Highlight Reel: Parents come to Madrid!

My parents landed in Madrid and we set off on a whirlwind of sightseeing. My dad was dead tired from travelling but we dragged him through the city to avoid the wrath of jet lag.

with my mom in Toledo

 In 5 days we went to El Rastro, Parque del Retiro, Plaza Mayor, the oldest restaurant in the world, Toledo, SLU Madrid's campus, the Prado, El Escorial and Casa Patas. We rowed a boat, saw our first flamenco show and tried lots of Spanish tapas. My dad even had two doner kebabs! (one of my favorite lunches in Spain...cheap and delicious and sort of like a gyro).

The first night we dined at Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world and a favorite haunt of Hemingway. I ordered the famous roast suckling pig and let me tell ya, it was a delicious roast suckling pig. The food was great and they even had gluten-free cheesecake for my mom! After dinner I was able to meet up with my friend Katie from high school! She is studying in Rome and came to Madrid with some friends for Spring Break. So many visitors so little time.

Dad trying churros for the first time!

 Another highlight was the Prado. I hadn't been before this week (it's a shame, I know) and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of masterpieces in one building. In high school we studied Spanish art and surprisingly I remembered quite a bit. My teacher Mrs. Murray would have been very proud! I was able to recognize a number of paintings by Goya, Velazquez, Ribera, Murillo and el Greco.

Tuesday afternoon I showed my parents SLU's campus (which isn't really a campus). After a 5 minute tour we headed to the Golden Cock, a hangout for SLU kids and the best tortilla espanola in town! The women who work there are friendly and recognize us because we are in there so often. After lunch they came over and offered my parents chupitos (shots) at the bar to celebrate their visit to Madrid. Talk about a warm welcome!

My parents and I had coffee with my host family on Tuesday evening. I was excited for my two ''families'' to meet and to show my parents where I have been living. But my host mom doesn't speak much English and my parents are more than challenged in the Spanish department. So I spent the majority of the time translating and munching on chocolate covered almonds. I learned a lot about my host mom, we talked about everything from her childhood to her ex-husband and the divorce...slightly awkward subjects that all came up thanks to my mom drilling her with question after question.

At the flamenco show

 For our last night in Madrid we went to a flamenco show at Casa Patas. We headed into a small room in the back and the chairs were crammed in and covered the floor. 5 guys came out with their instruments and sat down and began playing. I loved it! The music was beautiful and it only got better when the dancers came out. The dance was so passionate and emotional and I couldn't look away!

After a fun week in Madrid, we left to spend a weekend in Barcelona. In the interest of keeping this post from becoming a novel there will be more to come on Toledo and our weekend excursion later! For now, check out some pictures of our time in Madrid and Toledo on the right sidebar.

Más temprano en el semestre, había planeado ir a Toledo con un grupo de estudiantes de SLU. Pero estaba enferma y por eso no pude ir. Entonces quería ir pero todos mis amigos ya fueron. Pero mis padres querían ir y nosotros fuimos a Toledo para pasar un día durante su visita a España. La ciudad es hermosa y mi parte favorita fue el Catedral. ¡Es enorme! Y es lleno con obras de El Greco. Es horrible decir, pero me prefiero el Catedral en Toledo al Vaticano en Roma. El Catedral es muy diferente de otras iglesias y hay tanta historia de España. Hay un capillo mozárabe y fue interesante ver las diferencias entre la arquitectura en el capillo. Desafortunadamente, no pudimos entrar en el capillo ni asistir una misa. La riqueza y el tamaño de la catedral fueron impresionantes. También a mí me encanta el paisaje con las montañas.