Hola!
We have spent the last couple of days in Madrid and have had a great time!
Our first experience in Madrid was to park in the tightest parking garage I have ever been seen. It is a good thing my Dad (who just happened to be my driver’s ed instructor too :)) spent a lot of time on maneuverability with me! Thanks, Dad!
We spent the first afternoon at two fantastic art museums – Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Prado. Both museums were very interesting, and we were even able to schedule around a free viewing day!
We also went to gardens behind the Prado and caught some nice pictures of flowers!
We had a fantastic lunch on an outdoor terrace nearby the Prado at 3 PM. Yes, people eat very late in Spain. Lunch often runs 2-3:30 and dinner from 8-10! Our stomachs haven’t quite adjusted so our 3 PM lunch was big enough and late enough to cover both lunch and dinner! 🙂
Classic Gazpacho – Served Cold on a Warm Day!
Our next day in Madrid, we had lunch in a lovely plaza and visited the Royal Palace which has some of the most ornate rooms I have ever seen. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside so you’ll only get to see the outside photos 😦
Paella – Chicken and Rabbit!
We had a delightful afternoon as we stopped into a very local cafe for water and had a fun chat with the cafe owner in broken spanish (definitely dusting off the cobwebs from high school language classes!). It was neat to see that even with a simple order for waters, customers were offered small slices of bread with different spreads. The cafe owner even brought over slices of cured ham – a Spanish tradition.
Next up, we visited Basilica San Francisco Grande which was incredible. The entire tour was in Spanish so we caught only about 20% of it, but the dome was incredible as was the entire inside of the church. Wow!
It’s normally very hot in Madrid (105+ degrees) in the summer due to Madrid’s location on high inland plateau. This location results in really hot summer and quite cold winters for this part of Europe. We have been quite fortunate with temperatures between 85-95 degrees in Madrid but have felt the true Spain summer heat in Toledo. We have found lots of refreshing items on menus such as gazpacho and have seen lots of ice cream shops. I can certainly see why! We also noticed that the city had even installed sun shades over the major shopping area.
We’ve also noticed how many of the names in California came from Spain – San Francisco, San Bernadino, and Santa Barbara to name just a few.
Interesting as well is the amount of US music you hear in cafes and on the radio. As I’m typing in a cafe, an 80s rewind is on… currently Footloose by Kenny Loggins. Probably not a Spanish tradition! 😉
The rest of the Spain tour continues with Toledo, Seville, Granada, and finally Barcelona! We post more in a few days.
Ryan & Emily - The Globetrotters 
This all sounds great! I was just telling Scott the other day that I wanted to visit the Prado. 🙂
You aren’t kidding about the parking garages! My son in law maneuvered up a winding narrow climb to find a parking space. Your food pics are fabulous! We loved the paella!
I have made a cold gazpacho soup and didn’t know it came from Spain. We just had some at the health food store Laura worked at this summer too. Sounds like you had another great day. I didn’t know Spain was so hot. St. Francis was so simple and humble but his church doesn’t look that way. Thanks for posting. It is interesting to keep up.
I love the pictures of the flowers Emily (am I correct that it was you taking them?)! Keep taking lots of pictures!
Yep, that was Emily taking those pictures! I have taught her about using Aperture, Program Auto, Manual, etc. so she is getting pretty good at this stuff!
we are really enjoying following your blog entries. Like being on vacation vicariously! You did a great job planning.Envious of Ryan’s birthday dinner.
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2013 22:36:25 +0000 To: pjschmitt5@hotmail.com
Thanks, Phil! Great to hear from you! You indirectly helped plan the trip too with all of the great Australia info. We gathered lots of info from several people and then did our own research. So far things are going to plan – let’s hope it stays that way 🙂
You guys should have taken me with you – I would have happily translated 🙂
Our Spanish is not good, but we generally know enough words to order things. Our favorite experience was when we had everything ready to go in Spanish to order, but the guy said he wanted to try out his English. Ok….fine. So, we ordered two chicken sandwiches a salad and a water. Our order as delivered: 3 sandwiches, no water, 1 coca cola, 1 salad. We paid for it all and let him think his English is awesome :).
Net, we should have had you along 🙂