Friday, March 16, 2012

Arrived in Madrid!






In just under 2 hours on the fast-speed train I was in Madrid! Evie met me at the hotel. It was fantastic to see her! After a leisurely lunch at Ramses we walked through the Parque Retiro. The splendid gardens are filled with marble monuments, landscaped lawns and lots of people enjoying springtime. The focal point is a lake where people rent rowboats. We walked by Palacio Cibeles but didn’t have time to see the outlook. The Appels (Larry, Caren, Molly, Rebecca and Michael) are also in Madrid and we met them for Shabbat services at the conservative synagogue. Although I didn’t understand the Spanish I could follow many of the Hebrew prayers even though some of the melodies are different. The Rabbi asked one of the congregants to translate the parshah in English for us, which was very nice. Apparently there is a very small Jewish community in Madrid, only about 6,000, most of which are Orthodox. After services the Appels treated us to dinner. It was great seeing them, especially in Madrid on Shabbat.

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