meanwhile - a recap of visits this spring

It has been a fun first five months as residents in Spain. Between visits from friends, visits from and to family, catching up with classmates and my intercambio from last year's class and making friends through the Expats Sevilla group, we have been busy. (Not to mention at least four trips to various government offices to work out various visa and residency documentation requirements.)

We started with a visit with my intercambio Julia and her husband Pablo and new baby Pablo....they were in process with moving to Madrid so this was their last trip to SVQ to pack up their household goods to be shipped north.

We had met Lauren Tucker, a fellow Chicago ex-pat, on the FB group. And Ellie another member joined us for tapas on a chilly January evening - we closed the place down.... LOL

Lee had a long planned visit but at the last moment Nick had a scheduled meeting in London so he dropped in for a few nights and Larry had a planned visit that would overlap with Lee's so we ended up with five people until Megan & Christian (family from Madrid) came for an overnight and the seven us had a number of excellent leisurely meals together.

the dots are various guests, couples or families - it was busy for the first two months- then in early March we moved and id March we went to Valencia for a month. When we returned we hosted John & Stephanie and continued to get settled into our new home on Bilbao...

we met Phil's Spanish teachers for coffee one day- 

and we met up with former classmates, Joseph & Becky, who were also now back in Sevilla for more language immersion.

Friend Jean came to visit from Florida (her first trip to Europe since 1970 when she & Phil met as part of a German language immersion program in high school)

Meanwhile we collected our residence cards and my brother and his family visited for a few days.  

Claus & Evi came from Germany for a few nights-  as we transitioned to the new apartment where we will live for at least the next three years.

When we were in Valencia we took a weekend trip to Madrid to spend time with Megan and Christian and Oscar. One day we took a trip to Segovia (a 30 minute high speed train ride).

 

After we returned to Valencia- Angela & Lee came to visit for five days-  and we spent time with gorillas real and less than real LOL

Then in May, we returned home to Sevilla and hosted John & Stephanie for five days- 

and just before we are leaving for the summer- we caught up with Paula (former classmate) who had returned for more language immersion as well. 

It has been a whirlwind five months but we have had a blast. We are nearing the return date for the summer in the States and we would be seriously thinking about not going back yet except- it's in the high 90s today and only getting hotter!  So here we come Lincoln Avenue deck time!

Friends visit from Germany

 so we were in the north for ten days roughly and returned to Florida because our friends Claus & Evi had a trip planned to visit us in the warmer climate in early February. We rented a VRBO for their stay and will be leaving for Spain from TPA soon.  Meanwhile we enjoyed some great together time with them.  Our first night we ate nearby, at Blue Marlin on AMI. The second at Michael's on East where the three of them had steaks and I had fish.... the third night we ate at Harry's. We had lunches outdoors at Star Fish on the dock and at Duval's on Main Street in SRQ.

And then my birthday season began in earnest... with a diner at the chef's table at Meliora 

so a few more meals with friends before we take off - and one concert tonight at Fogartyville but we are in the countdown of final Florida days.... stay tuned....