Rainy Spain

Our 2nd grade apparently just tackled "Guernica" by Picasso. They wrote a story about everyone in the class (each kid mentioned in the story by name) about the painting talking to them and then they all interacted with it by making their own colorful art. This school year is going to be art-themed. Will they be working art into all the different classes? Or just do projects on it? I don't know. Each grade selected a museum to focus on. Sounds like the second grade picked the museum of Reina Sofia in Madrid. I briefly visited it years ago, and all I remember from that visit is Goya. I wonder if they are going to cover Goya too 🙈 I'm going to guess yes.

Asturias, the Natural Paradise, has plentiful hiking options. Serious hiking. But we do light toddler pace hiking, and for that, I don't want to travel an hour (Infiesto, you will have to wait) so we are exploring whatever is available nearby! Our first hike was, of course, Monte Naranco! Oviedo sits at the foothill of Monte Naranco, a small mountain of just over 600m of altitude, which can be seen from almost every street in the city. However far we venture out, Monte Naranco is always "right there!" La Pista Finlandesa (The Finnish Point) trail is one of the closest to the city center. Located in the Ciudad Naranco neighborhood, the trailhead about a 15 min walk from the train station, all uphill of course! But you could also take a bus. The trail is paved, but there's plenty of room to roam off-road for both children and dogs with drops, climbs, crab apple trees, lots and lots of all kinds of trees and vegetation actually, which I am endlessly fascinated with havin...