Konnie and I left Denver on March 16th with my granddaughter Isabelle for this year’s spring break trip with her. This time we headed for Madrid. Isabelle, now 14 and in the eighth grade, has been in a Spanish immersion program in school so we thought this would be a good place for her to test the progress from her immersion.
And given that that there is far less English spoken her than I expected, so far her Spanish has worked well and been a big asset to us. We spent Saturday waiting for our apartment to be ready and getting familiar with the area around our apartment in Central Madrid including two hours in a coffee shop where the proprietors did not speak English but somehow delivered to us everything we mentioned to each other that we MIGHT be interested in consuming.
After visiting Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Mercado de San Miguel and a “late” lunch at a lovely Tapas restaurant, we called it a day to make the time zone adjustment.
On Sunday we had a late start with lunch near Plaza Mayor eating outside at Kitchen Stories where we fought off a team of gypsies who were aggressively pursuing some of our food. From there we spent the rest of the day at Museo del Prado before having dinner at Miau where Isabelle handled all of the communication with the staff.
You’re off to a beautiful start–photogenic food and ladies! Lucky you, and a talented interpreter too!
I remember an old gypsy woman in Budapest who kept screaming at me, gesturing, thrusting out her hand – I didn’t know what she wanted, and she just kept screaming, until someone who spoke English said she wants some money. I gave her some change, she yelled at me again, and left. I’m not very good with gypsies; probably would have given up my lunch just to get them to leave.
Otherwise, good thing you have your interpreter with you – and map reader.
That is some crazy looking Sangria!! YUM>>> I love those pictures. Thanks!
Actually, that was the best Sangria we’ve ever had.
Nice! That glass looked like a whole bottle of wine!! Amazing! Can’t wait to hear more about the trip…
A-a-ah! The wonderful photos are bringing back memories. Except the sangria we had didn’t look that spectacular! Also, my Mrs. Kratzer Spanish had to be far from what Isabelle knows. I succesfully asked in Spanish where the bathroom in a department store, and then couldn’t understand a thing the woman told me. Way to go Isabelle!!