More Mallorca

Maddie at the beach in Cala Agulla

Maddie in front of the cathedral in Palma

Maddie and Skip at the beach

Maddie and Skip walking down a street in Palma

Coming to you from the Mallorca airport McDonalds where they give you a free card for 30 minutes worth of wireless internet time with every purchase. Couldn't get access at the hotel, but you can get it at McDonalds! I believe Maddie has now eaten McDonalds in at least four different countries. We're very proud.

Here's some stuff I jotted down about Mallorca while were at the hotel:

So it’s been a little chilly for a beach vacation, but Mallorca has been really nice. The water may be chilly by now, but it is beautiful. That turquoise blue that looks like someone painted it for a postcard.

Our hotel is has an indoor heated pool that Maddie has loved and we have an 18-hole mini-golf course right on the hotel property. I’ve learned that “mini-golf” is the same word in any language!

We did have the run-in with the jellyfish. Skip and Maddie were in the ocean and they saw one. Skip didn’t think anything about it—other than to say to stay away from it. Then when she got stung and ran out of the water, he looked around and saw more. Then after he took her to the lifeguard for some first aid, we saw that they were washing up on the shore at a rate of a bout 10 a minute. Apparently, the storm from the night before washed them toward the shore. Needless to say, after that, not many people ventured into the water. Maddie was a trouper, though. Her foot swelled up with what looked like huge hives for about 30 minutes. We kept her distracted with ice cream and games of 20 questions. Then, after that, she was back to building her “sand city.”

We are staying in a little beach town called Calla Rajatda, but we took a car into Palma on Thursday to see the big city. There is this incredible cathedral there. It seems odd that such a grand cathedral should wind up on this little island off the coast of Spain. There is a beautiful old town in Palma with little windy streets that open up into unexpected courtyards and hide little shops and coffee houses. I could have wandered the streets all day. A shopkeeper recommended a local tapas restaurant to us, and we wound all around these old streets to find it, but boy, were we glad we made the effort. It was a little place that looked like something out of a movie. Terra cotta walls and tile work on the floor. An old ceramic fireplace and big strands of garlic hanging down in the open kitchen. The first thing the waitress sat down in front of us was a plate of olives that were the best olives I’ve ever had—and I’m not even that crazy about olives! Then we had dates wrapped in bacon, and they were fresh dates. I’ve never had anything but a dried date. It never occurred to me that they had to start out fresh at some point.

We're headed home and will arrive around 8:30 in Duessledorf. Maddie has a big day at school tomorrow. She has to do a presentation on what she did over her fall break. She's looking forward to telling about the jellyfish!