Category Archives: Madrid

Canada, Destinations, Europe, London, Madrid, Maine, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Travel Tips, United Kingdom, USA, Where we stayed

Clam Chowder from Scratch: An Ode to Vacation Rentals

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Digging for clams is hard.

First you look for the “clam shows” – the air holes in the sand that show where a clam might be. Once you find a nice, big hole, you dig the wet, heavy sand around it, pushing your shovel as deep as you can. Then you bend, squat, or kneel to look through the pile of sand you just turned over, or plunge your hand in the hole feeling for clam shells. And then you stand up again, and move to dig in another place.

Dig. Squat. Stand up. Repeat.

my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary's Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton
my sister-in-law and I, digging for clams in St. Mary’s Bay on Prince Edward Island, photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Brian Sutton

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Canada, Europe, Florida, London, Madrid, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Spain, United Kingdom, USA

Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay

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Wherever we travel, if we see a playground, my daughter always ask to stop and play, and we let her. She’s learned to be patient when when we drag her around museums, castles, and other “sightseeing” places we want to see, and we figure she deserves some fun time too.

In general, all playgrounds, event the smallest ones, have a slide, and possibly a swing or some other rocking structure. The bigger ones allow quite extensive climbing structures, and places to run around.

Some playgrounds are quite simple, but some, even small, are quite creative, like the insect-looking play structure in the featured photo above that we stumbled upon in Quebec City.

Here are a few examples of other playgrounds, from several places around the world, submitted by fellow travel bloggers. Continue reading Playgrounds around the World: Photo Essay →

Art, Attractions, Madrid, Museums, Spain

Learning more about Pablo Gargallo’s Great Prophet

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I admit, I’m not an art buff. We went to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, because I wanted to show the kids the Guernica (they were not impressed).

But a few rooms over I noticed a really striking sculpture. Except I failed to write down the title or the name of the artist, whom I never heard of before. Luckily, thanks to #AskACurator day on Twitter,  I  now know  that it is a sculpture by Pablo Gargallo, titled Grand prophète (Great Prophet).

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