SPAIN IN MAY

Haskells at Guggenheim in Balbao, Spain

​GREETINGS FROM SPAIN!
 
         Pat and I are on our fourth TLC Doll Tour. This Spain tour has been mostly wonderful art museums, castles, Roman Aqueducts, and lovely seaside towns (in the north). We have seen some fantastic dolls at a couple of houses, including a private collection.
 
We’re in Madrid now and yesterday, we visited the Royal Palace and Cathedral and ate lunch with our friends Silvia from Madrid, Patsy from Australia, and Donna, the Editor of Antique Doll Magazine.
         Today, we saw two special museums. One was a former private mansion with its focus showing what life was like for the well to do in Madrid in the 19th Century. The other huge museum was the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, where we saw the famous Picasso painting, “Guernica.” This painting was commissioned by the Spanish Government as a Civil War protest and hung in a gallery in New York until 1981, in keeping with Picasso’s wish that it not be seen in Spain until democracy was established in his native country.
 
Lynn Murray’s tours are very special and our fellow travellers have been terrific to get to know. This particular trip has four couples: Liz and Nolan Vertue, from South Africa; Mark and Robin Wyatt from Concord, North Carolina; Linda and Scott LeStrange from Calistoga, California, plus Pat and me. Many of the women have boon with us on prior tours. All are bright, talented, doll doctors, collectors, dealers and doll-lovers. They are a spirited group, who has been fun to travel with.
 
Our daughter, Tina, and daughter-in-law, Michelle, have told us much about Spain and Cal and Ellie Kendall have been Spain-admirers for years. We love this country! It’s our first trip here and Pat and I are so impressed with the cleanliness, modernity, great roads, fast trains, super hotels, and tasty Tapas meals.
 
 
         We’ve read lots about Spanish History, especially their tragic Civil War in 1936-39, which, like ours in the USA, tore families apart and killed many. We’re headed later this week to Barcelona and the Catalonia area, where I will file another report.

Donna, Pat, Hank, Silvia & Pat B. in Madrid, May 2016.