Madrid

We have been to Madrid about every Sunday and a couple of Saturdays since we have been here, but we haven´t really seen Madrid besides the tall buildings that we drive by on our way to church. When my mom and aunt came we did see a little bit more.

King Philip II  moved the Spanish court to Madrid in 1561.  It is now home to approximately 3 million people. 

 At the Puerta del Sol the kids filled up with ice cream.  I guess Kamree wasn´t tall enough!

Then they had a Bull Face contest.



We later walked to the Puerta de Alcalà which is across from Retiro Park.  We have been to the park once before and this picture was from that previous time.

 

Retiro Park is a huge 350 acre park that used to belong to the Spanish Monarchy and used as hunting grounds and gardens until the late 19th century, when it became a public park.  It is now filled with  ponds, playgrounds, gardens, statues, galleries, a crystal palace etc.




Mason has been talking about riding a boat at this park long before we even moved here.  It was too crowded the first time we came so we promised him we would do it the next time.  Fortunately for my mom and aunt they got to do it with us. 



We were sure something was wrong with our boat because the left oar didn´t work near as well as the right making us only go in circles. 



You are looking at a money teepee surrounded by bones and a wall of white candles and yes they were all real.  Interesting, right?  Well it stunk, if you were wondering.  This was inside the park at an art exhibit. 







 

This super small lake and boat dock were in the same art exhibit.  We were trying to decide if it was worth jumping in without our swimsuits. 



We then headed to the Crystal Palace still inside the Park.



 This is from the first time we came and we met up with this American family that lives just across the street from the park. 



 After feeding the BIG birds at the Crystal Palace.....



....they moved on to the little ones.    They were so cute!

The birds were so friendly they would fly or walk right up to the kids and eat out of their hands. 

After we were done at the park we walked a block or two to the famous ¨Prado¨  art museum.   After listening to all our kids whine about how boring it was and trying to avoid all the naked art we went and got the car while my mom and aunt took some time to race through it.