Today we woke up late again. It has become a habit, probably because we continue to go to bed at midnight. The good thing is that we are enjoying ourselves and having family time at breakfast. We left the house by 1:00pm and took the metro to the Parque Buen Retiro (Park of the Pleasant Retreat, in English) which is the biggest park in Madrid. It covers 1.4 km2 (350 acres) at the edge of the city center. The park belonged to the Spanish monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park. The park is filled with beautiful sculpture and monuments, galleries, a big lake with ducks, turtles, and black swans.
We had a great time. Most of the time, we watched the fish, turtles, ducks, and swans. We ate our lunch on a bench, walked some more and then we took the metro back home. We stopped in a beautiful building. I wanted to see what it was. It turned out to be the Museum of History of Madrid. The kids just wanted to go home so we sent them alone with the keys. Gregory and I stayed at the museum and walked through the exhibit to see how Madrid has changed through the centuries. The museum is very nice! There were even some Velazquez paintings and antiques from the Royal collection. Most importantly, the entrance was free and it had clean bathrooms. Score one for Spanish municipal museums.
After that, we went to the grocery store. It seems that I constantly need to look for food! We got dinner and breakfast for tomorrow.
Before we took this trip, a lot of people were wondering if we were millionaires or how could we afford to do a trip like the one we are doing? Well, if you are organized and buy most of your food at grocery stores, you can save a lot of money by eating at home. Of course, we like to splurge from time to time but I recommend to have two meals at home and definitely buy treats to carry in your backpack so when the kids are hungry you are prepared! And by snacks, that usually means fresh fruits and nuts. Chips and granola bars are expensive when we can even find them.
We had chicken wings and salad for dinner and then we went out for a walk at night around our neighborhood, which is full of bars and cafes. We had coffee at 11:00pm and then we walked home where Daniel was waiting for us! Sunshine got nostalgic and said that she would prefer to be with her friends than with her parents having coffee in Madrid! I think she will appreciate this trip much later, sigh...
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