Madrid So Far

July 3-12, 2021

By Hector Gonzalez

July 12^th, 2021

Because Cairo is just too hot we are in Madrid now, which we understand is not much cooler but we like it. My camera was in desperate need of a deep cleaning so I haven't taken as many pics as I would have liked, but luckily I found someone who could clean it so now I can take pictures. Here are some highlights of the trip so far.

Firstly, this city is pretty AF. And it has a nice subway.

At the Royal Palace they do a Changing of the Guard ceremony on a regular basis, but once a month they do a fuller ceremony called the Solemn Changing of the Guard. Conveniently, we were here that day so we went to see it. It took about an hour and involved a lot of pageantry, which was cool to watch but also made me wonder if maybe the world's militaries have too much money to play around with. I mean, schoolteachers don't get to have solemn processions when their shifts are over.

There's a giant flea market on Sundays which we've managed to hit up twice already, because one of the booths sells individual Lego minifigures. I didn't take picture of it, but there's a heavy metal shop that Julian is drawn to which is called Marihuana. Kinda hilarious to see him go in there.

The boys also discovered that Spaniards actually eat churros and hot chocolate for breakfast. Needless to say, they want us to live here forever. At least forever every morning.

Not that I'm necessarily opposed. This city is really pretty. Though the hills are a steep climb. But the water fountains are everywhere and the water tastes good.

Speaking of fountains, there's a park full of fountains that you're allowed to into. They called it Madrid Beach. I only took a few photos before it got full of other people's kids and I felt weird. But it got really full on that hot day. At least as full as covid restrictions would allow.

And yeah, we found the paella. The before and after pictures show we did our best but were defeated by the giant platter.

Have I mentioned that there are parks pretty much everywhere? We found an Egyptian temple--clearly Egypt didn't give them their best stuff but it's still pretty cool.

And the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park was lovely even though the art on display inside didn't hold our attention.

And yes, we have gone to look at the art. Two museums so far, though the Prado doesn't allow photography inside so we have no proof.

Three museums, actually, if you count the lower-brow Museum of Illusions.

We also went to the Parque de Atracciones, a good-size theme park right inside the city. Note the very high swing set--Julian is somewhere up there, flying by himself since his parents were both too scared to join him. (And yes, the Spongebob house is officially licensed.)

And when we're done with those adventures we just walk around and look at what is, indeed, a lovely city filled with lots of history, including Cervantes' house which we walked past while looking for more chocolate.