February holiday in Madrid

Alice Victor and I went to Madrid for the kid's half term school break. It was a failed attempt to escape the UK's coldest winter in decades... but Mr Frost was everywhere, even in Madrid. We spent our first day admiring the snow falling on the mountains where it stayed for the rest of our visit. I must say that Antoine and Eva's new house has a magnificent view on the Sierra.

Of course, the real reason for our trip was to catch up with our beloved Iberian family. The girls fell into each other's arms and picked up where they left off last time they were together...

Eva, Antoine, Maman (who arrived on the snowing day) and I spent many evenings chatting until late, sampling good Spanish wines nibbling Jamon and other delicacies.

That took care of some of our time, but we had to work up an appetite for the next meal as well as find some suitable active activities for the little ones. What do you do in a city with small children and bad weather?... visit museums, 0bviously.

We did them all, the Reina Sofia, the Prado and the Thyssen. They each have great collections but we had to be selective with our viewings in order to keep the children interested. It was fun observing and sharing in their artistic awakening.

At the Prado, Alice finally got to visit Velasquez' little princess (Las Meninas) and Victor was most impressed by Bruegel's "Triumph of Death". He spent a long time scrutinising the picture, had many questions... and then he saw him, the hero, the man who is fighting back and winning (lower

right hand side of the picture), so he moved on looking for Goya's "Shooting on May the 3rd". All three of cousins (Nora, Alice and Victor)got fascinated with Geronimo Bosh... each filled a sketch books with their own drawings.

The next day we were off to the Reina Sofia, mission Guernica... Victor can't wait, nor can I. They are fascinated with Mr Picasso, the man who realised that to be great he had to remember how to draw and paint like a child. As for the museum, besides the collection the architecture is impressive, but I would really pass on the cafe, a disappointment after the great service and lovely food we found at Prado and Thyssen.

We didn't burden ourselves with cars for those visits, the trains in Madrid are frequent, clean and fast. Overall a very pleasant way to get around town, not to mention the fact that kids are free and really enjoy the ride. So we made ample use of them.

By the end of the week the weather had improved in so much as it was dry and sunny. Antoine could steal some time from his studies and we all went for a long walk at the foot of the Sierra. Gael, who is only 2, impressed us all by walking nearly the whole way, and we did go for a very very long walk...

Sadly, we saw quite little of Antoine who is working like a slave over his MBA. The little scraps of free time he has are primarily spent with his children, naturally. Often, after we had drained the last drops of wine and exhausted the last breaths of conversation for the evening, whilst we would collapse into bed, he would fire up the Nespresso machine, whip his laptop into shape and sit down for another round of studying. However, in the whirlwind of their busy lives Eva and Antoine seem to create their own brand of harmony witch is pervasive in their home, their hospitality and their generosity. In short, it was a great week.

Les cousins se retrouvent!