More Menú del Día

Aside from my two trips to Morocco and Valencia, January was a fairly uneventful month. Well, I guess it depends on how you define eventful; one awesome thing about living in a foreign country is that even just staying at home, getting to know a new part of the city or trying out a new bar or restaurant can be an "event," depending on your perspective. Sometimes even going to the grocery store you can find interesting things, like this wine-tasting machine my roommate and I found (and enjoyed) one evening:

Wine-tasting machine in the grocery store

The main highlights of January were the meetings of our menú del día food group. One night we met up for "fancy ramen," a culinary experience which is apparently very popular right now. The place was so crowded that we had to put our name on a list and wait 2 hours! But it was OK, because in the meantime we went to a famous sangria bar nearby called Cuevas sésamo, a very old bar which has welcomed the likes of Ava Gardner, Ernest Hemingway and Jean Cocteau, to name a few. There we enjoyed the traditional Spanish drink made of wine, fruit and soda to the accompaniment of atmospheric - albeit mediocre - piano music. Needless to say we felt very classy and like we had been transported back in time.

Cuevas del Sésamo

The ramen, when we finally got our table, was also quite scrumptious, albeit a bit overpriced.

Fancy ramen

Our best menú del día meet-up, however, was right after winter holidays. The first weekend back after Christmas break, our token Spanish member Maria suggested we all meet up for a "little drink" to catch up after break and to ring in the new year. Little did we know that this "little drink" was actually an entire tapas tour which she had planned out, just to show us some historical and special places in Madrid!

Our group enjoying the drinks and tapas

She took us to a total of seven bars - at least I think there were seven, but to be honest I lost count at some point - and each one had some special story behind it. One bar was known for having the best "tira," or draft-pouring technique; another was a quirkily-decorated bar called Maceiras which specializes in food and drinks from Galicia, a region in the north of Spain above Portugal. There we drank a dry white wine in cuencos, the little white bowls you can see us holding in the picture below.

Drinking wine from cuencos in Maceira

We also went to a bar which started in the 1930's as a small store specializing in cured sausage, and which was frequented by Madrid's high society of the time. Maria helped us select some special red wines, and they were all exquisite!

Delicious wine

We also visited one of the oldest bars in Madrid, a place with atmospheric dark wooden panelling and giant barrels of sherry lining the wall. Sherry is not only their specialty, but is just about the only thing they sell. If you've never had sherry, it's a very dry, very strong wine which is actually from the south of Spain, from a region called Jérez. When the wine was exported to the UK and became popular, some businessmen had the marketing idea to change the name to sherry, which is much easier to pronounce for English-speakers than the throaty "j" of Spanish.

Sherry in one of the oldest bars in Madrid

Unfortunately, in spite of looking very fancy and sophisticated, we all found the taste of the sherry to be absolutely abysmal. Because it's so strong, it tastes like you're drinking a liquor rather than a wine. None of us were fans, but we struggled through it anyway so that we could enjoy the atmosphere.

Our reaction to the sherry

Later in the night, we visited Casa Granada, a rooftop bar which is hidden at the top of a residential building. When you walk by on the street, you're almost guaranteed to miss the sign unless you know what you're looking for. And even if you find the sign, you are likely to be puzzled about how to get to the bar, as the door seems to lead to the lobby of an apartment building and not to any sort of commercial establishment. You feel like you're trespassing in someone's private property, but when you get to the top floor, you find the bar with its lovely terrace. Unfortunately the outdoor seating was full when we went, so we just had one overpriced drink and then headed out.

Casa Granada rooftop bar

We ended the night at a bar called Txirimiri (pronounced "chi-ri-mi-ri," tx in Basque makes a "ch" sound) specializing in food from the Basque Country in the north of Spain. We tried some black rice, which is made with squid ink! I found it a bit odd, but enjoyed trying something new. It's a very famous dish in Spain and everyone else really liked it.

"Black rice" with squid ink

In the end, Maria's "little drink" turned into an entire evening of drinking and eating our way across the city center of Madrid. It was particularly cool for me because it's only the second or third time I've gone out in the truly Spanish style, drinking and eating a little in several bars over the course of many hours. It's a very different approach to going out and an important part of Spanish culture, so obviously something I should take advantage of while I'm here. Plus, we had a great time hanging out together and getting to try so many different places!

Valencia

The last weekend in January, I took a rather impromptu trip to Valencia, on Spain's east coast. Valencia is best known for its beaches, so January is obviously not the most recommended month to go; however, I had wanted to escape the cold weather in Madrid for a while, and having been told that Valencia was always warmer, I decided to go. That's one great thing about Spain - it never gets that cold, and when it does you can just take a 3 hour bus ride and be in 60° weather again!

One of Valencia's beaches, deserted as it was winter

While the weather was not exactly scorching, it definitely felt nicer than Madrid, and the best part of the trip was that it reminded me how much I love traveling last-minute and on my own! I kept going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to go, and didn't actually make the final decision until late Friday night, when I booked a shared ride on Blablacar and a bed in a hostel for the next morning! Talk about last-minute...

The Town Hall of Valencia

But it turned out to be a great trip! Beginning with the very friendly driver of my ride-share, I met lots of really cool people, even though I was there for slightly less than two full days. The first afternoon, I met a German guy at a vegetarian restaurant who was in Valencia on exchange - I quickly learned that it is a huge destination for study abroad students from all of Europe. After we finished eating, he showed me a very neat part of the city called El Cabanyal with lots of old buildings boasting lovely tile facades. It has always been a somewhat unsavory neighborhood, and there have been threats recently to tear it down in order to make way for big developers. Hopefully these plans will not succeed, however, because the buildings were really lovely and full of charm!

Some lovely facades in El Cabanyal

That night, I discovered a "bookstore-bar" that sounded cool by simply putting "cafe bookstore" in Google maps. It was in the midst of what people had described as the "hipster" neighborhood, so I knew I'd like it. They had a very nice atmosphere and lots of delicious craft beer, which was especially nice considering how uncommon it is in Madrid. I spent quite a long time enjoying a salad and a few beers while reading a book; it was a perfect way to spend the evening as a lone traveler.

Ubik bookstore-bar

The next day, I did a free walking tour in the morning with a group I had found online. As always, I really enjoyed it and found it to be a great way to learn more about the history of the city while also getting some great tips from locals and meeting cool people. We saw many traditional, historical things, such as the main cathedral, a building which used to house the silk market (important thanks to the city's advantageous location on the Mediterranean), and part of the old city walls.

Silk Market, Cathedral and Serrano Gate

And we also saw some strange and quirky things, such as one of the narrowest apartment buildings in the world, a wall with heads and bodies of old statues pastiched into it, and my personal favorite, masturbating gargoyles. This latter, by the way, was part of the exterior decoration of the former silk market, which also included carvings of men humping trees and allusions to bestiality. The guides unfortunately could not offer any explanation to this rather atypical decorative style.

Masturbating gargoyle, narrow building, statue pastiche

Valencia actually has quite an interesting history, having been an independent kingdom for much of the Middle Ages, like most of the different regions of Spain. It seemed to me like a mini-Barcelona: another beach-side city, similar architecture and they even speak Catalan, although they call it Valencian. The Borgias, who are now famous thanks to the TV series, were actually from Valencia, and there were several buildings with their names on them or with statues representing them. There were also lovely tile mosaics on the sides of many buildings.

Beautiful tiles

On the walking tour I met a German girl and a Dutch guy who I then hung out with for the few hours I had left before my shared ride back to Madrid. We had horchata, a drink which I always associated with Mexico but which is actually from Valencia! Also, the horchata here is completely different, as in Mexico it's usually made with rice and here it's made with a special root called chufas in Spanish and tigernuts in English. Allegedly it has so many nutrients and vitamins that it is a super-healthy drink, and known in Valencia as a fool-proof hangover cure. It's traditionally eaten with pastries called fartones, which were also amazing.

Horchata and fartones

As I said before, it was a short trip, and while Valencia was maybe not the most exciting or wowing city I've visited in Spain, I had a great time enjoying some sunny weather and meeting a lot of interesting people. Hooray for last-minute trips, and for traveling on your own!

Marrakech

In the middle of January, we took our first trip of the new year to Morocco. We had bought the tickets in November when Ryanair was having a sale on their already ridiculous prices, and we got roundtrip tickets for the 2.5 hour flight for 48€ per person! There were four of us - AJ, Melanie, Jenny and me, the same group that had gone to La Rioja together in October - and we were all really excited about going to Africa and seeing a country that is so different from anything we'd seen before. Plus, we liked the 60°-weather we were seeing on the forecast - a welcome change from the frigid European winter! If you don't want to (or have time to) read everything I've written, you can skip to the end of this post and watch the video montage I made of our trip!

Introduction

Morocco is truly a different world for someone accustomed to Europe or the US - or at least we found it to be! Although it is in Africa, there is a big divide between "North Africa" (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt) and the rest of the continent. Morocco is a Muslim nation with Arabic (albeit a Berber dialect that is quite different from the "classical" Arabic of countries like Saudi Arabia) and French as its main languages.

Arabic stop sign and the minaret of the main mosque

And yet, it isn't all crazy and new. Much of the architecture in the south of Spain is actually quite similar to the architecture in countries like Morocco. As you probably already know, this is because Spain used to be ruled by the Berber tribes of North Africa, who sailed across the strait of Gibraltar in 711 CE and controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula for several centuries.

Seville cathedral and Marrakech mosque

As Morocco is a relatively poor country, we noticed wear and tear throughout the city much more than in most western European countries: the streets were often muddy, unpaved and dirty, the buildings old and dilapidated, the mosques and museums in a mild state of disrepair. However, this did give the city a certain charm and personality.

A timeworn street in Marrakech

In spite of its "rough around the edges" character, I found Marrakech to be a very lovely place. In my opinion, it is a city whose beauty lies in its details, in its special touches. The best example I have photos of are the gorgeously ornate doors that we would come across every now and then while walking through the streets, but I also found so much artistry and grace in the tiniest of details, from a carefully carved molding on an archway to a brightly-colored tile design on a light switch.

Beautiful doors in Marrakech

Part of this, I think, goes along with the general trend to concentrate decoration on the interiors of houses and public buildings rather than on the exteriors. Most Moroccan houses are built around a central courtyard, and provide a sort of haven from the hectic, dirty city outside the front door. Partially for this reason, I also found Marrakech to be a city of contrasts - part of the experience is getting out in the fray and pushing your way through the crowded streets, trying not to get run down by motorcycles - but equally important are the quiet, peaceful moments spent sipping tea and relaxing in the interior oases of restaurants and riads.

Djemaa el-Fna, the main square of Marrakech

And, indeed, as soon as you step outside you get swept up into the whirlwind. We found Marrakech to be an incredibly vibrant and lively place, if not also a bit chaotic and stressful: every time we walked through the streets, we were jostling with men and women in traditional clothing, other tourists like ourselves, cars, motorcycles and even donkeys! Whenever we went through Djemaa el-Fna, the main square - especially at night - it was completely packed with people, lots of them shouting at you and hassling you, trying desperately (and annoyingly) to sell you food, others telling stories or doing all sorts of creative street performing, and others just out to take a turn and soak up some of the energy of the city.

So, without further ado I'll begin my account of all the awesome things we managed to squeeze in to our extremely short stay in Marrakech.

The Riad

When doing some research to find out things we should do, I stumbled upon a blog about "The Best Riads in Marrakech." Without having any clue what a riad was, I opened the page. I quickly found out that riad comes from the Arabic word for garden and is used in Morocco to refer to any traditional Moroccan house or palace having a patio and/or garden in the center. I realized that, nowadays, they were basically like bed-and-breakfasts, traditional old houses that had been converted into hotels. I also discovered that they were quite cheap, so I messaged my friends to see if they'd be down and we decided to stay in one!

Our beautiful riad

Without a doubt, it was one of the best parts of our trip! The riad was owned by an Italian lady who bought and renovated the building as an investment, and it was managed by several locals. They arranged an airport pickup and met us with delicious tea when we arrived, even though our flight was quite late. As you can see, the decorations inside were beautiful and it was extremely cozy and comfortable. It even included a yummy, plentiful breakfast each morning on the rooftop terrace. The staff were so nice and friendly that we wound up befriending them and still keep in touch on Facebook! Given what I already mentioned about the frenetic nature of the city, the riad provided the perfect place to come back and recoup after a long day out and about.

Our new friends at the riad

The Jardin Majorelle

The first stop on our itinerary and one of the top tourist attractions in Marrakech was the elegant Jardin Majorelle, a botanical garden designed by the French artist Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s and 30s when Morocco was under French rule. It was later bought by the famous French designer Yves Saint-Laurent and finally opened to the public. Its striking blue walls and quirky cacti made it a whimsical and wondrous place to explore, and an inspiring place to take lots of silly photos!

The beautiful Jardin Majorelle

Amal Center

After exploring the Jardin, we headed to a very special place for lunch - the Amal Women's Training Center and Moroccan Restaurant (or, more casually, Amal Center). This incredible place trains disenfranchised women to develop skills to help them obtain jobs; in turn, the food they make is sold at the restaurant as their "payment" for this training. As soon as I read about this place while doing research, I knew we had to go! As we are all feminists and lovers of local cuisine, we couldn't have possibly imagined a more perfect place to feed ourselves cheap, delicious food while also helping a cause that we strongly support!

Delicious food at Amal Center

Museum of Marrakech

Our next stop was the Museum of Marrakech. The museum itself, which recounted the history of the city with rather lackluster plaques and displays, was not very interesting, but the building it was housed in was superb! It was built as a palace at the end of the 19th century and then restored and converted into a museum later in the 20th century. This was the first of many examples we saw of the ornate North African architectural and decorative style, an aesthetic that I personally am crazy about. Every room featured intricate tile work and rich woodcarving, with so much attention to minute details that it was impossible to fully take in, and much less to capture on camera. This style of architecture actually has quite a lot in common with the south of Spain, which as I mentioned used to be under the same empire as Morocco and the rest of North Africa.

Museum of Marrakech

Medersa Ben Youssef

Just around the corner from the museum was the Medersa Ben Youssef, one of the oldest educational institutions in the city. Originally attached to the Ben Youssef Mosque, it was founded in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 1550's. It had been non-operational for many years when it was converted into a museum in the 20th century. The inside was eerily empty, with no pictures, furniture or even people (granted, we were there in the off-season), and there were also no signs forbidding touching or walking on certain parts of the building. It made us wonder a bit about Morocco's approach to preservation and museumification, but the wood- and tile-work were truly exquisite!

Medersa Ben Youssef

Marrakech Henna Art Café

Our friend Melanie had been really set on getting a henna tattoo while in Morocco, so in the evening when it was too dark and cold to continue sightseeing, but too early to eat dinner, we happened upon the Marrakech Henna Art café and decided it was the perfect way to kill some time. In the end, two more friends also decided to get tattoos after seeing how beautiful Melanie's turned out.

Teresa, the Henna artist

The Henna artist was a Berber woman from a desert tribe who had moved to Marrakech to work, and she was extremely skilled. However, the owner of the café was actually American! Like the Italian owner of our riad, she is part of a wave of immigrants - mostly from America and Europe - who have been coming to Morocco to start up businesses. The insanely cheap rent and high demand created by tourism provide a perfect storm for investors and entrepreneurs. It was fun talking to her, and after all the henna was done she dressed me and my roommate up in "traditional" Moroccan outfits so we could take some funny pictures in front of their lovely murals.

Henna Café

After the henna café, we ended the first day with yet another delicious meal in the Earth Café, a vegetarian place that had an eclectic menu full of healthy and fantastic dishes! As most things in Morocco were quite cheap, we also treated ourselves to fresh juice. Yum! It was a perfect ending to a great first day exploring Marrakech.

Delicious dinner at Earth Café

Maison de la Photographie

Our second day began with a visit to the Marrakech Photography Museum, officially called the Maison de la Photographie. Their collection mostly documented traditional Moroccan clothing, customs and culture, as well as including  many pictures of Marrakech and other Moroccan cities from the early 1900's. These were fascinating because many parts of the city did not seem to have changed at all, in spite of one hundred years having passed!

Contemplating the photos

The markets still looked exactly like this!

While the collection was interesting, the real highlight of the museum was its rooftop café with incredible views of the city and the Atlas Mountains in the background.

Panoramic view from the Photography Museum rooftop

The Souks

Perhaps one of the most famous tourist attractions in Marrakech are the endless narrow, winding streets of the labyrinth-like markets, known as "souks" in Arabic. These markets sell everything from spices to handbags to tea pots to clothes to lamps and home decor, and much, much more! Walking through them is also quite an experience, as they are seemingly infinite, with countless tiny alleys twisting and winding off the already narrow "main" lanes. Like the main square, all of the shop owners shout at and heckle you in a variety of languages, trying to convince you to come and haggle for their wares. We didn't get many great pictures because we felt uncomfortable photographing, but you can see a sneaky video we caught in the montage at the end of this post!

A beautiful souk stall selling sandals

Palais el Badi

After exploring the souks, we headed to the Badi Palace, whose name means "The Incomparable." It was built by a Saadian sultan in the late 1500's, funded by the spoils of a war against Portugal, and was a place of royal splendor until it was in turn ransacked by a different dynasty and its riches taken to a new Moroccan city. It is now little more than a ruined shell of its original glory, and once again made us skeptical of Morocco's approach to museumification, as there were no ropes or signs forbidding you from walking on old tiles or touching the crumbling walls of the building. There was also no attempt to provide interpretation or to repopulate the spaces. 

Badi Palace

Café Clock

Our trip ended with a bang - or more specifically, a lot of aggressive clapping - at a traditional music concert in Café Clock. This trendy new café offers food, art and entertainment, and while it's geared mainly towards tourists and foreigners it still somehow maintains a feeling of authenticity. We found out that every Saturday and Sunday they have free concerts, so we decided to have dinner there and check out the show. It was an incredibly cozy place and we enjoyed having some tea and playing some card games while we waited for the show to start.

Enjoying tea and scrumptious Moroccan sweets

We weren't really able to get any pictures of the concert, but we have some videos which you can see below. It was so much fun and so much more than just a concert: the men performing took turns singing, playing a bass-like instrument, clapping and using various other percussion instruments. Some of them also got up and danced from time to time. But the coolest part was that everyone was joining in: the waiters would sing along with a phrase as they carried trays of food past, or clap and dance along on their way back to the kitchen; some of the audience members who were apparently locals also joined in whenever they felt like it, and by the end they tried to get everyone to get up and dance and clap along! It was so much more interesting and engaging than a typical "traditional concert," where you simply sit passively; anyone and everyone was welcome and encouraged to participate whenever they wanted. It was an awesome way to end our trip, and probably one of my favorite things we did the whole time!

The Video

Inspired by a friend who had done something similar, we decided to take lots of silly videos and create a montage once we got back. Here's the final product, hope you enjoy!

Home for the Holidays

For the Christmas holidays, I went home just like I had done the year before. Although it's one of our longest breaks and could have been a time to make a special trip, the idea of traveling through Europe in winter and being in a foreign place on Christmas did not sound at all appealing to me. Of course, I also wanted to go home and spend the holidays with my friends and family!

Opening presents with the family

As always, our Christmas consisted primarily of lots of family and food, including my mom's famous pecan pie and an alligator made of marzipan that I brought back from Spain for my sister Elizabeth. It was great to have almost everybody under one roof and to spend quality time together.

Elizabeth's marzipan alligator

Mom's pecan pie

I also paid special attention to the Christmas decorations around town and inside friends' homes, as I wanted to take pictures to show my niños back in Spain. I made a presentation about Christmas traditions, complete with videos of Christmas lights that people synchronize to music, and they all loved it, although their ultimate takeaway was that "people of USA are crazy."

Christmas decorations

Naturally, part of my time home was also spent hanging out with my college friends, who I only get to see two or three times a year now that I've been living so far away. We met up in Chapel Hill and went to some of our favorite restaurants and cafes and had a lovely day chatting and catching up. Unfortunately, it felt way too short, and I really wished I could have had more time to hang out with them. But at least we were able to get a good number of us together and make the most of what little time we did have!

With my friends at Weaver Street in Carrboro

I did meet up again with some of them for New Year's Eve, which has become something of a tradition. At least, for the past few years we've been meeting at Sarika's house and having a delicious potluck dinner, watching the ball drop and staying up late playing games and chatting.

Our New Year's feast

This year, Sarika also surprised us with a special activity she had planned. She had read about doing a craft party where you decorate an old coffee jar and create a "Memory Jar." You then keep it and throughout the year write down special memories on paper to put inside. At the next New Year, you open the jar and read all the memories as a form of reflection. She had all kinds of paints, stickers and other supplies and we had a great time decorating our jars like kids in arts class!

Decorating our jars

Finally, the next morning I made Swedish pancakes for everyone and we had a huge, delicious brunch to ring in 2015! It was a wonderful way to end an old year and start a new one, in the company of close friends.

Mama Clark serving Swedish pancakes on New Year's Day

December

Even though, as always, I'm abysmally behind on updating this blog, and even though I always say the same thing about catching up and then never follow through, I am seriously determined this time to catch up on everything from December to now (it's currently APRIL). I've been really feeling the lack in my life of some creative project where I produce my own original content, and while I know that this blog is nothing special it's at least a way for me to feel like I'm reflecting and creating something new out of all the amazing experiences I've been having.

Christmas decorations in downtown Madrid

So December! It feels strange to write about Christmas when it's currently spring and 70 degrees outside. Although I went home for the second half of the month, I still managed to do a lot during the time I was here. For one, we hosted a Couch Surfer named Shane who was from Singapore. It was really cool to talk with him and reminisce about my time there, and I remembered all kinds of things that I had until then forgotten, simply from having no real reason to think about them. He was very nice and we did a lot of fun things - like going to a nifty bar that has a free blues night every Sunday. It was my first time there, but my friends and I liked it so much that we've gone back several times since. It was a bit strange to be listening to blues - which is from my part of the US - in such a foreign context, but it was definitely a cool experience.

Showing our Couch Surfer Shane around

With the same friends - a couple who are part of our (almost)weekly foodie club - we went to do a brewery tour at a craft beer place called Sagra about 30 minutes outside Madrid. We had gotten vouchers in a bar for a free tour and free beer tasting. They explained about the process of beer-making - which I had heard at other breweries before - but also talked a bit about the beer market in Spain, how craft beer hasn't taken on as quickly as in other countries, and how terrible and corrupt the corporate beer companies are. I really liked all the brews we tried and bought a few bottles to take home with me.

All of us in the Sagra Brewery

My best friend Jenny and I also met one day to try out a special café in the heart of the city called El Riojano. Two old people that I met while waiting for nun treats in Toledo had told me about it, and it was a great find! From the outside and when you first enter, it just looks like a take-away bakery, but if you walk through the entrance to the back, there's a huge room with warm decoration and nice furniture where you can enjoy their delicious treats. Obviously the clientele was mostly old people, aside from us, who are only old at heart! The food was delicious. This meeting also inaugurated a ritual of Jenny and I meeting during the week for lunch or to try a new pastry shop or cafe, which has since become one of the highlights of my week.

Hot chocolate and a pastry in El Riojano

Another interesting thing that happened in December was my discovery of some of the more trendy sides of Madrid. I started looking at blogs online to get ideas of new places to explore in the city, and found quite a lot: a handful of cute restaurants right in the neighborhood where I live, several trendy cafés and bars I never knew about, a few temporary art exhibits and a pop up market called The House that had been put on for Christmas. We went to check it out, and although it was overpriced and nothing particularly special, the decoration was really cool and they had a rooftop bar where you could enjoy some sweet vermouth (a very common drink in Spain). I had never been to a pop up market, so it was a cool new experience for me!

The House pop up market

An art exhibit of a contemporary Italian artist

Another random thing: the lottery is really big in Spain and the most popular one is at Christmas. EVERYBODY buys a ticket, and there are lines several blocks long outside all of the most central offices all throughout December. Our school always buys a handful of tickets that we can purchase, so I bought one just for fun. Sadly, I didn't win anything, but it's the experience that counts.

People selling lottery tickets in Madrid's main square

We also had a really nice Christmas meal in our school on the last day of classes, which was a veritable feast cooked up by the kitchen staff. Naturally, we went to the bar next door for drinks beforehand, and didn't finish with lunch until 5:30 or 6pm. It was a lovely way to end the year and yet another time that I was reminded how thankful I should be that I work with such friendly, fun, amazing people!

Having drinks before our Christmas feast

Finally, the same couple from our food club decided to throw a Christmas party at their house on the penultimate day of school before break. They put out a few decorations and everybody brought food and drinks. My roommate and I dressed up as festive reindeer and we sang and listened to some Christmas songs. It was a really lovely night with lots of good food, great wine and better company! It was a perfect way to end the month and to say goodbye to everyone before parting ways during break; a great ending to another great month here in Madrid!

Our Christmas party