David's Trip to Madrid - January 2010

Madrid Zoo. Yes you see snow. It was the first time in 50 years that Madrid was blanketed with snow like this. Luckily Summer brought the boots. As you can see we had the place to ourselves and what did David enjoy the most - throwing snowballs at Dad, and then Mom (and then our friend Chema - our host in Spain).








Zebras Lions Flamingos Dolphins (jumping)

It was so deserted that when we walked to the Dolphin show they shouted: "are you really staying?" If not, they were not going to bother putting on the show - but said "yes" and we all had a good time. The put the whole show on for us. It was pretty cool. They are so human. They come so close.

Dolphin on the left and Chema on the right: Talking

Museums

We wanted to make sure this was educational for the little man so we shifted gears from the zoo (which is educational) to hard-core museums. The first was highly intellectual with David's dad spending time conversing with a close friend and colleague - contemplating equations. We thought that would be good modeling for little David. He watched and stared at the blackboard with us.

Little David Center, Albert in the Middle,
and David's Dad to the Far Right

We spent some time at more traditional castles and palaces as well - just to ensure that David gets a cultured experience out of the trip.

Palacio Real de la Granja de San Ildefonso

I know, I know, this sounds very impressive. No worries - David did not touch a thing in these castles and palaces. It was too cold - he was all bundled up. The only thing he did is chase all of us and try to run us down with the stroller. He got Chema a couple of times - never got me. You see those steps by the fountain in the picture above on the left side. He actually figured out how to maneuver the stroller all the way to the top by himself - very determined little man.

Now what we are not showing you is that we ate at Starbucks almost every morning - he loved it (we kind of liked it too). We also ate the traditional late lunches at 2:00 (or even 3:00) and dinner - well lets just say it was not unheard of to be eating at 10, 11 and even 12:00 at night. David was so off his schedule that we would walk around the streets of Madrid at midnight - it was perfectly safe, lots of people just starting to party. Her is us with our umbrella behind us around midnight.

Oh yes - David let me go to work each day so I really appreciated it and have to take the time to thank him here - thanks buddy. Summer and David went shopping and toured more palaces while Dad was was teaching. It was one heck of a nice family trip. (Sarah could not make it this time - she came with me last time. I had to wake her up for dinner as I recall.) We are all still recovering from jet lag - but as I say - well worth it.

Our hosts were stupendous - thanks Chema, Miguel, and Adolfo.