{"id":1406,"date":"2015-05-29T06:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T05:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1406"},"modified":"2015-05-29T06:33:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T05:33:37","slug":"week-23-us-and-french-cousins-come-to-visit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1406","title":{"rendered":"Week 23: US and French cousins come to visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just two weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting my uncle Joseph from France and Zev from Florida. This week it was the turn of the younger generations of the US and French Wajsmans to visit. My cousin Renata from Florida (Zev’s daughter) stopped by for a few days with her husband Alon and their three sons, and my cousin Nicole from Brussels (Joseph’s daughter) came down with her son Oscar. So I spent a couple of days showing my cousins and the four young men around Alicante. There was also a nice reunion with an ex-colleague who is now in Italy. All in all, a nice week of reunions, good weather, food and wine.<\/p>\n

23_1<\/strong>
\nBut I start with the Miracle of the Cactus. I have explained the significance elsewhere<\/a>. This week the little cactus bloomed again, and for the first time ever, it was a quadruple bloom. I started documenting it Tuesday afternoon:
\n\"DSF6640\"<\/p>\n

23_2<\/strong>
\nWednesday morning, three flowers and the fourth one on the way:
\n\"DSF6644\"<\/p>\n

23_3<\/strong>
\n\"DSF6643\"<\/p>\n

23_4<\/strong>
\nThursday morning, four flowers in all their glory:
\n\"R001458\"<\/p>\n

23_5<\/strong>
\nBy Thursday afternoon, the flowers already begin to wilt:
\n\"R001459\"<\/p>\n

23_6<\/strong>
\nBy Friday morning, the end is near, for now:
\n\"R001464\"<\/p>\n

Four pictures taken during the week’s dog walks follow.<\/p>\n

23_7<\/strong>
\nI continued to explore the tree roots in the park:
\n\"DSF6632\"<\/p>\n

23_8<\/strong>
\nA lemon on the tree in our garden:
\n\"DSF6635\"<\/p>\n

23_9<\/strong>
\nIt is spring, and things are just a bit less arid than usual:
\n\"DSF6701\"<\/p>\n

23_10<\/strong>
\nGolf course fauna:
\n\"DSF6634\"<\/p>\n

23_11<\/strong>
\nAntanina is Lithuanian. She was a trainee with us back in 2012, and afterwards she stayed on as a consultant for another year. We were really happy with her work, but in the end her contract ended and she had to leave. She is now doing her PhD in economics at one of Europe’s oldest universities, in Padova. In many ways, Antanina represents what the EU is about: a young woman, born when her country was still occupied by the Soviet Union, now citizen of a free Lithuania, living in Italy. This week she was visiting Alicante and we got together for lunch:
\n\"DSF6687\"<\/p>\n

23_12<\/strong>
\nDespite having visitors, I did manage to go cycling during the week, also helped by the fact that I was able to take Thursday off. Here is a traditional Spanish restaurant along the old Valencia road, having expanded its offering to cater to German visitors:
\n\"R001432\"<\/p>\n

23_13<\/strong>
\nThe beach in Villajoyosa, already warm and sunny but not yet crowded since the summer holiday season has not started:
\n\"R001438\"<\/p>\n

23_14<\/strong>
\nA sad face on the promenade:
\n\"R001441\"<\/p>\n

23_15<\/strong>
\nOn Wednesday evening, my cousin Nicole arrived on a flight from Brussels and my cousin Renata came by car from Barcelona where they had spent the last few days. Talking and wining and dining immediately ensued:
\n\"R001450\"<\/p>\n

23_16<\/strong>
\nThe next day we went for a long walk along the beach. Renata has an injured ankle from a recent accident, so she has to wear a somewhat funny-looking boot for longer walks:
\n\"DSF6648\"<\/p>\n

23_17<\/strong>
\nRenata’s husband Alon enjoys the sunshine:
\n\"DSF6650\"<\/p>\n

23_18<\/strong>
\nJogging with a friend:
\n\"DSF6651\"<\/p>\n

23_19<\/strong>
\nWhen we have visitors from abroad, we often take them to visit the Francisco G\u00c3\u00b3mez winery near Villena. The vineyards are pretty, and the tour and tasting are well organised:
\n\"DSF6683\"<\/p>\n

23_20<\/strong>
\nThe tour starts in a chapel, located in a man-made cave:
\n\"DSF6652\"<\/p>\n

23_21<\/strong>
\n\"DSF6653\"<\/p>\n

23_22<\/strong>
\nThe barrels of Fondill\u00c3\u00b3n wine:
\n\"DSF6663\"<\/p>\n

23_23<\/strong>
\nAfter the tour, we move to the tasting room\/shop. The winery employee explains to Renata which wines we will be tasting:
\n\"DSF6672\"<\/p>\n

23_24<\/strong>
\nRenata with her oldest son, Oren:
\n\"DSF6678\"<\/p>\n

23_25<\/strong>
\nBesides wine, Francisco G\u00c3\u00b3mez also makes olive oil and its own chorizo<\/em>, morcilla<\/em> and Iberian ham. The meat products are very good but they can only be consumed on site, as the winery does not have the license from the food safety authorities to sell them for take-away:
\n\"DSF6673\"<\/p>\n

23_26<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, we put the boys to work on the barbecue:
\n\"DSF6698\"<\/p>\n

23_27<\/strong>
\nA common scene in our international family. It is Saturday morning, and Oren is leaving for Valencia by train to catch a plane from there to Israel, where he currently lives. Renata and Alon are saying goodbye to their son:
\n\"DSF6704\"<\/p>\n

23_28<\/strong>
\nAfter saying goodbye to Oren, we took a walk through our Mercado Central…:
\n\"DSF6707\"<\/p>\n

23_29<\/strong>
\n…and had a coffee on the square behind the market, a place rich in photo opportunities:
\n\"DSF6710\"<\/p>\n

And of course I took my visitors to the beachside restaurant, Hostal Maruja.<\/p>\n

23_30<\/strong>
\nNicole likes the setting and the beer:
\n\"DSF6716\"<\/p>\n

23_31<\/strong>
\nAnd so does Renata:
\n\"DSF6718\"<\/p>\n

23_32<\/strong>
\nSunbathing for two:
\n\"DSF6724\"<\/p>\n

23_33<\/strong>
\nHat Man:
\n\"DSF6721\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just two weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting my uncle Joseph from France and Zev from Florida. This week it was the turn of the younger generations of the US and French Wajsmans to visit. My cousin Renata from Florida (Zev’s daughter) stopped by for a few days with her husband Alon and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1321,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1408,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1406\/revisions\/1408"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}