Madrileña

 As the lovely weather continues, I've had a great time scampering all around Madrid. This is the lake in Parque Retiro, a lovely place to sit and watch hundreds of rollerbladers.  I always laughed in highschool Spanish classes when the vocab lists included the verb to skate "patinar".  It seemed very impractical and useless... until I arrived here, that is. 

 

One of the most amazing things about not spending September and October in Claremont is that autumn actually almost exists here.  While it's still 80 degrees and lovely each day, at least the trees change colors!

 Parque Retiro has tons of Buckeyes.  Brings me back to the good ole days in Bear Creek Park.

 Also, the benches encourage excersize! It's quite simple to sit on a bench in the park, read the news paper, and pedal away.

 These pretty black swans in the pond love munching on bread crumbs. 

 and finally, big brother Nate came to visit! We went with Steven and a few of my friends to a great restaurant where the waiter brought raw meat and several hot plates to the table.  We then cooked our pieces of ox to a salty perfection. YUM!