Spain: Madrid - One More Day

By Saturday we had pretty much done and seen everything that we wanted to see in Madrid with one exception.  We had yet to visit the LDS Temple in Madrid.  Saturday was the one and only free day on the whole trip, so that is what we did with it - we went to the temple!

It took some work to find the temple, but after a long walk, and a few rides on the metro, we finally found it!  We left early, but by the time we got there it was much later.

The Madrid Temple is more contemporary and simple in style than other temples.  I thought it was strikingly beautiful, and the cypress and olive trees we so appropriate.

We had a wonderful experience in the temple.  This temple serves people not only from all of Spain, but from Portugal and parts of France and Italy as well, so everything is done in many languages which I found very interesting.  The session we happened to be in was full, and happened to be in Spanish so Dennis was able to understand, but I had to wear earphones.

I loved that they had all-white Spanish fans for the ladies who were a little warm.  They really do use those fans in Spain.  All the women carry them with them everywhere and flip them open when they get a little warm.  Why don't we do that here instead of finding the nearest piece of paper?

We were so glad that we used our only free day to visit the temple!  It was wonderful.

We took the subway back, but decided to get off a few stops from our hotel so that we could explore part of the city that we hadn't seen yet.

This is Retrio Park, Madrid's answer to Central Park in NYC.  It was huge and just beautiful!

There was a large lake in the middle surrounding a large monument.  People were everywhere, rowing boats on the lake and enjoying the beautiful fall day.

I could see why the park was such a popular place.  I thought these little ones walking their dogs were just too sweet.  There were street performers everywhere, like this "midget" with the large backpack.

A area of the park with more formal gardens was near the Prado.  So pretty.

Out a different fancy gate and back into the busy city near our hotel.

After stopping at our hotel to change our clothes, we decided we needed one last taste of Madrid - there was one thing I was dying to try ever since I had heard of it, but it could only be found in a little shop, which is kind of a trick to find, so we decided to go on the hunt.

But we got distracted once again by the bakery we always walk past near our hotel...

the one with the rotating window display.

This time we couldn't resist and had to indulge.  We shared a pestino which is Spanish for heavenly fried honey goodness!  Why didn't we stop in earlier in the week?

The statue of the bear and the strawberry tree is revered as the symbol for the city of Madrid, don't ask me why.

We kept looking for our destination.  I knew it was behind St Gines church, near a used book shop.  Ooo, I think we are getting closer!

In an alley tucked behind the book shop we found what we were looking for - the Chocolateria San Gines!  This is not your typical chocolate shop.  They only serve one thing here, something I was super excited about.  We placed our order...

and found a tiny cafe table in this pretty little alley and watched the world go by as we waited.

Here it comes!  Oh happy day!

Churros and chocolate!!! It is a Spanish speciality, and I had been wanting all week to try it here.  Spanish churros are smaller than Mexican churros with no cinnamon sugar on them.  But it is the chocolate that is so amazing here!  It is rich hot chocolate only a thick as pudding!  The churros are dipped in the the thick rich chocolate!  It is truly heaven!

I was so bummed that we discovered this place on the last day rather than the first day, because I would have totally come here every day if I could have!  It really was that heavenly!  We bought a bag of the chocolate mix to bring home for the boys.  It cost a ton, but the thought of saying goodbye and never having that chocolate again was too much for me.

A bit more exploring and a few more souvenirs to shop for.

We were told that this Kukuxumusu shop was the place to get fun t-shirts in Spain.  They had some cute cartoony shirts, though most of them were pretty crude, even x-rated - even some of the kid ones!  We found a few tame ones for the boys, though.

One final stop in the Plaza Mayor, just to say goodbye to the crazies.

Our last walk through the streets of Madrid and all of the silly street performers.  By far the most annoying of all were the babies!  Grown men dressed up like babies left alone in strollers.  They would cry like babies with the most annoying crying that you wanted to toss them a few coins just to shut them up, but you also didn't want to for fear you'd just be encouraging them.  I am NOT going to miss those babies!

Back at the hotel Dennis took a siesta while I pulled out my watercolors and painted the pretty rooftop, mosaic, and window of the building across the street, high above the busy streets of Madrid while listening to the glockenspiel bells playing.

What a great way to spend our last day in Spain!