A brief pause...

I'm worried. Yesterday evening I received some very bad news, well...my dad received the bad news mostly. He's recently been admitted to the hospital for reasons that are not pertinent to the following information, but after a bone marrow biopsy the doctor has told him that he has Burkitt's Lymphoma (a cancer).

This is a very rare type of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma that affects some people with suppressed immune systems who have been infected with the Epstein Barr Virus. As you all know, my dad has previously had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (1996) and a liver transplant (2003), so he was at a significantly increased risk for cancer.

We're still waiting for the exact staging of the cancer, they have done a spinal tap today to see if it's reached his central nervous system. If it has, then his prognosis is considerably worse than we would like. Tomorrow he will start an intensive 5-day inpatient chemotherapy treatment, because this is an aggressive cancer the treatment needs to meet it as such.

I'll give updates as often as I have the information.

Boda España

So at last we have finished our last installment of the world wide wedding tour! yesterday we got some of the photos from the photographer. It was a lot of fun to celebrate with everyone here in Spain, and we even had some unexpected surprises (i.e. the cake!). This cake...Eda asked us months ago if we would like this special cake presentation that they have here, and we had definitively said that it was not really our style and we prefer not to have it. There was some sort of mix up on the restaurants part and out came the cake in a twirling, artificial flowered clam shell sort of thing...with music blasting and when it opened.....there was smoke! It was the most hideous and fantastic sight I've even seen with a wedding cake. See the video below:


Done to the tune of Whitney Houston's "I have nothing" hahaha....of course not a song we picked!

Eda (Felipe's mom) went to tell the coordinator that we didn't want this and he apologized genuinely and said that at that point there was nothing he could do to stop it....and so it continued!

Here are a few of the photographers photos from the reception as well:

It rained that day, and the rocks were super slippery...kind of scary in my high heels!


Here's what the dinner room looked like, it was very nicely done :D


Cutting the cake with the traditional sword...


Here you can see the awesome smoke they have coming from the "clam shell"


And finally dancing....


And so folks, that's it....no more wedding stuff for Felipe and I...now we can enjoy just being married. See us in about 49 years...and maybe we'll be up to celebrating again :D

La Musique en Paris

The Jazz
On Sunday night we had the opportunity to visit a jazz club, we went to the Duc des Lombards club in the Châtelet area of Paris to see the Roy Haynes quartet. The show was amazing, and for an 83 year old jazz legend, the man can really wail on the drums.


42 rue des Lombards, 75001 Paris, +01 42 33 22 88 (sorry...no photos of the peformance allowed....)

The Ballet


On Monday night we had the very excellent pleasure of getting to see a ballet at the Opéra Garnier. The building itself is amazing!


This chandelier apparently weighs six tons! and there is a beautiful Chagall mural surrounding it. See the details below:





Our seats were on the Third Loge, but we had a fantastic view of the stage:


We saw a ballet called "Les Enfants du Paradis" by Jacques Prévert. The Choreography was done by the very talented Jose Martinez. The entire performance was really wonderful. I wish I could share with everyone the beautiful dances and costumes that they had for the performance (unfortunately the frown upon filming!).

Fondue in Paris

We went to a fondue place called Heureux Comme Alexandre near St. Michel for dinner with Inigo, Eva, and Sebas. The restaurant was tiny (hence why a reservation is needed) but the atmosphere was great. there were mirrors and framed posters and paintings hanging all over the stone walls and there were candle sticks on every table. It is highly recommendable.

We ordered two fondues, the Fondue Savoyarde which is a cheese fondue with bread, and also the Pierrade which is actually cooking meat and vegetables on a hot stone (no dipping involved). (please forgive the blurriness of the photo...it was a bit dark in there!)




Afterward we got some delicious gelato from a place called Deliziefollie (26, Rue St. Andre des Arts, +34 09 51 80 99 92) to bring back to Inigo and Eva's apartment. I had a super super yummy cinnamon gelato.

Paris - A nice little walk....

Felipe and I arrived in Paris yesterday morning and went to the Les Halles area. We met Felipe's friend for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the streets...it's nice to be in the city, and even nicer that I am now able to recognize places, streets and shops that we've been to before.

Pete is even enjoying a bit of the city as well....

Toledo, Spain: Part Two - The City

So for the second post, the pictures of the city. Felipe and I took the high speed train from the Madrid Atocha train station and it took only about 25 minutes to get to the train station in Toledo. From there we got a bus to take us up into the walled part of the city (although this is walkable - it's at a bit of an incline). There is a lot to do and see in the city and we highly recommend having some sort of city guide, and most certainly a map...we did not (as this trip was planned very shortly before we left for Europe). We stopped in the city tourism office to get a map and then spent the majority of the day wandering the medieval streets...which worked well for us.

Below are a few of the photos that I took around the city (the first photo was taken by Felipe):




At the Puerta del Sol.




The Alcázar, a stone fortification and Roman palace in the 3rd century. It was closed, so we were not able to go in and see the museum they keep there.

Toledo, Spain: Part One - The Train Station

Here are a few shots of the BEAUTIFUL train station in Toledo, Spain. Felipe I an took a day trip there from Madrid today. The train station was built in 1919...and utilizes what is called the Mudéjar Architecture. Below are some photos of the details in the station...it was just wonderful.




An old ticket window.


And the tile mosaics on the walls:

Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Today Felipe and I took a day trip from Madrid to El Escorial to see the old monastery there. We were supposed to go to Toledo (but decided to save that for a less rainy day), instead we took the train to visit Escorial. It was amazing!

I took most of my photos on the "old school camera" so I will post a couple of the digital shots I took in the meanwhile.

The train ride there was mostly beautiful (of course there were a few parts of the suburbs that weren't too picturesque), at one point we even saw groups of deer roaming around...amazing! Here's a short little video (mind you this is not professional and will have moments of reflection and obscured views):




Of course that brought us to the town where the monastery is located. We walked a bit and then spent several hours inside the monastery exploring over 400 years of history. It's a highly recommendable day trip from Madrid:


A view of the village streets.


A view from inside the King's living quarters.


Another view from the King's chambers, here you can see the gardens and the field with cattle in the distance.

Go here for more information about El Escorial: http://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/escorial/escorial.htm or http://wikitravel.org/en/El_Escorial

Some Details from Barcelona (BCN)

Tiles on the Passeig de Gracia, Designed by Gaudi...one of my favorite details in BCN.


A Beautiful display of candied almonds in La Boqueria...it's crowded and full of other tourists, but the displays are so compelling!


and some photos from the Gothic Quarter


Just by the cathedral...Barcino


Some detail of carved stone on the cathedral, note the date


A fountain inside the courtyard of the Arquivos de la Corona de Aragon


We're having a wonderful time here...and today we've just arrived in Madrid. We will be spending three days here (including a day trip to Toledo) and then we will fly to Paris of four days....so keep an eye out for more pics!

On my way....

So I am on my way to another wonderful trip to visit family and friends in Spain and France...I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and also seeing the sights! Felipe and I are waiting at the airport now, and will be boarding within the half hour - yay! I'll try to keep updated with photos/videos and posts here...

I will also be taking pics on my "old school" non-digital SLR...so we'll see how those turn out.

The sun is setting earlier, but the future is getting brighter....

Tonight is the second presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. I'm one of the many who watches this debate already knowing who I'm going to vote for, but it is still inspiring to see democracy in action.

Spring is usually the season of renewal and rebirth, when things grow and spirits lighten, but it could be this fall America can breathe in some fresh air and look forward to an early renewal and a better hope.