Madrid Rio Parque

On April 13^th we had a “Glenn day”.  Glenn had been so good to go with us wherever and whenever we wanted and we figured that he could use a day that was just for him.  We had heard about the Madrid Rio Park from a family in the ward, and we decided to check it out.  This park was created when they moved the M-30 motorway underground!  By doing this the Manzanares River flows again and over 10 kilometers of parks, pedestrian and cycling routes.  This park also had historical monuments and bridges along the river.  We took the metro to one stop near the Puente del Rey and went as far and as long as Glenn wanted. 

We didn’t take pictures of everything, but we did of the oldest bridges and Glenn and the playgrounds.  The Puente de Segovia was built in 1584, which makes it the oldest bridge in Madrid. 

Fire! Fire!

April 8th had started out just like any other day here in Spain.  That evening after work we ate dinner and then had FHE.  We then watched Despicable Me, which we borrowed from our friends.  Glenn loved it, by the way.  It is funny to watch a funny movie with a child--to see which parts he thinks are funny.  

Anyway, while we were watching the movie we had heard a siren on our street.  I remember thinking that it sounded really close and how that was kind of strange.  There is a much larger street parallel to ours so we can usually hear the sirens, but they are usually on the other street.  

Well after the movie I saw a bright light and so I looked out the window to see what that was...little did we know what was going on right outside our window!  We saw several fire trucks and police cars--all right outside our hotel. 

General Conference Weekend

General Conference this Spring was a bit interesting.  Since we are 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake City, we couldn't just watch as normal.  And with our slow internet we knew we wouldn't be able to stream the video.  We had been talking with a family in the ward that we have become friends with, and they invited us over.  We had planned to do something with them on Easter, but they hadn't received their things from the USA yet and it would've have been as enjoyable they said.  But we did get together for General Conference.  So Sunday morning we walked probably 2 miles to the bus station and then took a bus to their little town just outside of Madrid--it's called Saint Augustine.  

Glenn was so happy to play with his friends.  Franki said the kids had been talking all morning about how Glenn would be coming later that day.  He sure had a lot of fun!

We ate lunch first, then we went for a walk around their town.  They showed us their church and some parks near their house.  Then we came back and started watching some of the Saturday morning session.  They had downloaded it so we could watch it whenever.  But then it was time to actually stream the Sunday morning session.  So that's really the only session that we watched in its entirety.  When that session was over it was 8pm.  We also ate dinner during that session too.  

I forgot to take pictures all day, except just before we got ready to go home.

Madrid Zoo & Aquarium

The first Saturday in April—April 6^th—we went to the Madrid Zoo & Aquarium.  We met up with one of Paul’s co-workers and his family, Sergie, Bea and their son Lluis.  It was a pretty nice day and we were happy to be outside on such a day. 

Cheryl's Visit Day Five: Easter

Happy Easter!

Cheryl was with us for Easter as well.  

It was nice to have her with us to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  How grateful we are that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, that He died for us, and that He was resurrected the third day, and that He lives still today!  

One thing we've noticed about other churches is how they portray Christ.  He is almost always hanging on the cross or just after--they show Him as dead.  And while our Church does believe He died for us, we like to rejoice in the fact that He was resurrected--He lives again!  

Cheryl's Visit Day Four: Avila and Segovia

Remember when we went to Toledo with a tour company?  Well this same company also had a full-day tour of the towns of Avila and Segovia.  So we bought our tickets for Saturday and early that morning we were up and ready to go.  We had a much larger group this time—there were a lot of people visiting and touring because of Santa Semana.  But soon enough we were on the road to Avila.  Here are a few pictures we took on bus as we left Madrid. 

 

Cheryl's Visit Day Three: Madrid City Tour Bus, Palacio Real, the Templo de Debod, and the Plazas

Friday of Cheryl's visit was a somewhat cold and rainy one.  But we had already made plans to be on the Madrid City Tour Bus, so that's what we did.  We brought our umbrellas and just planned to be a little wet and cold all day.  

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it’s the only one we got that showed what the bus looked like.  So that’s why I’m posting it. :D

Cheryl's Visit Day Two: Parque del Retiro and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

The next day, Paul and Cheryl went back to the Prado Museum for a few hours.  Glenn and I met them in the early afternoon at the Parque del Retiro.  We met them at the Monumento al Rey Alfonso XII which is along the edge of the man-made lake/pond.

Cheryl's Visit Day One: The Prado Museum

Cheryl came out to Spain to visit us during her Spring Break.  

We were so excited to have her come!

The day she arrived--Wednesday, March 27th--she took a short nap after a long and somewhat frustrating set of flights, and then we got doners for lunch. Yum!

After that she slept again for a bit before we headed out to the Museo del Prado.

They have a free time in the evening, which was great!

A Day at the Park

On March 23rd we went to a nearby park.  We found it when we were walking home from my doctor's visit and realized that it was just north of us!  Perfect for Glenn and I to easily walk to during the day.  

We have had a lot of rain here in Madrid.  People here say all this rain is uncommon.  I'm sure it'll make it nice and green and pretty, but I'm kind of done with it.  We haven't ventured out much due to it.  If I had more clothes and could easily wash my clothes here, then maybe I wouldn't mind going out and jumping in puddles, etc.  But we don't..so we haven't.  Plus it has been chilly, so it's not as much fun to get wet and cold.

Anyway, we did have a nice-ish day on March 23rd.  So we went to the park and let Glenn play.  We've noticed that Google maps show green spaces where the parks are...but it isn't really green.  Sure there are some trees, but there isn't any grass at these parks.  It's just pavement and dirt/sand/gravel.  It kind of reminds us of kitty litter...hehehe...but yeah.  They don't have grass at these parks.  I look forward to seeing grass again. : D

So I took some pictures of Glenn and Paul playing at the park.

Strep Throat

So the day after we went to Toledo, my throat starting hurt, but I thought it was nothing.  But then it kept getting worse and I just felt weak and tired and not very good.  I looked in my throat and it was full of white spots everywhere!

And that wasn't even the worse it looked.  It definitely got worse and spread to the other side.

We went to the doctor and when Paul said that I had an infection, the doctor said, "Well, we'll see."

Then when I opened my mouth and he saw all the spots and the red puffy sides he literally said, "Woah!"

He then wrote our a prescription for strep throat.  When Paul asked about doing any tests to confirm, the doctor said he didn't need to confirm it with a test.  He was positive.

So I have now been on antibiotic for almost a week and feeling great.

Yay for medicine! : D

(And for a husband who can communicate with foreign doctors and nurses!)

In Glenn's Hands...

These are the pictures we get when Glenn gets the camera.

Pretty good, eh?

A Day Trip to Toledo

Paul had Monday March 18th off--we didn't know why at first, but we knew that we wanted to use that time for sight-seeing.  Well when we went to Church we realized that Paul got the day off because it was Día del Padre--or Father's Day.  The official day was on Tuesday the 19th, but each city decides when to celebrate it.  Madrid decided to celebrate it on Monday.  Here in Spain the 19th of March is also Saint Joseph's Day. Paul said that it was fitting because Joseph was Jesus' earthly father.

Anyway, we were happy to have a day off to go touring.  We found a tour company that does half and full day trips from Madrid to surrounding cities.  We looked at their tour for Toledo and thought it sounded like a good deal.  So we went downstairs to our front desk and were able to book it from there!  We got Zach--the other guy who came here from the Austin office--to come with us.  Glenn was excited to see Zach and wanted to spend most of the time being with him.

Museo del Ferrocarril--Railway Museum

Last Saturday--the 16th of March--we headed out to the Museo del Ferrocarril.

Walking Tour: Historic Madrid

This past week in Spain has been rainy and windy and kind of chilly.  But Saturday the 10th the weather was better.  The sun actually came out and there were times when it felt kind of warm.  So we ventured out for our first real walking tour of Madrid.  

We got a copy of lonely planet's Spain book from Uncle Kim and Aunt Shannon--thank you much!!  So we looked in that book and found this recommended walking tour.  We first took the metro to the historic part of Madrid.  Glenn was really excited to take the 'underground train'!  

The beginning of our tour started at the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, which means Gate of the Sun.  

This is the official center point of Spain!  

Bienvenido a España!

Tuesday March 5th, we loaded up our suitcases into our friend Rebecca's car and off we went to the Austin airport.  We had a short flight to Dallas and then a couple hour layover there.  Things went so well with our flights and with the airports.  I was very happy about that--no extra waiting or anything.  Even going through security was a breeze! 

I only took one picture during all of that--and it was in the Dallas airport.  There was an interesting looking statue thing and Glenn was playing around in it.

Fire Station Tour

The week before we left for Madrid, I got an email about playgroup--they were going to take a tour of the fire station!  I was so excited about that--and even more excited when I saw that it was the day before we left!  Perfect!  Glenn and I would be able to go!!

So Glenn and I stopped our packing and headed to south Austin for the tour.

Guests of the Week

Our last week at the hotel we were nominated as the Guests of the Week!

We got a nice little basket full of goodies and some vouchers to buy some more at their little store at the front of the hotel.  As we were checking out, we grabbed a couple more snacks for the airplane trip.

Dust Bunnies

Last week Glenn and I found some cute books at the library.  They were written by Jan Thomas and we instantly became fans of hers.  (We have since read other books by her, and we really like them all.)

These books were about Dust Bunnies. 

Austin Science and Nature Museum

On February 25, Glenn and I went to the Austin Nature and Science Center.  We had been invited to join a group going through our new friends, Christine and Lily-who we met at story time at the library.