Madrid

We just spent the most wonderful weekend in Madrid!  Both Cameron and I agree it was our best trip we've done with the three of us.  I think we've finally figured out a few tricks to make trips with Andy as positive as possible.  And he was exceptionally good all weekend.  (Despite is 5 AM wake up call on saturday.)  One of the reasons we chose Madrid because we wanted to go somewhere "warm."  (Though I still thought it was freezing cold.)  And Cameron wanted to go to Spain, but I'd already been to Barcelona.  So it was a bit of a random choice, but we feel like it as the perfect place for us to visit!  It was nice to visit somewhere where we didn't have a giant list of things we had to see, so we really spent our time just wandering and enjoying the beautiful city.  

In Puerto del Sol, right by our hotel.  

Plaza Oriente

Andy took the most incredible on-the-go naps every day!  We had the best lunch at this restaurant on friday.  We loved it so much, we went back saturday. 

There's this really great little park near the palace we played at both friday and saturday.  

The side of the Palace. It's HUGE.  

The Cathedral de la Almudena, which faces the palace.   

Plaza Espana 

We spent friday evening wandering the Retiro  Park.  Andy loves to run  out of control fast, so I think this is right before one of his many falls of the trip. 

Plaza Mayor Saturday morning.  

Tapas from the Mercado de San Miguel, a really cool indoor market.

Some crazy things like sea urchins and an octopus inside the indoor market!

The front of the Palace, Palacio Real.  I'm going to say it--the most beautiful palace I've ever been inside.  Hands down. I know what you're thinking: yes, even more beautiful that Versailles.  Cam and I were stunned.  We almost didn't go inside, so we were so pleasantly surprised.  

The only picture I got inside before I was told "no pictures!" 

I had to sneak a picture inside the Royal Armory because it was just SO COOL.    Yes, I got yelled at again for snapping a picture; I think I've mastered the "Sorry, I didn't know" innocent look.

A major highlight was wandering around the Palace Gardens , the Sabatini Gardens.  It was basically empty, so we had it mostly to ourselves.  Andy loved running around once he woke up from his nap. 

Waking up from his nap. :) 

This deserves an explanation.  One of the things I printed out before we came was a two-day Madrid Guide from Lonely Planet.  Cameron accurately assessed, "I think this is a guide for single middle-aged drunks in Madrid."  Hot Chocolate and Churros are a big thing to get in Madrid, and this guide told us this place was THE place to get it.  So we take the metro just to get there to a random part of town, ask tons of people where this street is.  No one had ever heard of it, which should have been our first clue.  Anyway, it was horrible!  An empty, dirty bar!  My hot chocolate had paper floating around in it.  And the churros were so gross.  But maybe we just don't like real spanish churros?  We tried them somewhere else and they were about the same.  Just cold fried bread with no sugar or cinnamon or anything.  

In front of Muniz, the "amazing" hot chocolate and churro place described above.   

We went back to the indoor market to get Paella for dinner.  Cam's first time having it! 

It happened to be Carnival when we were there, so we caught an incredible parade on saturday night.