Madrid

One of the awesome things about the Foreign Service is having friends all over the world! Some of our good buddies from Guyana are now posted in Madrid so we paid them a visit last week (Rose and Simon had "ski break" for school so we took advantage of their time off). After a 2.5 hour flight on Wednesday night, we got in and Kevin picked us up from the airport. We took Latam Airlines and were pleased with how it turned out. We all had screens built into the seat in front of us, so the kids got to watch movies and play games. They even gave us sandwiches and fun-size Mars bars. Oh, and the kids were already pretty stoked because one of the bathrooms at the Frankfurt airport had a basket of hard candies. It's the small things. :) I have to say, the airports that we've visited in Europe have rocked. They have family-friendly sections at the security checkpoint and all the employees have been very helpful and nice. Anyway, back to Madrid...

Thursday the two Mizell boys went to school so we meandered in the city a bit with Amber and Juliett.

 In El Retiro, a very nice park with manicured landscaping.

At a café near the lake in El Retiro (the lake had little paddle boats you could rent, but I didn't get a picture). 

 Churros! We dipped them in cups of hot chocolate, which was more like a hot chocolate pudding because it was so thick and tasty. 

 Traditional Spanish tortilla (pronounced tor-tee-zha)

 City Hall. Sweet sentiment proudly displayed. 

 Isn't their neighborhood so beautiful and reminiscent of California?

Friday we went to town again, this time with the boys in tow. Following are some pics from Friday's excursion.

 

Madrid seemed to have a whole bunch of street performers and costumed individuals looking for a little tip.

 It was very common to see pig legs hanging like this in the windows. I think this place was called "Museo del Jamón." They are serious about their ham!

 At the Palacio Real de Madrid.

 Isaac with an invisible man.

 Catedral de la Almudena

 A shot of the palace

We knew some friends of ours from Frankfurt were going to be in Madrid at the same time, but we didn't know we would randomly run into them on the street! Is it a small world or what? These are the Vaughan and Missbach kids.

 The interior of the cathedral was beautiful. 

 I want ceilings like this in my home!

We ate at a café in Plaza Mayor, "Madrid's vibrant town square," as Google Maps puts it. :) It was indeed vibrant. Here are some of the olive tapas we had.

 Rose got the calamares. She can be a little picky about some stuff, but hey--she eats squid!

 Beautiful. Sweet to see the kids frolicking around too.

 ¡Hola, Princessa!

There were a couple of these things in the square. The kids called them "sparkly goat things." When you passed by they would open and close their mouths in a creepy, clacking way. What are they? Do they have some kind of significance in Spanish culture? Do they actually make money? The world may never know.

 After lunch at Plaza Mayor we stopped by El Mercado de San Miguel. It was an indoor market filled with vendors selling beautiful and tasty things. Had to get some dessert, of course.

 Is it any surprise that Rose and Simon chose normal slices of chocolate cake and Jasmine chose the most ornate thing in the case? The lady looked kind of surprised when I told her it was not "to go," but rather to be eaten on the premises. I split it with Jasmine, of course.  

 Amber was surprised that one thing I wanted to do in Madrid was visit a grocery store. What can I say? I'm my mother's daughter. :) Even Carrefour, the Walmart-type store of Europe, had hanging legs!

 Poor little bunnies. :(

 Mmmm...fat.

 "Share a Coke with (-insert Spanish name here-)!" By the way, here in Frankfurt, Nutella has hopped onto this marketing bandwagon, so you can select a Nutella label with your name on it. 

 Individual servings of olive oil! So cute.

There were a bunch of different types of crust-less bread. How genius! Does this exist in the U.S.? I don't think I've seen it in Germany. It would be so useful for my little crust-free girl Jasmine.

On Saturday Kevin was off so we drove out to La Pedriza for a beautiful hike.

 Castle seen along the way.

 My little hiking buddy.

Saturday night the Mizells watched the kids while Sevak and I took Zinnia to a Flamenco show. Our table was right at the foot of the stage...amazing. Zinnia was a little squirrelly, but the staff really doted on her. They would not be so understanding here in Germany. The performers were very good; there was a strong emotional aspect to the dance that you could see very clearly on their faces. What a neat experience!

Sunday morning we hit a couple of hours of church before we flew home. This is an image I remember of Amber from Guyana and she's still acting as a phenomenal Primary President in Madrid! I love this amazing woman. The kids weren't so thrilled to be going to church in Spanish, but I felt right at home. After all, I attended a Spanish branch for part of my teenage years while my dad was Branch president! :) The primary here was actually 1/2 English and 1/2 Spanish. Most of the ward members are from Latin America...not many true Spaniards in the congregation.

It was a wonderful trip. We would definitely bid on Madrid for a future post!