The End of a Really Great Trip

Our last day of the trip was a Sunday. We went to church at Claudia's old ward again, then went on an afternoon excursion to see the Madrid Temple Grounds.

Eowyn sat next to me on the bus. At one point she turned around and said "I love you." I about died- she is too cute to handle!

Snoozing on the way to the temple

Really old olive tree by the temple

That's the Madrid MTC to the left and a Stake Center to right.

The missionaries were out singing. We talked to a couple sisters after their performance.

This trip was really everything we hoped it would be. We got to see amazing new places and soak up a lot of history. We used our time efficiently! It was also really great getting to know Claudia's family and having great tour guides in Spain! That being said, we were ready to go home. We were really missing Elliot, and we could tell he was missing us too whenever we called to chat with him. It was also pretty physically taxing walking all over the place every day- especially when it passed 100 degrees (not that it wasn't just as hot or hotter when we got home. Arizona and Spain have pretty similar climates.)

We flew to DC to pick up Elliot from my parent's house. I am so grateful to have parents who will happily take on their grandkids for a week and a half. This trip would not have been possible without that!

My parent's back deck. What a view.

Elliot was very happy to see us, but not on board with going home. When we got back to our house in Arizona, he started throwing a fit and asking to go back to Mimi's house- apparently he thought the day spent on an airplane was just a fun ride, not a means of travel. He set off into the darkness to walk back to Mimi's house.

Madrid

The next day we set out to explore Madrid. We had been around on the metro a decent amount, but this was our only time venturing downtown to the big and old parts of town. Claudia and the girls stayed home while Stephen showed us around.

The Palacio Real de Madrid, or Royal Palace of Madrid.

It was pretty, but considerably less ancient than most of the sites we had been seeing the week before.

We got to see a changing of the guard, which was cool but terribly impractical. Those guys can't pay attention to anything else while focusing on all that coordinated marching and stomping. If you are going to break into the palace, do it while they are changing the guard!

Plaza Mayor

Nearby was the oldest continually operating restaurant in the world! We weren't able to get a reservation, but it was still neat to see.

Cranking out the suckling pig and other fancy dishes since 1725!

Next, we took the metro to Sol, which is Madrid's equivalent of NYC's Times Square. We checked a big media store to see if they carried the latest season of a Spanish TV show that Stephen and Claudia like, then found a great Paella place for lunch.

This bear eating from this tree is for some reason a symbol of Madrid.

Our tour continued to include these neat skyscrapers. T

They built a few pretty recently, and they are kind of strange in that there isn't a whole lot around it. It's like they built the skyscrapers first, hoping that stuff will fill in around them.

We stopped by a free art gallery for a bathroom break (seriously, it's a great strategy) and found this great statue of Elliot!
He went through a very unfortunate phase where he compulsively knocked over babies that ended shortly after our trip.

We next headed over to Retiro Park, which is similar to NYC Central Park. The place was huge, beautiful, and blisteringly hot.

Can you spot the hidden bloods?

My nieces are adorable

The Crystal Palace! This used to be an elaborate greenhouse filled with exotic flora

Now you get all the exotic heat with none of the greenery! It was a neat place to be in- briefly. 

We saw many many fountains and sculptures in Europe, but the Fallen Angel in Retiro Park was my favorite.

So expressive!

Not the best picture of us, but you can see the demons on the bottom in this shot.

Segovia

After a lovely night's sleep back at Zonia's apartment, we set out on a day trip to Segovia. The historic city is known mainly for two things- Roman aqueducts and a really cool castle. 

I love how Claudia always has her girls in matching outfits

It was fascinating being able to walk right up to the aqueducts. We didn't get that experience in Rome!

 Unfortunately, this day was overshadowed by the fact that Stephen left his wallet on the bus. He got to spend the whole day wrestling with the bus people on the phone and at the station while they tried to hunt down the bus we had ridden. He did eventually get the wallet back- just with no cash in it. It was a nice charter bus, not really a pickpockety place.

Even an architectural newbie like me could appreciate the blend between European and Middle Eastern styles

Tony bought a Selfie stick

The Segovia Cathedral

It had a very different style than the cathedrals we saw in Italy

Lots of pokies (don't tell me that's not the official term) and water spout gargoyles

I liked this new looking building sharing a wall with the old church

Looking good, Spanish Countryside!

We made our way over to the big castle, or Alcázar de Segovia. This is actually the castle that the Disney castle is largely inspired by- but only when viewed from the back from the valley below.

Stock Image of Backside

The castle from the front. It is surrounded by cliffs on the other 3 sides.

This castle has a ton of history starting in the 1100's. At various points it served as a fortress, royal palace, prison, and the Royal Artillery College before being turned into the museum that it is today. This was Aaron's first castle experience (I saw one in Germany back in high school). We both loved it! 

I love the pointy blue spires on the tops of all the towers

The (now empty) moat

I guess people really were shorter back in the day

Those thrones look mighty uncomfortable

It was difficult to get a picture, but they had a room with a statue of each Spanish Monarch from the 700s to the 1500's. They ringed the room just below the ceiling. Each statue had a little blurb under it with their basic info. 

What a view!

What a great garden maze!

Part of the castle was turned into a museum about the years when the operators of all of Spain's artillery trained in the castle. This place was bustling from1762-1862!

Artillery- the mathiest way to kill people 

We took a picture with a REAL GLADIATOR on the way back!

This community garden is a wee bit prettier than what we have back home

That's the cathedral in the background. It is crazy to think that people live in all those apartments!