Back to Madrid

After our week on the Med. coast, we headed back to Madrid for 4 days before Russ had to fly back to the states.  We even returned to stay in our sketchy/homey Hostal Luz Madrid.

Did I mention that the room only had 3 tiny single beds?  We pushed 2 of them together and Micah, Torah & I shared it.  Poor Torah got stuck sleeping in the crack.  :-/

One of our days in Madrid, we took the metro out so that the boys could tour Santiago Bernabéu - the stadium for Real Madrid.  Micah was in heaven!

While we were there, we noticed that Real Madrid had a game that evening - against Galatasaray (one of our favorite Turkish soccer teams)!!  We immediately got in line to buy tickets.  Unfortunately, they were nearly sold out and there were not 2 seats together in the entire stadium.  Micah & Russ both bought tickets (their seats were pretty near each other), but Torah & I had to be content to watch the match on our crappy tv in our pathetic hostal room.  Sigh.  I'm so glad that Micah got to go, though!  Seriously a dream come true.

 Some other highlights of our few days in Madrid:

Spain is all about plazas - these great little open spaces in the middle of neighborhoods where people gather to hang out, chat, eat...  This was Opera plaza, the nearest one to our hostal.  I loved hanging out here & people-watching.  (click on the image to see the panorama better)

This was definitely my highlight of Madrid.  On Sunday, we rode the metro out to go to church at a ward which met right next door to the temple.  It was a Sunday, so the temple was closed & I couldn't go in.  But we were happy to just sit and enjoy the spirit on the grounds.  It is one of the most beautiful temples that I have ever seen.  I can't wait to go inside someday.

We also enjoyed spending time at Retiro Park.  It used to be the private park of the royal family, but in the late 18th century, Charles III decided to open it up for his subjects.  There is a large pond in the middle of the park where people can rent paddle boats or canoes.  And in the cool evenings, the grounds around the park are full of families picnicking, playing, and enjoying the break from the heat of the day.

Once we discovered Spanish pizza, we hardly ate anything else.  The crust is perfectly thin & crisp and the toppings are delicious.  Torah liked to eat hers rolled up like a burrito.

We went everywhere on Madrid's excellent underground metro system.