Holiday craziness in Madrid

We decided that five days in Madrid would be our second to last trip before the arrival of baby #2. We had no idea that the week after Christmas in Madrid is insane!  The streets are literally teeming with thousands of people looking for a party. It's reminiscent of New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It made for great people watching but also some difficulty navigating the streets with a three year old.

We focused our days with a walking tour in the morning, a large and late lunch after G's naptime and then a museum in the afternoon.

My focus of the trip was the food of Spain. I had received some recommendations from friends and also through foodie sites like Chowhound.

Although breakfast isn't a popular meal among the Spaniards, they will stop for a churro and chocolate. The hot chocolate is so rich and thick, its texture is like a warm pudding.  The churros are served hot and sugary and are ridiculously good.

We also enjoyed our fair share of tapas, jamon serrano, calamares, chorizo and cocido madrileno (a chickpea and meat stew that is a specialty of Madrid).

We visited the Museo de Prado to see Diego Velazquez's Las Meninas and to the Reina Sofia Museum to see Picasso's Guernica. We also toured the Palace and a number of churches. We covered a lot of ground in five days. It was fabulous but being in the middle of my third trimester, it was also exhausting.  Would love to and plan to return and explore other cities in Spain.

Our time in Burgundy and Dijon

Burgundy is one of France's main wine producing regions known for both their Pinot Noir and Chadonnay grapes. Dijon is the capital of the province of Burgundy and where we decided to rent an apartment for the week. What a great choice. Dijon is the quintessential French town with half-timbered houses dating back to the 12th century. Our apartment was situated right in the center of town across the street from the Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne or "Palace of the Dukes and the States of Burgundy".  Although it was bitter cold, we filled our days with walking tours, eating, wine tasting and cooking.

CM surprised me with a French cooking class, I suspect to compensate for the fact that I wasn't going to be able to go wine tasting, but nevertheless a fun way to spend an afternoon. The class had eight students and was taught entirely in French. I muddled my way through, having not spoken French since high school and prepared and tasted amazing fois gras, among other specialties of French cuisine.


Another day was spent in Beaune, a small town a half an hour from Dijon. A popular way to go wine tasting is to visit the wine caves. To taste multiple different classifications of Burgundy wines, you pay 10 euro and head down into the caves for a self-guided wine tour where you wind through the cave and end up in an old church. A very fun and very unique way to taste many (about 15) different wines..some excellent, others not so great.

Burgundy, Dijon, and even our little rented flat are all places in which I would love to return. We've experienced so many wonderful places, but this trip so far has been my favorite, even in the frigid cold and when I couldn't experience the wine. I can only think that the Burgundy region would be an amazing place to visit in the spring and summer (and not pregnant)!
Next stop...Madrid.