Madrid - Our Last Day

So today is the last day of this trip. We fly home tomorrow. One thing that I keep forgetting to post about is the cows. We don’t know why, but there are cows at many of the stores and we’ve driven all over the country finding the same symbol. It’s actually a bull with horns, but whatever. They are all over the place!

Today was our first day of poor weather and it was the perfect day for rain  we had a five hour drive from Seville to Madrid and we hit the road running at 8am. We didn’t stop for coffee because it’s Sunday and seriously, at 7:45am there was not a SINGLE shop open in our super busy corner of Seville. It’s just so weird to me!

Anyway, two hours later we stopped for gas and got a gas station espresso with milk - no actually coffee, just lattes! Another hour later we stopped at what we thought was a nice restaurant from the images online but turns out the restaurant part only opens later and at 10am they had…you guessed it - baguettes with ham, or croissants! The lattes were good and we enjoyed the rest and stretch before heading back on the wet road.

Next up was Madrid, and we pulled in just before 2pm which was hotel check in time. Finding the hotel entrance was a search like Where’s Waldo, and resulted in driving the wrong way down one or two streets. Thankfully we aren’t even staying in the busy section of Madrid tonight because we wanted to be close to the airport for our very early flight tomorrow. Oh the driving! We will NOT forget that part of this trip.

We settled and unpacked for about 30 minutes and then hit the train for a neighborhood near our nighttime plans so we could grub and do some sight seeing. We took the train!

We found a ramen place and proceeded to order and fumble our way through ordering bowls and rice dishes. Everyone seemed pleased with what they ordered and we had a dry place to relax and eat after the long drive. 

Cute place, and they were really nice to us with our broken Spanish and google translate. Afterward we took a stroll to the a Temple of Debod to show Russ and Karen. Then a walk to the Royal Palace and the Cathedral. Karen and I went inside the crypt which was not at all what I expected. It was essentially another church under the cathedral, but it has bodies in tombs and grave markers. It was ornate and detailed but just not what I expected. I guess I was imagining bones and dirt 🤷‍♀️ 

Next up was an Irish Pub! Why not! We’re on vacation with a red head after all. We had the nicest bartender who tried to put on the NFL network so we could watch the Niner game but then we realized that we are 9 hours ahead of SF and the game want even on yet. The kids had drinks, we had drinks, the bartender brought us chips and snacks. It was a nice stop. 

And last, we went to a Flamenco show! This was a nice treat from Russ and Karen and it was an amazing unique experience. Apparently the place has a Michelin star!!! We were regretting not eating dinner there but we did get dessert and drinks which were all delicious. 

That French toast dessert with banana ice cream was amazing. The show was about an hour long and it was loud and theatrical and skillful. This was a delightful way to end the vacation and it is surely something to do at least once. Well worth it!

It was about 9pm but the time we got out of there and we walked to the train station and took the metro back to our hotel. We said our goodbyes and good nights because our flight leaves way to early tomorrow - in fact, we got an email telling us to be at the airport four hours early…that would be exactly 2:50am. So I write this blog and then I’ll shower, and maybe sleep for three hours? Ugh. It’s gonna be a rough day tomorrow, but then we’ll be home and in our own beds. And that’s always nice right? Being on adventures in fun but it’s always nice to go home and feel those comforts.