I'm just going to note for the record that I didn't fall asleep until 3 a.m. last night, and that was only after I took a Benadryl. Lucia wasn't asleep until even later. I had trouble waking up at 9:30 a.m., and waking her at 10:30 was like waking a sleeping bear from hibernation. Basically we feared for our lives.
We managed to make crepes and Nutella, eggs, and coffee, and get everyone moving by 11:00-ish a.m., but I'll tell you right now, it wasn't smooth. Lucia was non-communicative for the first 30 minutes entirely, and then declared 5 minutes after departure she had to eat immediately and wanted a Five Guys BLT (we happen to be walking by one--I know, strange right? Five Guys is in Madrid too.). She stormed off momentarily, eventually got the BLT which she then proceeded to inhale within minutes. Romeo had a meltdown over an allowance discrepancy, and Ava wanted $125 sunglasses. We stopped in a store called "Lefties" which looked to be sort of liike an H & M because we needed socks for Romeo. We left with socks, a snap front western shirt that Romeo fell in love with, and two pairs of white kitten heels that Ava & Lucia couldn't live without. They promptly put them on despite my warning that we were about to walk a lot more. Those are all the details that fill in around the general picture of us "peacefully" strolling along the avenues, meandering our way to Retiro Park, and enormous, glorious part in the center of Madrid.
I made the mistake of telling Romeo when we started off this morning that we were going to the park to do paddle boats and maybe ride bikes. Tell an 8 year old that you are going to the park to do paddle boats and maybe ride bikes, and that's literally ALL they can focus on. We took the long way there along these wonderful avenues with shops and cafes, but it was all while listening to Romeo drone on about the park and complaining about how long it was taking. Not the easiest way to window shop.
We grabbed lunch near the park and that was less than smooth too. We had half of us in one restaurant ordering, and then Gia and John in another getting her a plain sandwich with ham, salami and pickles. Easy right? Nope. Apparently the "stupid sandwich guy" (Gia's words) put lettuce on the sandwich, which he then promptly picked off, but that brief commingling with her sandwich was enough to make her pout and not eat the sandwich for at least 30 minutes. Eventually she ate it, but not before she annoyed us to death. With as much traveling and adapting our kids have had to do, they still have some pretty rigid moments.
All that being said, the park was beautiful (apparently it use to be the Royal Gardens). There is a big pond that you can rent rowboats on and row about on, feeding fish and ducks, which we did. Ava and Lucia had their own boat, and promptly had a Spanish boat affair with four boys also on a boating exploration. That was a spectacle of the funniest kind...the boys kept running into Ava and Lucia's boat, and they in turn did a ton of hair flipping and attempts at being "too cool to engage." A boat full of 4 cute Spanish boys, what could happen?
We walked some more, and Ava and Lucia finally changed out of their cheap kitten heels, both had savage blisters, but I resisted the "I told you so." Romeo was hugely disappointed that there were no bikes to rent, so that took awhile to deal with. There were electric scooters everywhere but I"m pretty sure someone would break something if we rented those, but we had to listen to a lot of pestering from the kids before they realized it really wasn't going to happen. We visited the crystal palace that is within the park, an all glass masterpiece that was absolutely beautiful.
We then walked ALL the way back, all said it was probably a 7 mile round trip so there was about 7 miles worth of complaining. We took a late day siesta (which just meant that we came home for a few hours before dinner). Most restaurants don't even open until 8 p.m. at the earliest Tonight Indian was voted in, but there was no general agreement and so again, lots of complaining. We are starting a new rule where each person gets a night to pick dinner and we take turns. If you complain about someone else's pick, you forfeit your own turn. Eating out is by far the hardest part about traveling with kids. No one can even imagine how 4 kids can complain about where to eat, Indian or Mexican, despite the fact that all 4 of them both like BOTH. Sometimes I think they just dig in their heels and argue for the sake of arguing.
So not a bad day, but definitely an exhausting day. This was one of those days I had to take a few deep breaths and just fight the urge to flip out a few times. Fatigue will definitely throw everyone off their game. Tonight I started melatonin earlier, and the little kids were sleeping by 10:30. John and I went to La Bicyclette, a late night coffee shop/bar. Really though, this whole city is late night. Happy hour is 4-9 p.m. No joke. We walked down this super cool street near our apartment to go to the coffee shop and there are just loads and loads of people hanging out, sitting in cafes, bars, eating dinner. As I stare around this cafe it's literally packed....and it's almost midnight, on a Thursday. We are in a young hip area true, but it's not just young people. There are older people for sure (some a lot older), and people with kids, it's pretty much everyone. You'd honestly think it was 8 p.m. I just wonder when everyone sleeps??
Signed, ME {lv}
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