Since Fridays aren’t school days, our plans were to go to Toledo today with Curt’s co-workers, but we had difficulty getting train tickets for the journey. Unfortunately the credit card was flagged by fraud prevention when we attempted to purchase tickets online and we were unable to get that cleared up in time to get the tickets we wanted. We were a little perturbed because we had, of course, called the credit card companies to let them know of our travels. We have plenty of time to make the day trip to Toledo, however, so it’s not too big of a deal. In fact, it ended up being a good day to stay in Madrid. We were all still a little tired from the journey in and I have been battling sinus issues since we arrived. We hung out at the apartment for the first part of the day. Our apartment is small, but the space is used very well and we don’t really feel cramped at all.

We had a light lunch near the Puerta del Sol and spent some time exploring that area. The Plaza Mayor is large and reminds me some of Piazza della Repubblica in Florence because it is surrounded by buildings and is frequented by tourists and street performers. Some of the performers dress up as strange rainbow colored goats and dance little jigs when donations are offered. Griffin was amused and interested, but was slightly freaked out. I agree that the whole thing is a little strange and will post pics and videos so that you can see for yourselves. It was very pleasant to just stroll around the area for a bit. We saw Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world, and visited the San Miguel market. We also wandered in to a nearby church and were held captive by an impending vocal performance. The children appeared to be between the ages of 10-12 and I was interested in viewing their event. After about 30 minutes of gathering all the children together and vocal warm ups, they still had not begun the show and we had to move on so that we could make it to Templo de Debod to watch the sunset. We passed by the Royal Palace on our way to the temple and saw some amazing gardens that we want to go back and visit. The area around the temple was very busy and provided a great view to overlook the city. We hung out during the sunset, but there were too many clouds so there wasn’t a beautiful display. We still enjoyed the experience and thought the area was a wonderful place to relax. After we left the temple we walked through Plaza de España again and saw the fountains lit up and more of the nightlife in Madrid. We visited a Starbucks that overlooks the Plaza to enjoy some nice beverages and a wonderful view before heading home for a quick dinner. Although we had a great day, Griffin was disappointed that we did not meet up with the students and requested that we do so tomorrow!