Back from Rome and Barcelona.

We're back from Spain now. We were in Barcelona from 30-Dec-06 - 14-Jan-07. We stayed with our friends Beatriz and Ricardo, who are kind of like Daniel's surrogate grandparents.

When we landed in the Madrid Airport, we saw the damage from the ETA bombing. Folks, it was a lot worse than the US news made it out to be. The news here in the US said that it was a minor bombing with about 15 people treated for ear injuries. In reality, an entire four story parking lot was completely demolished, and two people were killed. I was taking photos of the broken glass all across the front of the airport when Sonia told me to look at the parking lot across the street. It was unbelievable. There was even a slight crater where the parking lot was before. For days afterwards the rescue workers dug to find the bodies of two innocent Equadorian immigrants who could not get out of the parking lot when it was evacuated.

ETA are a bunch of gillipollas. How does killing a couple of innocent immigrants forward their cause? The one thing I am sure of is that if there ever were an independent Euskera, I certainly wouldn't want that bunch of bloodthirsty clowns to be in charge of it. I doubt that the Basque people want that either.

Sonia and I were able to go to Rome for a weekend and leave Daniel with Ricardo and Beatriz. Rome was great. We took about 200 photos (at http://picasaweb.google.com/sontida). It was impossible to take a bad photo in Rome.

We're glad to be home, but are already planning our next trip.