Skip to main content

Paintings, purchases and palaces, oh my!

Image
By

​Thursday August 20, 2026 - Madrid

Today JP, Juliet and I woke up at 8:45 and got ready and headed out to the Prado museum. Naomi opted to sleep in. And sleep in she did! She woke up around 11:50!

We (Juliet, JP, and I) left the house around 9:30ish and stopped for breakfast before hopping on the metro to the Prado. I wasn’t feeling that great but really wanted to see all the amazing artwork in this famous museum. So we took it easy walking to the museum. Aka not mom’s usual fast pace! 🤣

When we got to the museum there was a bit of a line, but it moved quickly and they had plenty of tickets. We opted for a guide book instead of an audio guide, this way we would get to take the book home as a souvenir and read more about the paintings that we missed. We spent 3 hours in the museum exploring all kinds of famous paintings - Goya’s, Rueben’s, Velasquez’s, Caravaggio’s, Rembrandt’s, Da Vinci’s, Bosch’s, Fra Angelico’s, and the Treasure of the Dauphin. 

First we saw Da Vinci’s practice Mona Lisa, which is pretty similar to the one in the Louvre, but had far fewer people crowded around it. Then we went and saw Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. We stood looking at this for a long while. It’s got all sorts of wild things going on in it. Next we went and saw Goya’s second and third of May 1808 in Madrid. My favorite were the marble sculptures and they had a whole room dedicated to these. Then we went upstairs and saw several Reuben’s and Velazquez’s Las Meninas and Caravaggio’s David with the head of Goliath. On the top floor we saw the one Rembrandt they had that was insured by Reuben’s work and then this cool crystal collection. The best part about the crystal collection was the cases they made that were for carrying the crystal that were the exact shape of the crystal object! At this time we were coming up to the 3 hour mark and Naomi was awake and hanging out at the apartment with Daniella so we headed downstairs and I realized we missed Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation, so we quickly circled back to that area and then we headed out. 

We took a taxi back to the apartment and dropped off the guide book and had a bathroom break before heading off to Calle  Velarde, a street with tons of vintage shops. We stopped in the plaza 2 de Mayo for lunch. The girls shared a pizza - Naomi’s been eating a lot of pizza as that seems to be one of the few vegetarian foods in Madrid. JP and I got a BLT with a fried egg, almost like a breakfast sandwich!  Then we headed to the shops. 

The girls loved this street. They tried on several things in every shop. Juliet got a cute skirt and a dress, while Naomi got a pair of Jean shorts. JP and I found a bench in the shade to hang out in while the girls explored the shops. 

Then we went back towards the apartment. On our way we passed the Antigua Casa Crespo and we went in because JP wanted a pair of Spanish shoes! Of course the girls and I were totally fine stopping in this store again. All of us walked out of there with a new pair of shoes! JP got a pair of espadrilles for men, Naomi got sandals, Juliet and I got a pair of traditional espadrilles in blue and black respectively! 

Finally we headed back to the apartment. JP and Naomi rested and Juliet and I decided to go back out and get sun screen and a bottle of vermouth to bring home. Matt worked in the office today and Daniella had several lessons today so they were both busy and we were on our own. I think we managed the city well on our own! We’re ready for our next leg in Barcelona with no native Spanish speaker to help I think! 

After Juliet and I got back we changed into fancier clothes and walked to a restaurant in the garden of the Palacio Real. It was a wonderful setting. We went here to celebrate Matt’s birthday as it is this coming Saturday and we won’t be here then as we are heading to Barcelona tomorrow. The food was ok, they were out of some of the food and rushed us because they were closing at 9!  So that wasn’t great but the view was so beautiful. There were peacocks wandering around the garden and the flowers were in full bloom. After we got kicked out of the restaurant, because it was closing not because we did anything wrong, we walked back to the apartment and it started raining. Most of the walk back was in the rain. It let up a block or so away from the house. Hot, wet and full we squished into the elevator and headed up to the apartment. Daniella had stealthily gotten a chocolate ice cream cake so we sang happy birthday to Matt and then had a yummy dessert! 

We took turns showering and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we need to pack up our suitcases, figure out how to get all our souvenirs to fit and navigate the train station for Barcelona! 




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quarantine Day 69: meetings, biking, digging for fossils

By
Today was a typical quarantine day. We got up. Walked Pip. Made breakfast. And then JP and I got to working while the kids played outside. It was a gorgeous day. The kids went on a fossil expedition digging up rocks in my front flower bed. They apparently promised to leave the flowerbeds as they found them. But that’s not what happened. Then they played in the hose as it was hot out! The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the kids in the neighborhood. In the evening we walked Pip and went over to the neighbors that was hatching Chickens. He’s going to let us foster a few of them for the next few weeks. Hopefully this will move us forward with us getting our own chickens! So after the chick visit we went out and got a few things to raise them. A heat lamp, a water bottle, sawdust flakes and chick food. Tomorrow we pick up the chicks. Then dinner, books and bed for the kids. And school Committee Meeting for mom.
Post a Comment
Read more

Quarantine Day 24: Technology, Fixing Old Things, Long Walks, Family Game Night

By
Charles River by our old house! Sunday. This morning the kids got up before us and headed downstairs to watch some Batman cartoon episodes from the 90s that JP got for them. Naomi (& Juliet sort of) has been reading the three Batman comics that we got from Park Street Books that have Spanish on the sides and in some of the frames. One of the great things about technology, or at least the technology in our house, is that we can cast stuff from our phone to the TV in the family room and our bedroom. So while JP and I were just getting up and dressed, he cast the Sunday school stream from the temple. This of course interrupted the Batman cartoon. I peaked my head out the bedroom door and heard..."but we were watching Batman!" The Sunday school songs and chat from the Rabbi's today was about Passover as it is this coming Wednesday evening. After the morning service 45 minutes later there was a zoom session with the Rabbi's to have more of a conversation and so...
Post a Comment
Read more

Quarantine Day 31: More landscaping and Easter Sunday

By
Signs of spring Easter Sunday. This morning the kids got up at the same time, around 7:30 and they went down and watched some TV and played some video games. I got up and made some breakfast for the gang and then we headed outside. It was almost 60 degrees today. The girls helped me move some of the plants around in our front flower beds. We moved 2 daisy plants, 2 echinacea plants, and 3 day lilies. The side of the house had nothing in the beds there, so we moved 5 plants there. Hopefully the plants make it!!! Then we did a general clean up of the beds. Juliet got a bit bored and went and helped JP dig out weeds for a bit. Then they went and practiced riding bikes. Juliet is a bit timid on her bike with training wheels but she took the bike for a spin around the neighborhood for a bit. Naomi seeing her decided she wanted to ride for a bit too, so she went off and rode her bike around the neighborhood chasing Jules. She's' still learning how to use the gears on her new bike...
Post a Comment
Read more