So after a long relaxing day at the pool or hanging out inside, we get to explore! Sometimes during the day we ride our bikes to the cousins house because they have a pool too and it's more fun to be together. (I realize that I hadn't posted these pics and thought I should. We do this during the day with the kids and not after we are free haha. We prefer to be kid free when the parents get home)
Alejandro (Alex) riding Darah like a horse. It's probably the cutest thing I've seen all summer. He takes the straps like the reigns. HA!
Mara and Adriana diving into the pool.
It has been super nice having Darah to go around and explore with. I'm sure that I would get out of the house anyways by myself, but it's still nice to have someone with you.
Depending on our energy that day we either make the trek into Madrid or explore around Rivas. There isn't much to do in Rivas, but we did find this!
Darah taking a turn
then me. I wasn't too sure I would get on all the way or fall off because you sort of had to jump to get on, but I made it!
When Rivas seemed like not enough we would head into the city. To get into Madrid is about an hour trip including walking to the bus stop, taking the bus in (30mins?), and then taking the metro to wherever we are trying to go. Last week was Darah's last week before her family headed out to the beach house so we made the trek in a few times. They went a week before Espe, Mara, and Me because Espe already took a week vacation earlier in the summer.
Oh yea, have I mentioned that in Spain they get 4 weeks of vacation?!! and I hear in Germany 6 weeks. Espe was shocked when I said that if you're lucky you get 2 weeks of vacation. (this doesn't include all those fancy computer companies that say take all the time you want, even though they're doing it right). So basically August is the month of vacation and Madrid practically shuts down. I of course will not be observing this deserting factor because I will indeed be on vacation at the beach house in Oliva, Spain, which is about 70km south of Valencia.
Here are a few shots from Darah's last week near Madrid.
Drinking in the streets! One of the major differences from the US to Europe. You can drink in the streets here! So we had to document it. Note: we also took a selfie but you couldn't see that we were actually drinking in the street, so it was useless.
visiting one of the most famous churro places of all time. It was ok, but I think I've had better.
Eating the churros with a cup of chocolate sauce. They call it hot chocolate, but I'm pretty sure it is nothing like our hot chocolate.
Then I dragged Darah to the roof top bar. At this point we were pretty pooped but when else are you going to make it to a roof top bar in Madrid?!
pretty lit up buildings
on top of the bar next to some creepy photo
After a few nights of going into Madrid, and trying to see the Prado museum which we did not end up getting in to because it closed at 8pm (who knew!) we had one last night with the families in Madrid. Darah wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, so that's what we did!
As we arrived in Madrid we saw the largest flag in all of Spain. It was in the Christopher Columbus monument. Personally I think it's pretty hilarious that Spain has a monument of the man who found New England in 1492 and we don't. There probably is a monument somewhere, but I haven't seen it and I have lived in Mass almost all my life.
A nice pic of Mara and I in front of the monument.
Cool reflecting pool!
When we got to the Hard Rock Cafe at 9:30 they said there was going to be an hour wait. So we went down the street a little ways and found a place to get a drink. A man came around with roses and so Mara proposed to her Mom! *note the rose in her mouth*
Bernard giving Alejandro kisses!! Darah, Susa, Espe, and Me getting more drinks while waiting for our table.
I found these girls in the bathroom playing with the super crazy next century sinks. You can see there the little wing that comes out of the faucet was the hand dryer. As I was walking into the bathroom I saw the water spray up and hit the mirror because they turned on the hand dryer while the water was still going. A small flaw in their design I think.
Then we got this super cute shot in front of the sign. Also we finished dinner at about 12:30am. SERIOUSLY. I'm not kidding. and to top it off, people were still waiting to get seated! While I can say I have somewhat adjusted to this change in time, I still think it's a little bit weird!
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