Color and Chaos : Madrid

Monday, January 18, 2016

Madrid, Spain: Palacio Royale and Buen Retiro Park

The Royal Palace of Madrid is where the Royal Family is supposed to live, and at one time did reside. However now you are able to tour the inside and it is only used officially for ceremonies. Construction started in 1738 and the first King to live in the palace was in 1764. It was restored in 1973.

Out of all the places we visited in Madrid, Palacio Royale is by far the most beautiful. There are fountains and gardens that surround the palace as well as a sweet playground ( kid points!)

Remember when we talked about how the sun doesn't come up until like 9:30??? Well, this is us at Palacio Royal at about 9:00 in the morning! It was SO dark and honestly I stink at how to make my camera adjust the light without that ugly flash.

Buen Retiro Park

El Retiro Park is the largest park in Madrid. Now, when I hear park I picture tons of slides and kids playgrounds. This park did have some of those but it's main focal point is the man made lake in the center. It's gorgeous and on a sunny day (it was 30 degrees when we were there) you can find boats that you can rent to ride around in the water to overlook the Monument to Alfonso XII. It was wonderful, much like The Royal Palace this monument was built hundreds of years ago and it is nothing short of 'grand.' I just LOVE the sights in Spain because they are all on such a different level than those in Asia. In Asia many are focused on temples and yes, I love them but really it's nice to see the architecture and marble statues. Definitely a good change of pace.

We tried to self timer this one, but it was sitting on the stroller Ian was passed out in. We tried.

The opposite side of the monument there is a street where tons of people are running and biking and getting their much needed PT in. We however indulged on one of the big 'things' of Madrid which are churros dipped in chocolate. Basically it's all about the chocolate. I let Stella just drink the chocolate straight from the cup. Blame it on the cold ;)

Just walking around in Madrid their are monuments/statues and beautiful architecture everywhere. The biggest downfall I would say is all of the cigarettes!!!!! I swear like everyone was smoking. They would smoke right next to you, in the restaurants, everywhere....

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

Madrid, Spain : Christmas festivities

Madrid the city is rather large, however most of the sites we wanted to see are located right in the center of the city. This street is called Grand Via street. It has the feel of NYC (I've never been but Alvie has). There are people everywhere. People are dressed up as mickey, Santa, ninja turtles, zombies you name it. But, it's not like Disneyland if you want a picture you're going to have to pay for it or they get pretty rude.

There are also people trying to sell bootleg stuff all over the city, but it's illegal so they have all their stuff laid out on a white blanket that has a "leash" so they just swoop it up and walk looking like they've got a Santa pack on their back at a moments notice. It was pretty funny to watch as it happened.

We stayed at Hotel Opera which was right on Gran Via. It was small but quaint and kept us right in the middle of the action. In the early mornings I could hear all the party people leaving the bars. The one thing we did have to learn is that just about every time you ask someone directions they point and say it's " cinco minutos." BUUUUUUT it's not. At. All. This is us walking 30 minutes down Grand Via street with all our suitcases, strollers and 3 kiddos. It was kinda hilarious and treacherous at the same time, mostly for Alvie.

Our first day down in the city of Madrid we realized the big differences of Europe to America. They do not get up early, or really eat breakfast. This picture of us at breakfast (freezing mind you because it was about 10 Celsius) was about 8 am the sun was still not up, and didn't come up until about 9:30 am. This was the ONLY place on the entire street we could find that was open. Also, we thought we ordered breakfast but it was the dessert menu. The Spanish do not eat big breakfasts like we are used to, they rely on some coffee and a pastry.

Spain, much like many of the places we visited in mainland Japan and Taiwan had great public transportation. The cabs there are really strict, not letting more than the designated amount of seats of people get in the car. SO, even though Henry was on my lap he counts as a person. I hid him under my jacket a few times and realllly made some Spanish men angry. HA ( We missed Bali for that little fact.) We got pretty good at riding the subways here, but remember that there are not many elevators so Alvie carried our stroller up and down stairs a lot.

The pictures below are of the church that resides right next to the Royal Palace. It was SO beautiful, and we loved the Nativity Scene.

The Spanish have a huge Catholic community and therefore being there for Christmas was beautiful and frustrating at the same time. Literally just about everything was closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. ( Praise you McDonalds!) We were able to step into a Catholic Christmas service and I was just blown away by how beautiful the structures and stained glass was. I didn't get any pictures because well.... people were singing and I already was sticking out just a tad. It was good to feel "home" singing silent night, even in Spanish it still makes you feel the spirit and remind the kids of what Christmas is truly about. Stella has gotten so sweet about it. She says, " Christmas is about being with those you love, not about presents."

^^^ This was the entryway to the Church right in the middle of Gran Via street. This is where we went for the service.

The streets had lights up and down them with a huge Christmas Tree for celebrating. On Christmas Day we mostly hung out in the room in our Christmas jammies and let Stella take pictures of us on her new camera!