Retiro Park (Parque del Retiro) Madrid

¡Hola y Bienvenidos a españa! ¿What was that; you don't speak Spanish? Oh well,l I guess we'll have to blog in English (and on a keyboard I've used before in Peru!). So Zack and I had a very smooth trip from Munich to Spain when compared to my parent's trip from San Francisco to Madrid. We arrived at our hotel at 2am on the 6th of …

Today is a day of Tess' Dance Around The World at our favorite spots in Madrid! Armed with our map and fruit/water, we ventured out into more sightseeing. Those who know me well (and those who have had the off chance of getting into my truck) will attest to my directional challenges. This day was no different, even with my map of Madrid! BUT, to my …

Since this is taking me so long to write, I thought Id post the first part then the second when I am finished...

On Sunday we did another full day of walking and touristy things. I finally found a shop with post cards. We first went to the "Parque de Madrid." Even though it was a rainy day, the park was still gorgeous. There was so much …

This week was a great one, filled with good adjustments and exciting news. It was my first full week of classes. Mondays and Tuesdays I have Advanced Grammar from 4-5:30 and then Spanish Art of the 20th Century from 5:30-7. Its nice not starting class until later because it gives me the whole day to explore. Advanced Grammar is really a drag, I …

This weekend, my friend Claire came to visit from Milan. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, so it was nice have a weekend here in Madrid. Having Claire here was even better, because it gave me a chance to show off all of my favorite Madrid places to her. It also taught me just how much I know about my city, and how much my Spanish is …

We went to th famous man made lake today and hired 2 boats for 10 euros for 45 minutes. I had the pleasure of Ben and Nic in my boat. I happily sat back and let them row. This is the life. It was heaps of fun however it was 38 degrees. Tom did most of the rowing in the second boat and he did a pretty good job. The park was very green and had a lot …

Buenos Dias peeps! (Michelle I hope that Spanish is correct, I have been practising everything you taught me with the locals - well, with my Aussie accent. The locals have been quite polite about it). Have had the best six nights in Spain, I love this place! Hard to tell whether I love this place so much because of the place, the food, or the …

After walking the Way of St. James and visiting Vigo and Pontevedra I'd stayed for a day in Madrid on my way home, I visited with friends Georgie Triebel, a friend from our youth in long ago Los Angeles who has now lived in Madrid for a long time, and Miguel and Meli Rivera whose mother was our landlord when we lived in Madrid in the early …

Having seen most of what there is to see of the city, at least from the outside, we took Sunday to do the rest of what you are supposed to do in Madrid - see art. Madrid has at least three world class art museums - the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen - and the recent addition of Caixa Forum may add a fourth.

In keeping with our …

We walked from the train station to Parque del Buen Retiro. The park was perfect. It was packed with skateboarding & rollerskating people on a sunny Sunday afternoon. On the intersection of two of the main park streets was a statue of Lucifer (El Ángel Caído/the Fallen Angel), one of the few statues to the devil anywhere in the …

... alfresco restaurants and bars. And if that's not relaxed enough for you, there's always the enchanting Retiro Park, the monumental, the estanque and the Palacio Cristal brilliant - the game of cricket with Coffs Harbour Garth even better. There's ...

I was very sad to see Nick go, but he had to head back to Australia, and I headed to Madrid. Madrid was lovely though, with temperatures in the mid 30´s. I visited the Prado museum, which had a good Picasso exhibition. The Buen Retiro Park was also ...

... Alledgedly the largest market in the world. There were some real charaters around, so ladies hold on to your handbags. - Retiro Park, nice boating lake and Crystal Palace. Good place for a picnic. The Prado Museum (free Sat afternoon and all day Sun) ...

... to see. Other than that, it's mostly modern art that I don't find very interesting... Here are some other pictures from Madrid taken in Retiro Park, which was really nice. Nothing like that where I live, that's for sure! I could have spent the whole ...

... travelling maybe we can get together over a coffee / wine when I get home.  Lets continue: So   here we are in Madrid, Spain !  That first evening set the pace for what was to be a renewed way of looking at the world (from a time ...

... change the world. As a strong contrast to the tent city, we walked through a huge park called the Parque del Buen Retiro (Park of the Pleasant Retreat).  It is the former formal gardens and grounds of a palace that no longer exists.  The ...

... ?) I suppose that´s all for today. Oh, I did want to mention one of the fountains I found particularly endearing at Retiro Park yesterday. Fuente de alcachofas. Fountain of the artichokes. It cracks me up. Then again, back in California, there ...

... . After the tour ended we went to photograph the Prado museum (unfortunately no time to go inside - lousy RyanAir) and walk through El Retiro Park before getting an early dinner. Ted was keen to try paella so we chose a restaurant in a backstreet ...

... her to El Rastro, a flea market that happens every Sunday morning/afternoon for some goods and later roamed around the Buen Retiro Park, practicing our exercises for when we retire and showing demonstrations to each other, seeing ...

... shopped. From the market I walked around and checked out a few other places such as the art museum, the national museum and the Buen Retiro park which was pretty awesome. The park was MASSIVE and was a really nice place to relax and have a quiet ...