My Big Trip to Europe

The highlights of my trip to Madrid and London

Hello Everyone!

It was a very busy and hot end to July and beginning to August. And it was the same in Europe, where they are also struggling with drought, wildfires and high temps. Even so, I had a marvelous time hosted by the wonderful Arielle and her husband Pepe (in Madrid). Here we are posing in front of their gorgeous home up in the hills outside of Madrid.

Arielle was a magnificent hostess and braved the 100 degree heat to take me down town to see the sights in Madrid. We even took in some real flamenco dancing! You can see me wilting in that heat in front of the flamenco theater where we had some sangria.

We saw some amazing costumes, paintings, tapestries and embroidery in the Spanish Royal collection and at the Thyssen gallery. Here is a quick view of some of these beautiful and rare treasures:

I think the ceiling of this cathedral looks like a quilt! I took over 200 pics in Madrid alone...and you can see I was inspired by the beautiful silk embroidery I saw.

Very sadly, though while I was away, my kitty Huey had to be put down due to an ongoing illness that was not getting better. He was the sweetest boy and I am just heartbroken I was not there and that he is gone. Here he is in better days lounging with Teeny on top of him on a pile of my fabric.

After that it was hard to carry on, but the trip was not going to wait, so I pressed onwards to London.

This was a trip to remember my student days there as a young ballet student. I got to see Marinela Nunes, the great ballerina, perform with other great dancers at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. It was in all ways, amazing!

I took a Thames river cruise, and saw the London Eye, but did not get to go on it- the lines were way too long.

I revisited Westminster Abby nearby and heard Big Ben chime:

and saw a few famous people buried there:

Next up it was the Victoria and Albert museum to see the costume exhibits and the amazing other art. I was most impressed with the huge jewelry collection.

There was a brilliant gallery that had a collection of micro mosaics. I know, I never knew these existed. Tiny shards of glass placed just so to create the picture, like in this table top here:

And then I had to visit my old neighborhood in Knightsbridge where I used to walk by Harrod's on the way home. It looked exactly the same 50 years later- astonishing.

I also saw the National Portrait Gallery and this was my favorite of Eliz. 1 when she was young and beautiful:

My hotel was nothing to write about, but it was very near the fabulous Fitzroy hotel in Russel Square:

And some things never change- the classic British Pub:

I am very grateful that I got to make this trip and I am also grateful to be back home. I hope you enjoyed this bit of my holiday and that you got to travel somewhere marvelous too.

I will have another quick blog post with a brand new video for you very soon.

Until then, enjoy your quilting!

Categories: : monthly blog post