You can only call my parents trip to Europe and the Middle East this fall “aggressive.” They wanted to see three different countries in two and a half weeks. They arrived Monday evening, the day after I arrived back in Madrid. We took a tour of my school, which was almost deserted considering the hour, but actually the first faces we ran into were Lalit and Greg (from Georgia Tech). I parked them at Starbucks, for the WiFi of course while I was in class then we went to dinner after I was out. We had dinner right across the street from their apartment at a restaurant that I had never been to and (somewhat to my disappointment) my mom and I ate very un-Spanish meals: pear and goat cheese ravioli, sweet potato soup. It really was one of the better meals I’ve had in Madrid actually but I say I was disappointed because this could not have been less typical Spanish, why we couldn’t have picked a place that had things on pieces of bread? Thankfully there were no plates that came with our bread, so eating off a table showed them a piece of authentic Spanish service.
The next day I had my Alternative Investments class in the morning and I had asked my teacher the day before if I could bring my dad with me. How many people can say they sat through their child’s MBA class? How many people can say their parents came to their graduate class with them? I gather not many.
After class we headed off to the hop-on / hop-off double decker bus tours of Madrid because with one full day in Madrid, you get the most bang for your buck. They may not have been in the Prado, but they would know where it was. We got off near the Plaza Mayor, Palacia Royal, Opera, Mercado San Miguel and Puerta de Sol. This has to be one of my favorite parts of the city.
We headed back to a bar in Salamanca where we would meet up with my friends from the program. And just like that it was time to end the very packed, very special trip. At 4 am we were catching a taxi to send them to the airport and off to Italy where their fun continued.
The party continued in Rome
I count my many many blessings that afford me such opportunities.
I didn’t have classes so I caught the first flight out to Rome to join my parents and their family friends for part two of their trip on Thursday. My parents, the Slatterys, the Pickles and the LaMothes had been touring the Vatican, the Vatican Museum with the Sistine Chapel that day and I was able to connect with them after a long battle with cell phones and roaming mind games. I had been early in fact when I arrive at the main train station, prepared the catch the metro and join them for the Vatican Museum. Unfortunately as I was buying my ticket there was screaming from the metro platform just below where I was and people started rushing up the stairs. I did not understand anything that people were saying but I asked someone as I too followed the crowd up the stairs. I finally caught someone that spoke English and said that two people had been killed on the platform. The station turned into a fiasco. I walked to the taxi line and it wrapped around the block.
The LaMothes were our tour guides all over the city until it was time for happy hour with the Ternan and Nally family in Plaza Nuvono. We were joined by their son Eddie who is a current Santa Clara University Bronco studying abroad in Rome for a semester. This was a group ripe with my grade school Holy Family alma mater pride. Ed (senior) had made a reservation for our group at the same restaurant that was featured in the movie “Eat, Pray, Love” much to Ed’s surprise I pulled the book out of my purse as it was my airplane read.
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