Both Ramón and Antonio were there and it was in Toledo that I first got to see Juan Tamariz and Tommy Wonder perform.  From Toledo I made my way to Vigo in Galicia.  My next stop was Celorio, which is located in Asturias and my final stop was in Burgos where I spent a very interesting week.  Susan joined me at the end of my stay and we got to explore the northern coast of Spain together.

The early 2000’s saw me set up a one-month summer immersion program in Spain with Madrid as our base.  I would stay on when the students went home with the two other chaperones and that was when Susan would come and join me.  I had met Pepe and a number of other Valencian magicians in the summer of 1998 and with our program now running full-blast in Madrid, I was able to slip away for a weekend to visit with my Valencian friends while leaving the students in the charge of the two other chaperones.

We always knew that when we retired we would be spending a goodly amount of time in Spain.  Our original idea was to spend six months a year in Spain and six months a year in LA.  We always thought that we would be spending our time in Madrid, but as the years passed and we grew older we concluded that Madrid with its traffic, noise and fast pace was not what we were seeking. A summer visit to Valencia in 2007 and a visit in the fall of 2008 impressed us greatly.  The city had undergone a rather dramatic transformation in the intervening years and had built the City of Arts and Sciences complex, had totally reformed the port area that was hosting The America’s Cup and had turned the beach area into an attraction all its own with its abundance of restaurants, sandy beach and crystal clear water.

In September of 2009, with both of us now retired, we spent six weeks in Valencia in late September and early October.  That was followed by a three-month visit the following year and then another three-month visit in April, May and June of 2011.  We had hoped to have out residence visa by then, but it turned into a rather long and drawn out process that final resolved itself in October of 2011.  We then returned to Valencia in November of 2011 and retuned to LA at the end of July 2012 with the intent of packing up our personal belongings, selling out townhome in Alhambra, as well as our two cars.  We had decided that it really was not economically feasible for us to being paying a mortgage with all its associated expenses on a house in LA while renting a place year-round in Valencia.  Since our hearts at this juncture of our lives were really in Spain, we decided that it would be best for our bodies to be here, also.  Our decision feels like a natural process that evolved over a thirty-eight year period and, in spite of how it may appear to some, it was not a precipitous decision.

Yesterday was a low energy day.  We were still recovering from the effects of the time change, as well as the level of our activity in Madrid.  I slipped out to the bakery to get some sweet rolls for breakfast and I slipped out in the early afternoon to get some empanadas, which we enjoyed with the last remaining slice of queso manchego and jamón serrano.  At 8:00 PM we hopped a cab to Brian and Ofelia’s and had a drink and some appetizers while we caught up with each other and a little after 9:00 we sat down at a small neighborhood restaurant around the corner form their place and continued our eating and our conversations.  It was a little before midnight when Brian dropped us off at our front door and twenty minutes later Susan and I had turned in for the night.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

We are back in Valencia after a whirlwind weekend in Madrid.  On Saturday we boarded the AVE at 2:10 and we pulled into Atocha station some ninety minutes later.  From the station we took a cab to the Westin Palace Hotel and unpacked our few belongings.  We then headed to the Plaza de Santa Ana, found a table outdoors and had a rather late lunch.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit before we headed out to the Teatro Compac to see Jorge Blass in his latest creation, Birlibirloque http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zdA68U47Nc.

The curtain was at 8:30, but we decided to leave a bit early to give ourselves sufficient time to walk there.  The Palace Hotel is across the street from the Congreso de Diputados, which has been the site of several protests in recent weeks.  The police are out in force to assure that there are no impromptu demonstrations and there are a number barriers ready to be put in place should the need arise.  A number of streets have been closed off making access to the Congreso more difficult.  In spite of it all, the streets were jammed with madrileños in search of a night’s entertainment and what should have been a fifteen-minute walk, turned into a twenty-five minute crawl.

We reached the theater a little before 8:00 and stopped off at the box office where Jorge had left us a couple of tickets.  He was kind enough to have us seated in the third and fourth seats of the second row.  We took our seats and eagerly waited for the performance to begin.  It promised to be very entertaining because this show is a masterful combination of magic and music.  The music for the show, all original, was written and performed by Mastretta.

I met Jorge Blass some eleven years ago.  At that time I was spending a few days at the home of a friend in Benalmádena in the south of Spain.  While there I learned of a show that was taking place in Málaga.  The show was called Ja, Je, Ji, Jo, Ju and it was a magic show that was aimed at children and it was a benefit for the foundation that brings magic and clowning to children in hospitals throughout Spain.  After the show I was invited to grab a bite to eat with the performers and that is where I met both Jorge and Dani DaOrtiz.  I have caught up with Jorge numerous times since then.  For a while he did a two-week stint at The Magic Castle in Hollywood and one year he spent a major amount of time in LA studying acting.

The 8:30 show was the second one of the day for Jorge.  His first show had ended at 7:30and here he was an hour later ready to do it again.  The show was fantastic with a number of classic stage effects in modern dress.  I am constantly amazed at Jorge’s ability to connect with his audience.  Part of that success is his personality and part of it has to do with the way he scripts the show so that there is maximum audience involvement.  I won’t bother to list the effects that he did, but each one was more amazing than the previous one.  When the show was over, we met briefly with Jorge and we presented with a butterfly tie that seemed appropriate given the theme of his new show.

As we made our way back to the hotel the streets were still very crowded.  We decided to stop off at a favorite bar of ours that is near the hotel.  It is called Cervantes and it has some of the best tapas around.  Susan and I had to wait a bit for a table, but it was worth the wait.  He shared some pulpo a la gallega and we then ordered three tostas, which are essentially canapés served on a slice of toasted baguette.  We opted for one with salmon, one with shrimp in aioli and one with a thin slice of sirloin steak.  Delicious!!!  We stayed up a while to let out late supper digest and it was a bit after 1:00 when we finally went to bed.

When we woke up on Sunday, it was close to 11:00 o’clock.  We showered and dressed and went to a nearby café to get a cup of coffee and a small bite, small because Ramón and Juan Diego were coming by the hotel to take us out to lunch at 1:30.  Because of the traffic they arrived a bit late and after they parked the car we decided to walk to a restaurant called Public, which is just off the Gran Vía.  Here is a link to their website http://www.restaurantpublic.com/ .

We had a very leisurely and lovely meal and we shared everything except for dessert.  We enjoyed a risotto with foie, a salad with orange slices and prawns, langoustines with salt and pepper, goat cheese in a red pepper marmalade with caramelized onions and some anchovy canapés.  Our four desserts were their version of apple pie, torrija ­– think French Toast – with vanilla ice cream, apple compote with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and a lovely concoction that they call the dessert that you eat from bottom to top.  WE finished the meal with coffee and by the time we made it back to the hotel it was 5:00 o’clock. We stayed in for the rest of the evening, although Susan did slip out for a cup of coffee.  I flaked out around 10:30 and Susan finally came to bed around 12:30.

Yesterday we slept in a bit and then got dressed and had breakfast at a little bar a few blocks away from the hotel.  After breakfast we returned to the hotel, packed our bags and had them stored for us while we decided to take a walk.  We gave some thought about going to the Gauguin exhibit at the Thyssen Museum, but it seems that the King and Queen were visiting the museum and the museum was closed to the public.  That being the case we decided to walk to the Estudio Internacional Sampere and visit with our friends there, many of whom we have known since 1974.  It was a brief visit and afterwards we caught a cab back to the hotel to pick up our bags and continued on to the train station to catch the AVE back to Valencia.

There was a CIVAC meeting last night, but it was sparsely attended because today is a holiday in Valencia as is Friday.  After spending an hour or so with the magicians I walked back home.  On my way I passed by Carosel and to my surprise it was open.  Normally it is closed on Mondays, but since today is a holiday they will be closed.  I caught up with Jordi and we chatted for a while over a glass of wine and we were later joined by a couple of friends of his.  I schmoozed with them until 10:30 when I made my way back home.  Bedtime was little after midnight.

The desset you eat from bottom to top!

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.

Friday, October 5, 2012

They are promising another sunny day here in Valencia with temperatures in the 80’s.  It will be a carbon copy of yesterday.  Today Alicia, the wife of our landlord, is coming to put on all the sofa covers that were sent to the cleaners right before we left in July.  She will come with our cleaning lady, Inma, who will assist Alicia and then stay to give the apartment a once over.  It needs it after a two-month absence.

Later today we have an appointment at City Hall to update our certificate of empadronamiento.  Everyone who is resident in Spain needs to have this certificate that indicates one’s current address.  Our appointment will allow us to update our address.  This is one of the necessary steps to renewing our visas, which expire on November 16^th.  For the visa renewal we will need to present the certificate of empadronamiento, proof of medical insurance, and proof of sufficient economic means to sustain us while here in Spain.  We have those bases covered, although I have asked our friend, Salva, who will help guide us through the renewal process thanks to the good auspices of a friend who works in the department concerned with renewal, what specific documents we will need to provide to indicate that we have the necessary economic resources.  As you will recall, the inability of someone to understand our financials that we submitted for our initial visa was the cause of the ten-month delay in getting our first visa.

Susan will catch up with Zahava later today and there is a chance that we will catch up with Brian and Ofelia this evening.  Brian returns from Madrid today having dropped off daughter, Olivia, who will begin her master’s program in fashion design, next week.  Olivia, who is a very talented young woman who speaks five languages, was one of thirty candidates accepted to the program.

Last night’s meeting with the magicians did not happen because they needed to attend a memorial mass for our mutual friend, Paco de Andrés before the meeting.  Pepe was going to call me when they got back to the Cuchara, but when I hadn’t heard from him and as it was getting close to 10:30 I messaged him saying that I was going to go to bed early.

Lunch yesterday was at The Ginger Loft.  Santi was off somewhere taking care of business so we had a chance to have Mike give us an update on the goings on during our two-month absence.  We had a wonderful lunch.  We started with a mango-vermicelli salad with dried shrimp, chicken coconut, herbs and Thai dressing.  The habanero pepper in the dressing gave the salad quite a kick. Our entrée was Vietnamese chicken prepared with an oyster sauce amped up with the addition of ginger and sesame.  Mike also had us try some pork and shrimp wontons that he is thinking of adding to the menu.  They were outstanding.  After lunch we headed home and took life easy until we turned in at 10:30.  Tomorrow we are off to Madrid.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

We left the Westin Pasadena at 4:00 PM on Tuesday and we arrived home at 8:30 PM on Wednesday.  The flight to Zurich lasted close to eleven hours and the flight from Zurich to Valencia took another two.  The Los Angeles chapter of our lives has officially ended and we now begin the next chapter here in Valencia.

The two months we spent in Los Angeles were, for me, two of the most stress filled months that I have had to endure ever.  The agent representing the couple that bought our townhome was a true doofus who seemed to be incapable of meeting any deadline in a timely fashion.  The Friday before we actually closed he sent me an e-mail complaining about some of the escrow charges and telling me that he had not heard back from our agent and could we do something.  He closed his e-mail saying that he hoped this issue would not delay the closing of escrow.

I later discovered that his contacting me was a breach of the rules of the California Association of Realtors and that his dispute with the escrow company could not delay the close of escrow.  The day before we closed we found out that the loan had not been funded because he forgot to tell his clients about the need for them to send a certain document to the loan broker.  The good news is that we closed last Thursday and the sale of the house will help us navigate the upcoming years a bit more easily.

I was up a little after 7:00.  I puttered around a bit and then took a quick shower and got dressed.  I headed to the Central Market to pick up some ham and cheese and then paid a quick visit to Amparo and picked up some tomatoes, a melon and a pomegranate.  I discovered a new bakery in the market and bought a loaf of bread, two croissants and a Napolitano filled with a banana and chocolate mixture.   I will visit with them again real soon.

Susan and I had breakfast and I then headed out again to run a few errands.  I needed to pick up some more Pataday, an eye drop that my ophthalmologist had prescribed for me after I visited with him in August.  That 2.5 ml. bottle cost me $114 at CVS.  Today I found the European version that is called Optanol and the 5-ml. bottle cost me the equivalent of $14.  So, I managed to get twice as much for one hundred dollars less.

I then decided to pay a quick visit to some friends and I spent some time with Jordi, Miguel and Alex, Sonia, Juan and Marta and Javi.  I made it back home an hour and a half later.  After I finish this blog post Susan and I will head out for The Ginger Loft to present Santi with a bottle of the ginger liqueur that he asked us to bring back for him and having done that we will sit down and let Mike create a wonderful lunch for us.

There is a meet-up for magicians tonight at La Cuchara Mágica where the topic will be the upcoming 24 Horas where magic will be happening all over Valencia in a variety of venues and will literally last a full 24 hours.  I participated in the first one, but I did so via the Internet.  This time I will be a full-fledged participant in a number of activities.

Needless to say, we are glad to be back in our new home.  So that we don’t get too comfortable, we are going to Madrid on Saturday and returning on Monday.  Jorge Blass has invited us to see his new magic show and since we had to miss his last one, we felt we needed to see this one.  We will travel on the AVE and stay at The Palace Hotel, thanks to Susan being a Starwood Alum.  I will keep you posted.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Everything that was not functioning when we got home has been restored to its functioning state, exception being made for the Sharp HD TV, which was fried by the electrical surge in December.  The electrician came today to replace the fan and the light kit in the den, the hot water heater is cranking out hot water like nobody’s business and the heat function on the unit has been restored to its normal operating condition.  Thankfully, the air conditioning function of the unit was left unscathed.

We continue to sift through our things in preparation for the big move.  Susan has gone through all her clothes and, for that matter, so have I.  Goodwill and Out of the Closet will be receiving bags and bags of clothing in the next few days.  Susan continues to sort through documents and photographs and when time permits she uploads CD’s to her iTunes account.  I am uploading CD’s, also.  When that task is finished – and it will probably take another couple of weeks – we will sell all our CD’s.  I am also busily trying to gather all my magic together and sort it so that I can store it in Valencia.  The movers will pack all my books, so that aspect has been completed.  I am trying to sort out my card collection that involves normal decks, trick decks and components to make trick decks.  I have been working on that particular task for three days and I keep discovering more and more cards.  I have sorted through more than six hundred decks and there are many more that need to be organized.  Once all the cards have been categorized and stored, I can move on to other effects.  This will be a long process.

We have eaten out several times since our return.  We have been to The Diner on Main, Central Park, Charlie’s Trio Cafe, Gus’s, 38 Degrees and a new Chinese restaurant for us, Hui Tou Xiang Noodle House.  Today I had lunch with a former colleague, Bill Harrison, at Houston’s.  We have also taken a number of meals at home and on the menu tonight we have gazpacho and tortilla de patata.

We have rejoined our Saturday morning exercise class and I have started my individual sessions with Brandon Flowers.  I will be focusing on my knee in my work with Brandon and on general exercise in the Saturday class.  The knee is acting up a bit these days, but I think it’s the result of exercise, 12 hours in a plane and the many flight of stairs that I need to traverse to get from the garage to the first floor and up to the second floor.

With regard to the sale of the house, the couple who was interested and made an offer seems to have vanished into the mist.  We had two visits this weekend and both couples were very impressed with the house and wanted to know if the furniture was for sale, too.  Let’s see if an offer is made by either of the couples. Oh well, they say patience is a virtue.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Yesterday our electrician was the first to arrive and he opined that the reason the fan and light were not working was a problem with either or both circuit boards.  The least expensive option appeared to be replacing the whole unit and searching out Home Depot for a satisfactory replacement.  Next to arrive was our heating and air conditioning guy.  He was unable to get the heating unit to start up in spite of all his efforts.  He concluded that the circuit board had been fried during a power surge and it needed to be replaced.  He returned at 1:30 and replaced the part for $900.

Susan went out to lunch with Ruth and several others and since I was babysitting the repairmen I foraged for lunch and finished off Wednesday’s leftovers.  I took a quick shower and headed off to a training session with my buddy, Brandon Flowers.  I will be working with him twice a week to strengthen the knee and I will use the one group class for which I have enrolled to do general strength training.  At 4:30 I headed of to visit with Dean Dill and spent a fun hour there.

When I returned home I began the process of transferring CD’s to iTunes because we really do not want to take all our CD’s with us because we control all our music through IOS devices.  When I made my third trip up the stairs carrying about a dozen CD’s, something very strange happened.  When I walked in the lights below the ceiling fan were on.  I had not touched the switch and Susan had not touched the switch.  I tried the fan.  It was working, also.  I shut everything off and turned it on again.  No problem.  Both are still functioning as I write this.  Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

For dinner we followed the path of least resistance and went to Charlie’s Trio for a pizza.  We had a chance to catch up with out favorite waiter, Ross.  Our pizza arrived and we enjoyed half a shrimp pesto pizza complemented by half a sausage pesto pizza.  By the time we left the restaurant, we were rather exhausted so we headed back home.  I finished the first phase of the CD project and Susan turned on the TV in the other room to watch the Olympics.  Bedtime came soon thereafter.

Here are some old Westridge shots for your amusement.

Thursday, August 2, 12

Monday night I dropped by the CIVAC and had a good time chatting with the nine guys who had come by that evening.  When it came time to seek out a bite to eat, I suggested that perhaps La Fórcola would be a better option than London Cafe.  Everyone agreed and so I called up Susan and invited her to join us.  It was a slow night at the restaurant and they were glad to see a party of ten walk in unannounced.  They quickly set up a table for us and we all took our seats.

We decided to order some clóchinas for the table and then everyone would order their main dish.  Michele was on duty on Monday and he was kind enough to start us off with some tellines (baby clams) that were on the house.  Next came the clóchinas, followed by a variety of pizzas and pastas depending on who ordered what.  Then came a round of dessert followed by coffee and the ever-present chupito.  During the course of the meal we consumed three bottles of wine, a number of beers and in spite of the additional cost of alcohol the bill for the ten of us came to 160 Euros.  We said our goodbyes and by the time we got home and went to bed it was 12:30.

Tuesday morning we were up at 7:00 AM and out the door a little before 8:00.  We walked to the cabstand where there were several cabs waiting and we were at the airport by 8:20.  A while back we had made the decision to fly back in business so that I could avoid further problems with the knee and so that we could be more comfortable during the twelve-hour flight.  Check-in was a breeze and we spent our waiting time in the VIP Lounge where we helped ourselves to all sorts of beverages and goodies.  Our flight to Zurich boarded on time and after a light breakfast we sat back and relaxed and in less then two hours we had landed and were making our way to the connecting flight.

We spent more time than usual at passport control because the agent saw that our last entry into Europe was in March and more than 90 days had passed.  He then asked if we had a residence visa, which we did and do and he informed us that we need to show that when entering and leaving Europe.  In spire of the slight delay we made it to the connecting flight in a timely fashion because they have eliminated the security check for passengers on connecting flights since the only option available is to go the appropriate terminal.  We boarded the flight and settled into our comfortable business class seats, which recline fully and have ample legroom.

Swiss is the best international airline we have flown to date.  Delta, United and Air France would have to improve greatly in order to reach the level of sucking badly.  We started our flight with champagne and in the course of the flight we had a lovely lunch that offered us a salad, a choice of a smoked salmon dish or a chicken terrine, a veal dish as our main course, a cheese plate, fresh fruit, pastry, a hand scooped ice cream cone during movie time and a light supper consisting of meatballs, a pasta salad and zucchini.  Swiss pilots keep their passengers well informed about take off and landing, the cabin crew is extremely attentive and all announcements are made in German, English and French.  Time passed as quickly as it can on a twelve-hour flight and we touched down at 4:50 PM in Los Angeles.

We were second in line at Passport Control and our bags were waiting for us on Carousel 3.  We breezed through customs and we were out on the street at 5:00 PM waiting to be picked up.  Traffic was extremely heavy until we got to the Pasadena Freeway and it was light from there on.  When we got home we discovered that the high winds of December and January had caused a great deal of damage to our electronics and those appliances that depend on circuit boards.  The list of casualties consists of the overhead fan and light pack in the den, the heat function of our heating and air conditioning unit and our Sharp TV.  Also, my car wouldn’t start and after getting it jumped three times, I finally replaced the battery.  The good news is that everything is relatively easy to fix with the exception of the TV, which we will not replace for the two months we will be here.

Yesterday we were up early thanks to jet lag and had breakfast at The Diner on Main.  Susan had pancakes and I had the breakfast quesadilla.  Susan had tomato juice and coffee and I had coffee.  In spite of having ordered two of the breakfast special the bill was $20.  Welcome back to the USA!  We had lunch at Gus’s and Susan opted for the Brisket Sandwich and I had a good old-fashioned burger.  Lunch was late in the day and for the rest of our waking hours we basically did nothing.

Today we had an early breakfast.  The electrician was here at 9:00 and told us that we need to replace the fan and light pack and the heating/air conditioning guy came by an hour later and told us that the circuit board for the heat function had been fried during a power surge.  We will visit Home depot for a replacement fan and at 1:30 the circuit board will be replaced.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

This will most likely be the last blog entry from Valencia until we return in October.  I do not imagine much happening today that will be worthy of a blog entry.  We are focused on what to pack for our trip back to LA and the agreed upon answer is not much since we have a goodly supply of everything back in Alhambra.  We may get out to a movie today, but we will just have to wait and see how the day develops.

Last night we had dinner with Brian and Ofelia.  We went to a restaurant that was new to us.  It is called Navarro Restaurante and is located a block away from City Hall.  Brian had read the reviews on Trip Advisor and that was enough to convince him.  The four of us walked to the restaurant from our place and there was a table waiting for us on the terrace when we arrived.

The restaurant has been in existence since 1951 and it is owned by the same family that founded it way back when.  In addition to outdoor dining, the interior of the restaurant occupies two floors.  The menu offer traditional Valencian offerings with rice dishes being one of the features of the menu.  Here is a link to the restaurant’s web page if you would like to know more. http://www.restaurantenavarro.com/

To start our meal we ordered calamares a la plancha and calamares a la romana.  Both were perfectly cooked and the calamari a la plancha came with two different sauces as well as a skewer of freshly grilled vegetables.  Ofelia and Susan ordered a seafood paella for two and Brian and I opted for steaks.  The restaurant’s meat is delivered daily from Toledo and the quality of the meat was outstanding.  The paella was cooked perfectly and very tasty.  For dessert we tried two of the tartas caseras one of which was apple based and the other of which was chocolate based.  We also tried a scoop of their almond ice cream.  We finished the meal with coffee and a chupito and when we got up from the table it was a little after 11:30.

A couple of things are happening on the magic front.  Last Sunday I received an e-mail from Richard Kaufman who is the editor of Genii, a magic magazine that has been continuously published for the last 75 years.  He had received an English translation of an upcoming column that had been written in Spanish and the translation was not very well done.  Kaufman had reached out to an Argentinean female magician named Alba who works out of Chicago asking for her help, but had received no response from her.  Hence the e-mail to me asking of the translation could be fixed up or whether it was better to start from scratch.  I told him that is always best to begin at the beginning and I offered to do the translation, an offer he couldn’t refuse.

I wrote him yesterday asking him if he was happy with my translation and he commented that it was the best one yet, including the translation of the columns that had appeared in previous issues.  Here is what Richard said in his last e-mail:

“Hi Marty,

Your translation was so far superior to what (name omitted) has been doing (which required me to rewrite almost every sentence) that I would be very pleased if you could continue. Needless to say, the tricks are much easier to deal with because we have both photos and video to assist.

Thanks!

I have been taking one of the lessons at Magic Agora so that I can get an idea of what the process is like.  It is a Dani Daortiz effect called “Back to the Future”.  It is a very strong effect and one that I will add to my repertoire.  I have made a few suggestions to the powers that be as to how certain other elements could be added to the teaching of the effect and they will entertain those ideas when the lesson is offered again.  The selling point for me has been the forums that are part and parcel of this particular lesson.  People can suggest ideas on how to personalize this particular effect.  They can also request help with areas of difficulty and that elicits responses from fellow classmates, as well as Dani Daortiz himself.  No DVD can do that.  The endeavor is off to a good start and it will no doubt improve as feedback come in from other students and teachers.  I am glad to be part of this project.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Departure day is drawing closer and that makes it all the more difficult to be here and there at the same time.  The anxiety, however, is somewhat diminished by knowing that we will be back in Valencia on October 2^nd in our new place where everything is ready for its occupants.  All we have to do is open the door and continue our adventure.

Juliet left early Tuesday morning and we had breakfast with her.  From Valencia she went to Madrid on the AVE and had an afternoon flight to the Canary Islands.  I assume that he errant suitcase was waiting for her at the airport in the Canaries.  We puttered around a bit after Juliet left and after a quick visit to the Central Market Susan whipped up a salad and we had a quiet lunch at home.   We kept activity to a minimum in the afternoon.

Pepe came by at 8:00 to take a look at our new place and to have a little bite.  It turns out that he remembered being in this apartment before, but it was not in its present condition.  It belonged to an architect friend of his father and what is now the living room and dining room was the architect’s office.  While we were chatting on the sofa Pepe’s phone rang and it was none other than Juan Tamariz, Spain’s most famous magician.  He was calling to find out when Pepe was going to come to Cadiz for a visit.  Cadiz seems to be the place in the summer where magicians gather at Juan’s house to talk magic.  Another magic mission caused Pepe to leave at 9:30.  He had a scheduled videoconference with Michael Ammar, one of America’s top magicians.  Michael has developed a ten-lesson course and it is possible that it may end up as a Magic Agora offering.

Yesterday Susan went off to her Pilates class and later we made our way to La Fórcola for lunch.  We split a salad and a pizza and we were hard pressed to finish the pizza.  After lunch we made our way to Nespresso to restock our coffee supply and then we headed over to the ONO office to see if they could help Susan get Internet access when she was away from a Wi-Fi site.  Raquel, who has helped us with all our issues, has arranged for a tech to call us and walk us through the necessary settings.  After that it was back home to rest up for last night’s experience.

Pepe had told us that there was a very promising event at Jimmy Glass last night.  Nicole Henry and her quartet were in concert for one night only.  We had made our reservations earlier in the day and when we approached the venue there was already a long line of people waiting to get in.  As it turned out, Pepe was first in line and he saved us two seats right next to the bandstand.  We were literally inches away from the piano player.  I bought a beer and a Gin and Tonic at the bar and we settled in for what turns out to be two and a half hours of exceptional jazz.

Nicole Henry is one incredible singer and her musicians are top notch.  The group is currently based in Miami and they were finishing up their five-city tour of Spain in Valencia.  Lucky us. Her repertoire included a number of standards, blues and a touch of gospel.  The crowd truly enjoyed her sparkling performance.  Here is a link so that you can check her out.  Her music is available on iTunes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFzFDv7DYs

It was one o’clock when we got home and it was close to two by the time we got to bed.  Today Vilma and her boyfriend are coming over and this evening I have a meeting with the veteranos.  Susan will meet up with Ofelia while I am at my meeting.