After my son convinced my mother to buy a third futbol jersey, I told them we needed to leave to get on the train over two hours early. Little did we realize that it took over an hour to board a Spanish train, so thank goodness we made it on time for the train to Madrid from Barcelona.
During the train ride, I was determined to find the elusive futbol tickets for a Real Madrid game that night but it was for the EU Champions League. I never dreamed I could get tickets to this type of event, but last minute there were two lower level seats to the game! And they were scheduled to play AC Milan, which has the American team Captain Christian Pulisic. I scooped up the tickets and quickly realized the game started at 9pm. I knew my son's excitement would keep me awake. And a year later, he would finally get to see Mbappe play soccer.
We rolled into Madrid and literally to the main city square where our apartment was waiting. The apartment was spacious, modern but also five and a half flights up stairs with no elevator. We had to start getting ready for the game and learning the metro while the others go to stroll and eat a multicourse dinner. We got to the soccer stadium an hour before they let any one in the gates, with zero belongings because of tight security. (Peep the architectural marvels of Kio Towers) However, we were more than entertained as we watched full riot police allow ten AC Milan spectators in at a time while they sang, chanted and dressed in all Italian black to enter the game gates. I have never seen such a sight. We then watched a huge futbol upset, with a win by AC Milan over Real Madrid.
After an exhausting night, we had our first slate of things to see in Madrid. We visited the Mercado de San Miguel food market, where churros were a big hit. I had to rally to get up to go to the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace. However, without an announcement, the Changing of the Guard was cancelled as the historic floods in Vallencia meant they cancelled all royal events for the entire month. I quickly talked the guard into letting us use our reserved palace tour tickets two hours early and got to tour the palace. My daughter very much enjoyed seeing a real life palace and was disappointed not to have met the two royal daughters. After this, we ventured over to the museum. We then walked around Plaza Mayor, the city's oldest main square, and ate lunch sitting on the square. I then took my mother to see in the world's oldest restaurant of Sobrino de Botin, from 1725. I also took her by where Hotel Florida would have been had it survived the Spanish Civil War. At this point, the children crashed, so I drug only Jordan out from the main city to a suburb. I wanted to see Templo de Debod which is a 2000 BC Ancient Egyptian temple that was moved from Aswan as a gift to the Spanish for help with the Suez canal. We ate a wonderful dinner and stopped by a few Irish pubs. We also found a wine bar, which we would visit each night of the trip.
On Friday, much to no one's surprise, Jordan opted out of seeing one of the world's top five art museums - in favor of the playgound with the little one who learned they have playgrounds in Spain too. So with a room by room itinerary in hand, I toured my son and mother around the Prado. It was wonderful. I was excited to see Goya and his dark paints lived up to the hype. I was not sure I was old enough to experience some of these paintings and I see why some believe they are supernatural. My mother stood at the Bosch painting for over ten minutes. Las Meninas was also a favorite. I appreciate Spanish artists a bit more now. After the first art museum, my son wanted to be rescued so Jordan met us and took the children to their favorite meal of the entire trip where they got chicken nuggets... My mother was brave enough to continue to the Reina Sofia with me, but only after a nice lunch. We saw every item in the museum, but we did really appreciate the art around the Spanish Civil War including Guernica by Picasso. We taxied back, including an underground road underneath the Plaza Mayor, and enjoyed the night.
On Saturday, I was determined to see what I wanted to see more than art - a map. But this is not any regular old map, it is the FIRST map in the world depicting North America. It was created by Juan de La Cosa, who was on a few voyages to the Americas, including the first with Columbus. This map is located at the underappreciated Naval Museum. Jordan appreciated the museum, as he reminded us Spain was a naval power for centuries. We then went to the city's version of central park, Reitro Park. The Park is massive and we only got to see parts, as it was a busy time for families. We then showed my mother while you should always choose an authentic Irish Pub for a meal abroad. We wondered around the city for the afternoon. On our last day, we went to a Spanish-American hybrid brunch. Later than day, we took our son to a sports bar that showed the Real Madrid game. He now understands why sports bars exist and really enjoyed cheering with a group of local fans during the game. Luckily Read Madrid won that game, so it was fun.
On Monday, we ventured over an hour to the airport, sat in the fancy lounge, got on the airport playground for a bit and boarded our flight with amazing seats again. We survived our first international family trip and look forward to many more!
PS) All my daughter remembers about Spain is playgrounds, the palace, "puppers" and (h)airplanes. I would not recommend thinking a four year old will retain any culture experiences.
