This was the part of the garden I was sitting facing for most of the day today. We got up early and took Phaolin out for a walk before it got too hot. Sadly we didnt get up quite early enough to head for the sea, so that will have to wait until tomorrow morning. Then when we got back I made the first jug of Pimms of the Summer.
We were out of cucumbers, well we needed the little we had for the salad for lunch, but we did have orange apple and mint so I chopped those up and dumped them in and... delicious.
Earlier this week I was in Madrid for work. I love Madrid, not quite as much as I love Rome, but it is a truly splendid city. We were staying at the Hotel Hospes in the centre of Madrid. A five star boutique hotel that deserved every one of it's five stars. I swear I could move to Madrid just for the food!
This was my room
My bathroom had a double corner bath, a waterfall shower and two sinks and it was so quiet, even with the french doors open it was hard to remember that I was in the middle of a busy city.
We dined at the terrace restaurant here on Monday night.
You know that building used to be the post office!! Now it is a centre for the arts. The Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant is on the sixth floor terrace and well worth a visit if you get the opportunity.
I did get chance for a good walk into the centre on Monday evening before dinner and of course, some shopping. I bought two new fans, a pink one and a yellow one, and some lovely spanish yarn. Then I had a wander round my favourite plaza.
Then I looked at my watch and realised there was no way I was going to make it back in time for dinner if I walked... so I got a cab.
We drank Mojitos in the terrace bar before dinner. Fabulous Mojitos! And here is the view from the Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant, as night fell.
I will admit that one of the things I really enjoyed was grabbing a vew moments to myself, ordering a glass of wine and sitting on the terrace with my crochet.
On the second night we went to Meson Txistu a basque style terrace restaurant and a regular haunt of Real Madrid footballers and Rafael Nadal. Sadly he wasnt there on Tuesday night and my pictures all include my colleagues and so are not for this blog.
It was a good conference, good to meet up with old colleagues, many of whom I have known for well over ten years. We worked hard, I know that sounds surprising looking at the venue and hearing about the restaurants but we didn't finish until well after seven on Tuesday evening and I had to leave before we were done on Wednesday to catch my flight. I arrived home at close to midnight on Wednesday and have to admit to being extremely tired.
Probably explains why I was content to sit in the garden and knit baby shoes today.
And now I am off to finish a cardigan. O. xx