Day 3 Paris and 4 Granada

Day 3 from Sam's Journal:

Today we went to breakfast first, then we went to the park and the park there was one 4 man seesaw and one 3 man one. There was also a crescent slide. It was a sunny day in the Tuileries. Then we went back to the hotel, packed and went to the airport.

Day 3 from Davis's journal:
Well now I'm in Spain. It's pretty cool/weird. Everyone speaks Spanish (unlike me). So far I've only seen it from an airplane. Right now I'm in Barcelona and it's clear with clouds. Going to Spain is fun because there is no jet lag.

Day 3 from Amber's journal. We flew from Paris Orly to Barcelona and then on to Granada. We arrived at 9pm. Our taxi driver swore he couldn't make it into the Albayzin and up the Liffords' street. I called Cheris and she spoke magnificent Spanish and talked him in. He dropped us off in a plaza and Cheris and Rob came running to meet us! We were so very, very happy. They led the way through tiny cobblestone alleys to their cave home. We went upstairs and ditched our luggage, put the kids to bed and reconvened on the porch to drink Spanish wine with our best friends. It was pure bliss.

Day 4 Granada

We woke up this morning to hear the children's laughter. Davis and Violet and Graham and Samuel were all happily reunited and playing and laughing. We rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to see Cheris making us coffee! This was a wonderful thing. We drank our coffee and chatted and then got ready for the day.
Around mid morning Cheris and the kids and I all headed out. We took Graham to the local barber (Aladin Barber) and Violet and Davis and Samuel all played in the local park. They had a great amount of fun in the dog park section. After the hair cut, we went to the mirador. The kids ran over the aljibe (a stone water fountain thingy) and Cheris and I had a cafe con leche. Then we all had a bocadillo (snack) of toasted bread of olive oil and tomato. Delicious. I could live on coffee, bread, olive oil and wine. I was made for Spain.
Granada is gorgeous. The sun came out and lit up the entire valley. The Mirador is a fantastic little plaza overlooking the Alhambra. They have musicians and vendors and happy chatter all around. The kids' school is across the street and Cheris dropped her kids off there after bocadillo. Then we picked up Michael from the house and made our way to the Cave Museum. Walking around the Albayzin is incredible. Each tiny cobblestoned street leads to another. White washed houses line the walks with tiled rooftops. Oak doors with intricate designs stand out in the walls. We walked up and around and found ourselves with one incredible vista after another, with the Alhambra always dominating the skyline. The cave museum was fascinating and we all learned a ton about the people who lived in the Sacremonte. Then it was time to pick up the kids again.
We picked them up from school and walked down for lunch to, Calle de Caldereria, an alley lined with Morrocan shops. The narrow alley was filled with beautiful lamps, slippers, wallets and pottery. I wanted to buy everything! We had lunch at a Teteria, a turkish tea restaurant that was absolutely beautiful.

We shopped a bit after lunch and then Cheris and the kids walked Michael and I down to Hammam baths. They were Turkish baths that rocked this world. Michael and I entered a world of otherworldly beauty and indolence. Cheris released the kids into the Albayzin while Michael and I relaxed. We soaked in various baths in a gorgeous moorish tiled cave room. There were steam rooms that were the best I'd ever been in. We each had massages and laid on hot rocks and soaked and showered and drank sugared turkish tea for two hours. It was unlike anything I've ever done before and I want to do it again and again and again.
We finally exited refreshed and relaxed and met Cheris in the plaza Nueve just as all the chapel bells struck 6pm. She led us back toward the house. We stopped back at the Calle de Caldereria to buy some slippers and made an impromptu stop at a church. We slipped inside and saw nuns seated behind a gate praying in front of a beautiful altar. They were dressed all in white and they were singing. It was ethereal.
We went back to the house and prepared a picnic dinner of toasted bread with egg and olive oil, a hard salami and grapes and cava. We ran up a huge hill to the very top of Granada. We were up on the wall that circles the city. The sun set below us and all the city lights came on. It was such an amazing sight to see. It was beautiful. I wish I could tell you how truly beautiful this whole day was. The kids ran around the church that sat on the top of our hill and we ate our picnic on the church steps looking out over the valley. On our way home we walked in the dark to the twinkle of the city lights.