SUMMARY: End of the Trip - - Blog

Our late return to España was just what the doctor had ordered. The peaceful atmosphere without doctors’ appointments, chemo treatments, and lab draws was refreshing. Although the neuropathy prevented hikes and lengthy explorations, we each captured routine daily step counts approaching 10,000. So we were not exactly slacking off all the time. We had snow in Gredos, rain in the northern parts at times (most occurred when driving to the next stop along the way), a glorious week in our beloved Elizondo "without a care in the world approach", we got to visit and see the latest Mendi family member: 'Julia' in Pamplona along with her parents-- Fernando and Nekane and Great Amatxi-Asun and Amatxi-Loles, then a great visit with RobtBob Allebach in Zaragoza a city we also really enjoyed exploring and now it's on our we must return list, Paul's brother Rick Watson joined us for a couple of days in Zaragoza as well courtesy of his employer - - American Airlines, who scheduled a marketing conference in Madrid (that necessitated a short/fast train ride for Rick), and then a first ever stop in El Campello on the Med to see our dear friend of 50 years, Gill Fischier-Groves for a super lunch of grilled baby lamb chops with all the fixings and good, very good wine too. Then we had our last two visits with family and friends in Madrid. Mission accomplished all refreshed we started home with heavy hearts and checked in for our flights having started the day way toooooo early and without benefit of any coffee no less!

El Campello

Elizondo

Gredos

DAY 29 FRIDAY, 23RD OF NOVEMBER Alcala De Henares Day 2

DAY 29 FRIDAY, 23RD OF NOVEMBER Alcala De Henares Day 2

Buffet breakfast at the Parador, did not see Lourdes as it was her Off day of the week. However, the short and adorable Veronica was there and gladly welcomed us from trip 2 years before! We returned to our room for a minor sort out of items to be repacked for flight day on Saturday, we also wrote the blog to help pass the time before lunch.

Storks on nest in Alcala in Nov??

Paul wanted to have lunch at Las Moreras and so we headed in that direction however the mid-afternoon traffic in Alcala was atrocious, we made little head way and it became blatantly obvious we would have such a late midday meal that would impact our visit this evening with Guillermo and Alexis and their girls. So, when we spotted a restaurant along the way with parking out front, we hit the brakes and pulled in. Menu of the day was too much for Jane who opted for a mixed salad instead. Fed again we headed back to the Parador planning to gas up the car along the way because we return the car in the AM.

At 6:00PM Alexis called to say that they had arrived up at reception, we began our hike to the front of the building from our back 40 location and promptly were greeted with hugs and kisses all around. The girls had their school uniforms of red plaid and black blouses, really neat looking. They have grown with Alison now 8 and Emily at 7, just 17 months between them. Guillermo suggested we walk back around the corner of the Parador down the side street to the garage in which they had parked, there was a plaza above the garage with a fancy bar for nibbles and refreshments. Our visit lasted nearly 2 hours with various tapas to enjoy after all we had nearly 4 years to catch up the news from both sides of the pond! They set off to their apartment near Toledo for the weekend and we returned to tidy our last bit of rearranging our luggage for our flights. An early night as our travels begin at 0600 Saturday before daylight.