If you had only a day and a half in Madrid with a nine-year old, what would you do? Maybe stroll over to the Royal Palace? Most likely you'd hike around the vast spaces of Retiro Park. All great ideas. But the thing is, we landed in Madrid at 7:45 a.m. and of course, we have that first day mix of excitement and utter tiredness. Ambitious walks for the day are not going to be a great idea. Instead, we cab over to our hotel -- the Palacio de los Duques, where we have a lovely room waiting for us.
Tempting to plunk down and do nothing more except gaze out the window!
We're a little more ambitious than that. First -- breakfast. Downstairs. Partly outside. It's a high of 76F (24C) in Madrid today.
And then, well, I had thought I'd actually drag the poor girl to the great museum here -- the Prado. It's not that I love it. Too vast, too many El Grecos, too somber. But it has this one painting that I think says a lot about Spain's past. I mean, if you had to take a snapshot of this country's wealth, say in the middle of the 17th century, if you wanted to talk about how art flipped into something entirely new - the depiction of scenes from daily life at the time, you'd do no better than to study Las Meninas by Velazquez. But, as we were waiting in the hotel lobby to talk to the concierge about one thing or another, we see Velazquez's painting right there on the wall. Well, obviously not THE painting, but still, Snowdrop asked about this wall-sized "canvas" and we talked about it in great detail right then and there. Honestly, a trip to the Prado to see the real thing may have been meaningful to you, maybe to me, but as far as Snowdrop is concerned, she'd given the painting its due at the hotel. So I changed course for the day.
We rest up a bit, then head out toward the Botanical Gardens.This isn't just to please me. Snowdrop asked if we were going to stay outside any city on this trip. This surprised me, since our travels (with the exception of the week at Lake Orto and of course California), have mostly focused on urban centers. I think the drive into Madrid put her off a little toward the place. Her first comment about the city was that it seemed dirty, which honestly was probably a reflection of garbage day along one of the streets we drove through. Madrid, at least in its center, is not especially "unkempt." But, since she claimed she had a yearning for some nature, I thought the Gardens might soothe her soul! And on the way, we pause at Madrid's splendid Plaza Mayor -- truly one of Europe's prettiest squares. Some claim it is the largest of all public squares on the continent.
What catches our eye though is the bloom of the trees in one corner! We are so hungry for spring!
From here we walk...
(unique architecture of Madrid: big windows and roof ornamentation)
... to the Gardens.
(almost there: just across this boulevard)
There is a line for tickets, and we have to wait, even though she is free as a child and I am free as a retired prof, but Snowdrop insists that the Gardens are at the top of her list.
Not a long wait at all and oh my is it worth it!
Honestly, I think we struck the gardens at exactly the right moment -- a sunny day in what surely is for them the middle of spring.
What else is blooming? Camelias. Irises, lavender, and yes, even an early rose.
She is enraptured.
(The shaded greens are no less beautiful)
I'm starting to wonder if this will be our favorite moment from the trip!
Afterwards, we begin our walk back to the hotel. It's just about a 40 minute trek and we are starting to drag, so I do us a favor and hail a cab. We do miss out on a walk along the splendid Gran Via, but the cab takes us right along this wide boulevard and I swear at this point, Snowdrop doesn't much care.
What happened to lunch? Well, there was an ice cream cone early on...
... and we picked up a few snack foods from the hotel lobby and made do with that. Not sure that exactly suffices for a growing girl but the suddenly warmer temps and tiredness do suppress the appetite a bit. We'll make up for it at dinner.
This was plenty for that first sleep-deprived day. We have the morning tomorrow for taking a look at the palaces and such. But for now, we feel satiated.
Now, about dinner: we had a reservation. We cancelled the reservation. We just could not wait until the late opening hour to eat. Not because we were starving (well, we were really underfed!), but because we were that sleepy. Me especially. In reading together in the late afternoon, I found myself stumbling over words and lapsing into sleepy pauses. Not much chance of staying awake until the Spanish supper hour.
We eat instead at the hotel. There are three eateries here. I chose the most casual one -- Coroa Royal Gallery and Garden. It's liked among locals, who come to it for the tapas and the drinks. True, Snowdrop's recent adherence to a vegetarian/pescatarian diet may not be a good thing for eating your way through Iberian ham-heavy Spain, but in fact we do find stuff on the small menu that pleases the both of us. And because she is hungry, she devours plantain chips and olives. And fried calamari. And yes, her scallops, but also my squid! And a whole bunch of roasted veggies.
We are off to a good start!
To bed now! We. Need. Sleep!
with love...
