On our last full day in Europe, Mari, Emi and I are up at 9 and take a bus to the Plaza de Neptuno to shop for gifts for the Texas Bentons. After some successes, Mari heads home in anticipation of a lunch meeting with a college friend, and Emilio and I head to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art.
I take lots of pictures of Emilio interacting with the art.
Here he is with "Venus and Cupid" (1606-1611) by Peter Paul Rubens.
And here he is with "The Madonna of the Village" (1938-1942) by Marc Chagall.
At 2 pm, we take a bus back home.
I take lots of pictures of Emilio interacting with the art.
At 2 pm, we take a bus back home.
Lunch is potatoes, melon, gazpacho, and mascarpone.
Gimena comes and then Mari, and they go to Madrid Rio park with the kids and Maria Rosa, while I take a bus to Plaza Mayor to buy a high school graduation gift for Olivia.
After I drop off Olivia's gift at the apartment, I meet everyone at Madrid Rio, where we head to the Ruiz Blanco's favorite Madrid heladeria. I give highest marks to the nectarine gelato that Emilio orders, and the strawberry is the best we've had.
We stop for a photo mini-shoot on the way back to the apartment. Above: Maria Rosa, sus hijas, y sus nietos.
Mari and I make one last grocery run in search of a few favorite foods that we can pack home with us (including Almagro gazpacho and olives without pits for me), and then we eat our last Madrid supper: beans, melon, gazpacho, papas, salad with hard-boiled egg. Mari has a steak. We pack.
And then Maria Rosa wins the final Carioca.
And then Maria Rosa wins the final Carioca.
We get to bed after midnight.
