After five days in Rome, we are headed for Florence on a train. Rome was everything we anticipated it to be. We went on a tour of the forum and Colosseum on our first day here. It was incredibly hot, but the tour guide was very knowledgable and worked hard to keep us engaged. After the tour we went to lunch and I discovered Lambrusco! A cold, sparking red wine. Made my day :).
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Ok, time for some observations…we have been here 8 days or so (kind of loosing track)….  

There are no fresh fruits and veggies in Spain…there is A LOT of ham and bread and cheese.  

All cars on the road look brand new and the roads are either cobblestones or immaculate highways.  

Spain is VERY clean and the people are very nice – very little Englisg spoken, but if you try just a bit, they meet you more than half way. 

There is an old church in every town….

dogs are incredibly well mannered and children are not.

Basically, I love it here (but I could so use a good salad!)

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Yesterday was a rest day.  Kids slept til 1 then we wandered to the park and spent the day playing frisbee and relaxing.  Much needed break.

On the way to the park we stopped for lunch and then got reservations for a flamenco show.

I had my first official sangria….I’m hooked.  So delicious….

Had our first bad meal today :(. Paella that had undercook shrimp and clams (though we ordered one with no clams). I did not eat it because with my allergies it was too many risk factors….oh well – I did have another sangria which was equally delicious! 

The flamenco show was absolutely breathtaking.  Very raw and aggressive.  Different than anything I have seen before….mallory loved the guitar and Bob and I were mesmerized by the dancers.  Connor fell asleep 🙂

After this eventful night we went for churros and chocolate at midnight.  That was a treat!  Super delish!

We bought Mallory a ukulele.  She was lamenting no instrument for two months, so we bought her a small transportable one.  May complicate air travel a bit – but is making downtime more enjoyable for us all.

Good day all the way around:)

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Day two in Madrid…. Highlights of the day: thwarting a pickpocket (yay me), super cute bike tour guide (yay Mal), not getting run over by a taxi (yay Connor) and dinner in Madrid’s oldest restaurant (yay Bob)….

Yes, a 12 year old boy tried to steal my cell phone off the table using the old “bait and switch”, but I figured out what he was doing and stopped him just as he laid the menu over my phone and was about to scoop it up…pickpockets are notorious here and all the women eat with their purses in their laps.  Takes some getting used to, but if you stay aware it is no problem.

Bike tour was very fun and kind of scary with all the traffic and navigating around all the pedestrians – Mal and I stayed in the back with the cute sweeper guide…. Connor stayed in front with the lead guide and really owned the road (much to everyone’s terror).  It is a great way to see the city.

Dinner at El Botin – we all had the special – roast suckling pig.  It was really good…but the gaspacho was the best!

 Tomorrow we see flamenco dancers!!!!

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This is the last night in our whirlwind New York stay.  We are utterly exhausted…  Day 1 we got up early, walked to find a subway, then ended up taking a cab to Battery Park because we were running late.  Statue of Liberty tour was great.  We were able to go all the way up to the crown (very hard for me, cuz I am afraid of heights).  
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