Tuesday, October 8, 2024

First, before getting into second blog post, let me say I am so saddened by the damage Hurricane Helene caused. My former student lives in Asheville and lost everything. She is having to move back here to live near family for a while. School was cancelled for us on the Friday before we left because they were worried about the weather impacts here, too. I was happy to have that day off to get ready but definitely not at the expense of the hurricane damage. So incredibly sad.

If you haven’t read yesterday’s post and you want to, start there before you read this one.

Also, I am behind in responding to comments as re-entry is rough. I do so appreciate you taking the time to leave me one! I am also behind in reading my beloved blog roll. I am working to get caught up on all my favorite bloggers’ lives.

On to Spain Part Dos…

Ok, we left off with the morning of day two (Monday) in Madrid and we had just had our bakery carry out breakfast from Manolo Bakes which was recommended by our Airbnb host.

Then, we ordered an Uber and headed to the Royal Palace. Uber probably woudn’t make sense for one person, but with a family of four, it’s a financially smart way to go. We could take an Uber to most places for 12 Euros.

I had originally signed us up for a tour guide in Spanish but we were late – oops. We just had no idea how bad traffic in Madrid would be! We were just getting our bearings in the city. They let us in slightly late and we switched to the self-paced audio guide that you wear around your neck with headphones. You could choose a bunch of different languages and it turned out to be nice to have all that information and get to do it at our own pace.

The grand staircase leading up into the palace:

The dining room:

The thrones:

I’ve been following the royal family since 1989!

Juan Carlos, the father, was the king and was actually trained/mentored by the dictator Francisco Franco and now his son Felipe is the king. Felipe is tall! Our Airbnb host Sergio was tall! My friend Carlos from Spain is tall! There are some tall Spaniards in case you were wondering.

I took so many photos in the palace, but I picked just a few to share.

One regret I have is not getting to Valencia where I lived in college or Tarragona where I lived in high school. I have friends in both places and it would have been great to get to do that. We just had such limited time and this was about my kids and wanting to do Madrid and Barcelona and not be as all over the place as we were in the UK, but next time I will definitely make that my number one priority. I feel badly that we didn’t get to those places, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how to do all that in such a short time.

And, then we left this gorgeous view from the palace grounds…

And, after the palace, we hoofed it to the Mercado de San Miguel where I was meeting Madeleine! Madeleine is my former student who is teaching in Madrid for the year. She is so happy and already talking about signing up for another year. I am so proud of this chica! I have known her since she was a junior in high school.

We walked around the market together and decided it was too crowded to try to eat there. You can buy both raw and cooked foods in the market and their cooked foods looked amazing, but there was no place to sit and it was overwhelming!

I asked Madeleine if she had time to sit and eat and she did. She led us to the cutest little patio of a restaurant that was next to a small plaza and church. She hadn’t been there before but thought it looked good and I did, too.

Here was the patio next to the little plaza and church:

So, when we first sat down we noticed elementary school aged boys playing soccer in the plaza. I thought it was quaint and very Spain but also wondered why they weren’t in school or if maybe a school was attached to the church. Then, we see all these camera people and other adults hanging out. I asked our waiter what was going on and he said he thought it was a promotional ad being filmed.

I then saw this guy and asked if he was a professional athlete. The waiter said something about it being called “The Bach”. Now look back at the above photos and see all the adults milling about that look American!

And, I sat there and Googled and sure enough! It was Grant Ellis, the next bachelor, and his season will air in January!

His date:

How crazy is that? We weren’t in a touristy area and it was really tucked away. Madeleine texted me about an hour after we said bye and said she saw them filming in another location, too! What if I am in the scene when it airs? What if I am popping a croquette in my mouth? OMG!

Speaking of croquettes, we ordered patatas bravas to share,

croquettes to share,

and I feel like we ordered one more thing but I don’t remember what it was.

Also, the waiter asked if I had been there before because he recognized me. When I said no, he realized he had seen my TikToks. He quoted the Silent H one and he thought it was amazing that he saw me. That was crazy! And, another person recognized me from TikTok at the end of the trip. I was not expecting that!

After we left the restaurant, it was time for Mason’s Museo del Prado pick! Mason loves art museums and took AP Art History in high school.

You weren’t allowed to take photos of the art, but I snapped the interior. It’s a beautiful museum and it’s huge. We were there from 2:00 to 6:00, I think.

I was hoping to change clothes into a dress for the flamenco in the cave performance at 7:00, but this is where you have to be flexible with travel. It made more sense to go directly from the museum to the flamenco. Oh well. It was fine.

We all loved the hour long performance of one guitar player, one singer, and two dancers – one male and one female.

We walked home and it is so lively at night in Madrid! We walked down some great tapas streets near the flamenco area and felt very safe. So many people were out and about.

Next up, we will talk about Tuesday which was our last full day in Madrid. I kinda had a failure this day, but it turned out to be a great day anyway with some highlights.

Hasta luego,

Amy