Having never set foot in Spain before, who knew that Madrid (our final destination) would be our favorite city of our Europe trip (for the adults anyway, beating London by a nose), probably because the weather in Madrid was fantastic – sunny, warm, and a welcome departure from the 6 out of 7 days of cold, grey and rainy everywhere else in Europe. Our first impression was so strong that we have decided to move to Madrid at the earliest opportunity :). Ok at least we will be back to Spain for a longer tour in the hopefully not too distant future.We had booked an apartment via the internet in the “Old Town” area, an interesting mix of people and shops which is also within walking distance to most of the notable points of interest in the city, ie, the Prado museum, Parque del Retiro, Paseo de Recoletos, Plaza Mayor, and the Palacio Real de Madrid to name a few. But sightseeing was not on the agenda for the first couple of days because we had tired of being tourists at this point in our trip we wanted to step back from the frantic feeling that we should see all the “good stuff” in the relatively small spaces of time between travel days and work days. So our apartment in the Old Town became a sanctuary and allowed us to chill and just pretend to be citizens of Madrid for a few days. Each day we wandered further and further from our abode and became frequent and recognized visitors in our own nearby square (complete with Metro stop) and the local markets, each with its specialty (one for milk, another for produce, one for wine. . . ), plus some local eateries, a barber (for the boys), and, a Starbu
cks. We have to admit that neither of us are big Starbucks fans back in the US, but the one we found in Madrid was staffed by cheerful young people who greeted visitors warmly and who were interested in practicing their English and didn’t mind when we tried to use our growing vocabulary of Spanish (which was often mixed with a little Italiano or French, depending which neurons were firing at the time). Spain does not seem to have a significant coffee culture like France or Italy, so the Starbucks was a good place to find a consistently good cup of coffee, an excellent Muffin Arándano (blueberry), a friendly place to sit out on a small square in the shade (in the only smoke free environment we could find) and watch the people and listen to the wandering musicians as they rotated by. Very nice.No worries though, we did get to see the sights by the time we left Madrid. The Parque del Retiro was an amazing mixture of park space and Disneyland. No rides but large crowds and lots of entertainment – puppet shows, magic shows, an art gallery, fields of flowers, and a lake full of row boats. And we also took a walk to the Plaza Mayor and the Palacio Real de Madrid which is the largest royal palace in Europe and houses a stunning collection of 16th century body armor for man and horse and child alike. Madrid is a grand city, with lovely sights, people, and is very livable to our way of thinking.
We should mention leaving Paris on the way to (or not exactly on the way to) Madrid there was a few day stop again in Germany for the third time for Analytica, Europe’s largest trade show of the year for biomedical instrumentation. Taking place in Munich’s old airport now convention center, it was a frenetic scene with seemingly endless displays of robots, gismos and glamorous displays of science in action. Broadcasted live in one booth was a fellow from Germany’s Myth Busters, doing science demonstrations for the masses (eg blowing up a cream puff in a vacuum jar and proving that 33 cL Coke Zero is really lighter than 33cL of Coke Classic). Galen was asked a direct question by the host on camera but unfortunately it fell on deaf ears as he was spoken to entirely in German, and Galen turns away from the camera “What did he say Mommy?” Galen was the youngest person at the trade show by at least 20 years and he probably thought it was Halloween because around every corner someone would give him candy, stuffed animals, trinkets, apples, flomees (the German word for super balls) and a few more substantial gifts. We had to find a large shopping bag to bring all the stuff home.The other highlight of the Munich was going out to an elegant Thai dinner with a great friend and former neighbor of ours, Mike, who was also at trade show for his work. Galen was disappointed that his friend Isabella (Mike’s daughter) wasn’t with him, but he loved seeing Mike’s robotic micro pipetter in action.
We are currently on our long two day journey back home from Europe; Madrid to Milan to Philadelphia to SFO!! We are so looking forward to being home and seeing our friends and family again. We are filled with gratitude for the once-in-a-life-time experiences such an odyssey around Europe has brought us and feel a sense of pride having survived it pregnant, with an active niño and a demanding job going on the all at the same time. Emily in particular feels a significant growth as a mother after 50 days of 100% Galen time, much of it as a single parent without support of family, friends or english speaking strangers. We feel completely cured of any travel bug for awhile especially as we head home to build a nest for the final M-H addition (due in July).
Emily, Phil, Galen
