Phil arrives

 So mid day Wednesday Phil arrived to torrential rains in Spain... not here - here we just had three solid days of rain and occasional lightening and thunder. It was raining when he arrived. But since he had been on an overnight flight it was of little consequence since he'd be inside all day anyway.  We went to Acento for dinner - after he had a short nap.  Dinner tonight at one of our regular haunts. Missed photos of the mains. Lo Siento!  Menu items marked.  The restaurant was totally full again tonight. The owner Vincent told us it is always busy in October. It's high season here because (despite this week's rain) the weather is usually beautiful this time of year so people come from all over.  Phil arrived today midday so we went out early (8:30) and had dinner with, by my count, 15 children in a restaurant with roughly twenty or so tables. Most were fine but, of course, "most" does not mean all.... We didn't care. Phil could hardly keep his head off the table with the time change.

We started getting emails from friends all over the world who were worried about us because the storms have devastated the east coast - especially around Valencia

My response on FB: A number of emails came today asking about our safety. We are safe.  It has been raining pretty solidly for close to three days and is expected to go on through Friday. The worst of it was on the East Coast in Valencia and south to Malaga but today there was severe flooding in Cádiz and Jerez which are not in the Mediterranean but on the Atlantic coast. Also places with higher elevations like Arcos de la Frontera have had flooding. We are far enough inland from the places having the worst of it that we have been spared. Our rains have been sustained and we've had hail but people are still going about their daily lives. So thanks to those who have asked. This has been a huge loss of lives here in Spain. The DANA (weather phenomenon of this type) has already caused at least 95 deaths. So keep Spain in your thoughts. We have no plans to go out of town and are on the top floor of our building. So all fine here.

So with Phil's strange sleeping hours, we made our way through the day, had coffee, and went shopping for a few groceries. And later had dinner at Petit Comite, another of our favorites. What we had is marked on the menu. Phil had two ducks courses, I had the burrata salad, and we split the anchovy toast. I had the albondigas as my main. Desserts were Tocino de Cielo for me and the nougat ice cream with hot hazelnut chocolate sauce for Phil. 

Today it is a holiday and we are not sure how that will affect the city. It's All Saints Day. Last night there were processions and many people were gathered in Plaza Nueva and when we left for dinner we were like fish swimming upstream with the crowds all heading into the city center. More to follow as Phil gets settled in.