Tag: Retiro Park

Total Eclipse of the Heart, Day #6.  “How Can You Live Like This?”

by reissmd, posted in Madrid

I awoke this morning and got out of bed with great difficulty.  I checked the forecast and it said a high of 97° and a low of 77°.  Out of curiosity I checked the temperature for Hermosa Beach and saw the high was expected to be 77°. As they say, “There’s no place like home”

Erica took a poll asking us what would we like to do and where we would like to go today.  She made a variety of suggestions. I voted for anyplace with air conditioning.  We finally agreed to go to Retiro Park.  This is a beautiful park with a variety of vegetation, wildlife, and water.  I’ve been there a number of times and I never tire of going there. Well maybe I would make an exception on a day as hot as today.  When we arrived at the park we found out that the authorities had closed the park due to safety concerns. 

Disappointed that we couldn’t tour Retiro (although we did spend some time looking at it from outside the fence) we needed a back up plan. I was already exhausted but suggested we return to the water park and the group agreed. Soon after arrival I got soaked and my attitude and energy level were completely different. It was a fun time and getting cooled down was superb.

After drying off we went to visit a new friend.  A magician named Augustin who we met at the Magic Live Convention in Las Vegas earlier this month. He invited us to visit him at his home magic museum.  Upon entering Augustin showed us an incredible array of magic memorabilia filling every room and hallway. Even much of his ceiling was covered.  After that he gave us a very impressive 25 minute magic show.  He did some great sleight of hand and card tricks. It was impressive and funny.

Here we are with our new friend, Augustin Dalvi. Notice the pen sticking through Julian’s ear.

Tomorrow will be a sad day as David and Julian will be returning home. It was so great that they could join us. I suspect tomorrow will be a boring blog day because I am looking forward to spending the entire day at the pool.

Ciao.

Off To Visit the Baby, Madrid 2025 Day #8. “A Night of Adventure”

by reissmd, posted in Madrid

We had a wonderful day with Erica yesterday.  We looked at another apartment which was a bit of a disappointment but had a great time going for wonderful meals, visiting the Matisse exhibition, and of course dealing with my toes.  I failed to report about our after-dinner visit to Retiro park.  For those not familiar with Madrid, El Retiro “The Retreat” is a real treasure.  Besides its unusual beauty it adds special holiday lighting during the Xmas season. Erica was excited to share this with us.  Dinner was at a restaurant across the street from the park so after a brief walk we were treated to a beautiful show. We stopped for a quick photo as we planned to circle the display and then return to the hotel.  

You can see part of the Xmas light display behind us.
I am sure you will agree this is very special.

As we came to the end of the display a security guard drove rather close to us and gave me a bit of a startle.  We continued our stroll, then suddenly all the display lights turned off.  At that point we started to walk toward the exit.  Before we got to where we entered we were told by another tourist that the gate was closed and we had to find another place to leave the park.  So we then started towards the metro exit.  Before we could get to the metro station we met 4 tourists from Belgium who let us know the metro exit was locked. Erica said let’s try the Atocha exit.  She seemed confident that we would be able to leave the park at that location but I was nervous about possibly being forced to spend the night in the park.  We then picked up 3 Spanish speaking women who seemed more interested taking pictures than finding a way out of the park.  Next we met a French student doing a study abroad year   She seemed very grateful to Erica for apparently leading her to safety.  I wasn’t as confident. Finally, all 8 of us, (we and our new found friends) made it to the Atocha gate and were able to exit the park and get back to our hotel.  The whole event was a bit traumatic but will make for a funny story one day (hopefully today). Later, Patrice read about some tourists who got stuck in the park for two hours looking for an exit after closing hours. I suppose by comparison we were very lucky.

With the trauma of last night behind us, we spent today mostly looking at apartments for Erica and………. eating.  Both are very fun activities for me. 

A little travel tip that most of you probably already know, but maybe will help one of you.  Years ago, prior to travel you would need to get local currency prior to boarding your plane at home. Now that is totally unnecessary.  You will find that pretty much every merchant will take your credit card (I recommend using Apple Pay) for reimbursement.  You might want some local cash for small purchases (for a dollar or two).  When you use your credit card you will be asked if you want the merchant to charge you in the local currency (in Spain, it is the Euro) or US Dollars.   ALWAYS choose the local currency.  You will get a much better exchange rate from your bank than from the merchant.   For example today we had a lunch that cost us 44.05 €.  The merchant option was to pay $56.01.  The conversion of 44.05 € using Google was $52.22.  I was charged $51.88 on my credit card. 

We are headed to a late dinner now so I will check in with you again tomorrow.

Love those comments.  Please keep messaging me so I know I am not just writing to myself. 

Adios