Unusual or different

... I began to think. This is Marlborough Sauvignan Blanc from New Zealand (Neuseeland on the label), It was amazingly cheap for the quality (4,99€) - I used to pay 3 times as much in the UK 10 years ago, and I realised that this was Sauvignan Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand, shipped in bulk to Germany for bottling and then exported throughout Europe. I bought it and drank it in Madrid and I thought about carbon footprints and so on. It really does seem a tortuous journey for a grape! OK, the supermarket is Aldi, which perhaps explains it!

HFF for Marie-claire.

I know I posted this before but possibly on Pano. Despite the fact that I have no idea how it happened, I rather like it, hence a second airing!

I still find a page-per-day old-fashioned diary indispensable! I never even got into Filofax, much too complicated!

Goya Metro Station with two out of many reproductions of Goya's often gruesome depictions of torture, torment and death.

An old friend!

One of Madrid's major music academies is here, located across the road from me. Situated at a prominent junction, and above a bank, the building is narrow, tapering to this rounded end. They light it up well for Christmas.

I'm fond of this rock, as you will have gathered by now. It even has its own album!

A bit of a shock if your carriage pulls up alongside this oversized print of Hans Holbein The Younger's Henry VIII on the Madrid metro. Totally unexpected! It's advertising the nearby Museo Reína Sofia, where it resides. Henry VIII of England and Friedrich II Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor. These two were surely twins, seperated by 300 years! Battles with the Papacy, dynastic considerations, etc. I read their life stories and there is no difference at all!

A tiny fishing village near Land's End, Cornwall. A tunnel between the two fishing coves.

No description necessary. Except to say people are assuming it's whisky (or whiskey); it isn't. Can anyone guess what it is? Answered correctly by Steve. It's rosé (of course!).

La Finca Business Park, Somosaguas, Madrid. I used to teach business English here for a couple of years (in Santander, Orange and FNAC). The ornamental olive tree plantings seen here are repicated everywhere in Spain.

The first raised water tower in Madrid. In use 1911 - 1952, Now an art gallery and exposition centre. Original construction (and still owned) by the water company Canal de Isabel II. Architects Luis Moya Idígoras and Ramón de Aguinaga. I also think the foreground wall is attractive in a "Mondrian / Klee / Braque / Machu Picchu" kind of way.

Cancho Gordo, Sierra de La Cabrera on a foggy day (foggy for the plains and valleys of most of Spain that day that is!) This has to go down as the most enjoyable day I spent in these mountains and there have been many! I started out in thick fog, not knowing if I would clear it!

Plaza de Lima and the Estadio de Santiago Bernabéu (undergoing reconstruction - desecration in my view - but who am I to decry 'progress'?).

In the Jardin de Nuevos Ministerios. I don't know why it's there

I was a little bit puzzled ... until I noticed an official looking notice (no notes or info about this cute looking little thing though) high on a wall. Then I understood. These artefacts are all placed in front of the Ministry of SIlly Walks! (I'm kidding; its the Ministry of Transport and Public Works!)

In the public gardens of Nuevos Ministerios. Near the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. There must be a clue in that! After several comments ... Now I see it! It must have been used to break up old road surfaces prior to the laying of new roads. So anywhere between about 1920 and perhaps 1960. Hard to tell!