Parental Unit in Town

Time has gone by so fast in Madrid and it was already the time for my parents to come and visit! Over Thanksgiving my parents came and I got to show them everything there is to see in Madrid and Toledo too! 5 Days of so much family fun!

Day 1: They arrived!!! Sitting in my English class I excitedly waited for the class to be over, sorry professor. Mom and dad were able to navigate the metro from their hotel and met me for lunch by school at Cien Montedidos. I wanted to show them places I go to eat and basically what I do every day. A couple 1 Euro sandwiches letter and I showed them the two buildings I have class in. A nice chat on the roof of a view of the city and then I had to head to my next class. Then we met up at the San Miguel market where they have delicious tapas and drinks. It was Thanksgiving but we didn’t end up finding our turkey and mashed potatoes, but instead we had an incredible Italian dinner down the street from the market. 

                      

Day 2: TOLEDO! A quick train ride later and we were in Toledo for the day! Toledo is an extremely small town and we walked the city all within a day. My Mom’s favorite part was seeing all of the tiny shops along the streets. For my dad, it was the incredible architecture everywhere he looked, especially at the Cathedral there. We could have spent hours in the cathedral and we almost did as we listen o the audio tour and took in the beauty of the place. After the cathedral we hit up a local pizzeria and we were off for more sights. We went to a fancy art museum and saw a few of the famous El Greco paintings. More walking and talking and it was finally dark. We grabbed some treats to eat with a view on the St. Martin Bridge and hit the train home.

 

Day 3: Sights of Madrid! We hit up one of my favorite places in Madrid, Retiro Park! Of course we went row boating on the lake and grabbed some lunch as well. Then we went to the Reina Sofia art museum and saw some modern Spanish art. The big event there though was seeing Picasso’s La Guernica, very interesting. Then we were off to soccer stadium for an Atletico Madrid game! Great seats and a great game to watch, almost like going to see the Packers… but a bit different seeing as none of us know anything about soccer. Sports are sports though! I had to take my parents to our favorite tapas place after as well, El Tigre! While they thought it was definitely a college place, they enjoyed the authentic tapas and drinks.

 

Day 4: We started the off at El Rastro for some classic Sunday market shopping. Antiques, scarves, shoes and sunglasses were just a few of the things we were on the hunt for. Shopping made us hungry so we stopped for a bit of lunch in Sol. Unfortunately we had to take a bit of a break since I did have to do some homework while they were here. After getting some work done we went out to dinner with Mike for a delicious dinner at a fancy steak place. It was incredible food and great company as well.

Day 5: After a failed attempt at going into the Royal Palace (there were special diplomats in town), we meandered around the palace for lunch and then stopped at the famous bear and tree statue in Sol. We couldn’t go the weekend without getting chocolate and churros of course too so we went over to San Gines Chocolateria for some delicious treats. While I went to school for the anfternoon they did their own walking tour of Madrid and saw some interesting things along the way. To end the weekend, they joined us for dinner at Maria and Luis’ house! Of course we had Paella and it was a hit with them; they had to eat all of the authentic food and Mari’a paella is the best. It was an amazing weekend and it was pretty darn hard to say goodbye, but I’ll see you soon mom and dad. Like you always say, 3 weeks until a hug J