Leslie At the Palace


Jack and Leslie with Bruce at their apartment



Elsa Marie and Bruce

Dateline: Madrid, May 10, 2006
We are on the Ave train about to leave Madrid for Cordoba. We left our home in Madrid, the Palace Hotel, after a breakfast in the elegant domed restaurant at the heart of the hotel. The Palace, built in 1912 in the era of King Alphonso, has ornate crystal chandeliers and tapestries. We will return here on the 18th of May for the International Women’s Forum meeting.


We arrived in Madrid Tuesday morning about 8:00 A.M. after departing Phoenix at 9:40 A.M Monday morning. We connected with our Iberia Airlines flight in Chicago. The flight was uneventful; we slept a few hours, but not enough to arrive feeling rested. So we explored the options for “overview tours” of the city before a planned siesta since we expected the highlight of the day to be our evening with the Grossmans.

We wondered about the city a bit, making our train reservations for todays flight and finding the double-decker tour bus. What luck, we thought, they leave every 15 minutes. However the 15 minutes turned into an hour and the bus still had not left and they would not give us any information. My tolerance used up, we headed back toward the hotel witih a stop for a small lunch and then a coffee outside in the beautiful sunshine by the Poseiden Fountain between the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museums. Gorgeous day for sitting and people satching.


After a siesta we were picked up by our friend, Bruce Grossman who brought up to their new home by the Western Park. Fabulous setting and fabulous apartment. Bruce and Elsa Marie served us traditional tapas of different types of hams and cheese and we caught up with each others’ lives.



After 9:00PM we left for one of their favorite restaurants, a Basque restaurant by the name of Goizeko Kabi. The entire staff greeted Bruce and Elsa Marie as if they were long lost relatives, serving food and wines that were superb. They introduced us to wonderful wines from Northern Spain (Ribera del Duero) that are comparable to the best of Bordeau or Napa such as Pagode de los Canoniges, protos, Alto, Pago de las Capellanes and Hacienta de Monasterio. We enjoyed a special green chile that is harvested only in May, delicately fried shrimp, olive-shaped spinach balls, a salad of langostino with melon, and a cod dish with a delicate lemon sauce. They returned us back to the hotel with stomachs satiated and hearts full of joy. What a lovely evening!

So now we are going on one of the fast trains through the countryside which Jack describes as looking like Northern California with farms, olive trees, alfalfa and rolling hills. The blue sky is covered largely with puffy clouds behind which the sun peaks in and out. What, ho! A golf course that looks fairly new and cell towers on top of a hill. We are heading south towards Cordoba where we look forward to the Festival of Patios which occurs at this time in May each year: part of why we planned Cordoba as our first stop outside of Madrid.