On the Mend Again

I never envisioned that there would be so many steps on the way to seeing the striking Roman aqueduct in Segovia. But they were there for sure. I know because I walked up them more than a couple of times one day in October while enjoying Segovia. It was there too that I managed to damage the meniscus in my right knee.

But you can’t blame a few steps for a beautiful day among ancient ruins and cobble stone streets, sprinkle in a little rain too and it’s a wonder I can still walk. But now I find myself laid up again, resting in my hometown with my beloved companions, Ollie and nurse Ratched.

So it goes for me, after the close of 2023 and the onset of ’24, full of election recriminations and a roller coaster ride of media cycles and withering wars that threaten to expand.

I guess, while traveling through cities like Salamanca and Segovia, so rich with history, going back to the conquering times of the Romans, the Moors and of the Spanish defending themselves.

The result is blend of historic physicality, so woven together that it cannot be broken apart.

It’s simple to say we are only here for a small bit of time when measured against the enduring cobble stones of villages and the immense stones in buildings and structures of over 2000 years. It’s certainly humbling no matter and causes you to reflect on your own time while here, right?

So what do you choose to do? What do you choose to be, what do you choose to spend your time on and who with. That’s probably why I love to travel so much. More than anything it’s time to reflect, and absorb a sense of history. Of the world and yourself.

While walking around in Madrid. (I was probably actually limping a little by then) we came across a roundabout that had a statue that I recalled from when I was visiting Europe in the early 1970’s. It was startling that I had recognized it right away. I knew I had been there before. I had a picture of me from then and of course took another around the very same place so I could compare what I looked like then, to how I look now, some 50 years later. Hah, kind of a weird moment I’m sure we’ve all experienced. A look into the mirror of time.

!972 Madrid

We see how we age and hopefully like a fine wine. Which we drank much of in Madrid and enjoyed the wonderful companionship of our fellow travelers my sisters-in-law, and their spouses. All very comfortable with one another hanging in our Chueca apartment in Madrid.  We got to know a great wine shop (Reserva y Cata) and went there every single day to taste and stock up.

Deb & Jim gave the owner, Ezequiel, a bottle from Napa and we were set. He embraced us and shared many places to eat and visit. Plus, he pulled out some amazing wines and educated us on regions we were not familiar with.

We went to bakeries. We went to restaurants, we sat at cafés.

Rob and I sat at cafés in the same little plaza about a block from our flat each day. In that little plaza-like park was an old statue and by day two they got to know us. We’d sit down, people watch, an enjoy a cigar and with out even asking, they’d bring us our preferred wine from Riberio del Duero.

Plaza del Rey is a public space located on one side of the first section of Gran Vía in Madrid. It is delimited at one end by Barquillo Street and Infantas Street. It is located in the Chueca neighborhood. On the side of the square there is a statue of the Spanish soldier Jacinto Ruiz y Mendoza, hero of the May 2 uprising. The palace popularly known as the House of the Seven Chimneys stands out in its layout. It is named in honor of the proclamation by the people of Madrid in 1808 of Fernando VII as king of Spain.