Spain Trip #1

The thought of posting a mere fraction of the pictures that I have from our trip to Spain is overwhelming! There are SOOO many pictures and stories to tell that I don't know where to start. I think the easiest way will be to do it by day. Here we go!

Day 1 (Oct. 4)
We left for the airport not really knowing what to expect. Heading cross country with an almost two-year-old is hard enough, much less flying for almost 12 hours half way across the world!!! At the airport, Riley and Matt walked the moving walkways ("stairs" as Riley called them) about 100 times before our flight boarded. :)

On flight #1 to Philadelphia, we happily discovered that our "full" flight left an open seat in our row! Riley got his own seat and watched Veggie Tales and played pretty happily the whole time!

After a brief layover, we boarded the LONG flight to Spain! Matt and I decided while planning the trip, that we were going to put all our credit card points toward business class tickets during this portion of the trip. We are VERY glad that we decided to do this, as it not only gave Riley plenty of room to play, but pampered us as well! We both felt so spoiled, and would HIGHLY recommend this to parents traveling for long flights. Also a must: portable DVD player. This would have been a MUCH different trip without it!


The boys slept a little bit on the plane, but all of us were pretty tired when we landed. It was about 24 hours for me of no sleep, and close to that for Matt. Matt had to take Riley on the Metro and train in Madrid in order to get to Alcala de Henares where we were basing our stay, while I took a half hour ride with Matt's host dad from college, Miguel, and our luggage. That was a pretty silent trip for us, as he speaks no English, and I speak very little Spanish. The boys had a much longer trip! It took them about 2 1/2 hours to get to Alcala! While we were waiting for them, I managed to have a great 2 hour conversation with Matt's host mom, Pepita, who also speaks no English. She is a wonderful woman, and we were able to use my little Spanish, and lots of signs to get caught up. She adores Matt and truely considers him a son. She couldn't wait to see him again and meet Riley!


Day 2 (Oct. 5)
After a rough night getting used to the 8 hour time difference, we ended up sleeping until 1pm! When we got up, we headed to Alcala's Plaza Cervantes for playtime and eating the best treat EVER, costrada!!!! (Cervantes is from Alcala and wrote, "Don Quijote de La Mancha".)







Day 3 (Oct. 6)
After a nice breakfast in Alcala (we had cafe con leche and a chocolate pastry that I LOVE), we headed to Madrid for the day.



Riley really enjoyed riding the train, but was super tired when we started walking around :)

We headed for our favorite snack spot in Madrid, a chocolate and churro bar! When Riley woke up, he was thrilled that we were eating "sticks"!


Window with Jamon legs (pig legs where the meat is salted and cured).

Street preformer.

The bull!

Picture by the symbol of Madrid (a bear eating cherries from the tree).

We headed to the gardens/park in the center of Madrid. It's massive and totally beautiful! It used to be a garden that only the royal family was allowed in.






After the park, we went to the plaza and watched a flamenco dancer. Riley loved that, and tried to dance along. He even went to pur money in their guitar case (only to try and take it back out later).


Then we met one of Matt's friends, Carlos, for dinner and playtime at a local fountain.




Riley was beat by the time we went home. Carlos drove us, with no child seat, which made us a little nervous, but it was really the only way we had to get home that night! Thankfully, everything went well! Riley was dancing before he fell asleep; when we got home, I woke him up and the first thing he did was start dancing! It was really funny.