Day trip to Toledo

May 17th

After a hideous night’s sleep I was extremely grumpy in the AM.  I hid it pretty well although I don’t think I strung more than ten words together until noon.

We cafe-d and got desayuno para llevar and then set off to Atocha for the second day in a row.  [This time we actually had the intention of going somewhere]

Having already purchased tix the day before, we had time to sit and enjoy breakfast before boarding the renfe train to Toledo.

My seat mate was tuning me out.

Clearly, I wasn’t enjoying it.

Good thing I had these nerds behind me with iPhone tutorials and history lessons printed out for us to brush up on as we headed to Toledo.  We are a really cool family.

The train left at 9:20 and we arrived on the dot at 9:50…to a light rain.  No!!

Fortunately, it only lasted a few minutes.  I hate to say this but the train station may have been one of the most scenic “sights” in Toledo.

To be fair, I’d already been (as had both my sisters) to El Greco’s home turf, but what’s another day trip, right?  You don’t get to see Spain’s former capital and 2nd best Cathedral every day!

We took the bus (5, 61, or 62 lines for anyone considering the trip) from the train station up to the top of the hill and got off at Plaza Zarzuela, thereby eliminating 99% of the hike I did the first time I visited.

From there my memory easily guided us to the Cathedral…winding through narrow streets (with blinders as I passed potential shopping).

Good news about having the pre-purchased return ticket was that it put us on the schedule.  Time constraints, I’ve learned, are very necessary to keep this fam on track (otherwise you end up spending 6 hours in Retiro Park…just sayin’).

I’d read up on the cathedral ever so briefly on the train ride thanks to my mom’s research.  Nerd that I am, a brush up was all I needed wanted.  My dad was with me.

We popped in the free area for ~15 minutes and I felt that gave me enough to look at for a (potentially) hours.  But we had a sched!  Phew!

We left and went around the front (gorgeous), navigated further thru town to San Tome (to see El Greco’s most famous work), and then went to El Catedral de San Juan de los Reyes.

This was the first new-to-me sight.

For 2.30 Euro I was really stoked.  Buck —> bang.

The inner courtyard was beautiful and scenic.  There were birds chirping like crazy, which got annoying after 10 minutes, but the cool columns and pretty roses were enough to drown out the obnoxious tweets.

We are not that tan of a family, Laura’s camera has a color pop feature that was very over-utilized.

The Cathedral was also really impressive – too bad my Ibuprofen was starting to fade. 🙁

We took an alternate route back down the hill (off roading at times) and landed at the base with an hour to spare.

We took some pics and passed the rest of the time in the train station cafe.

As our train arrived, we saw Alene and Ethel disembark, ready to start their Toledo adventure.  We passed off our city map and shipped out.

There was a bit of an FBI incident on the train ride home but I didn’t want to stare, lest I get arrested for knowing too much.  In any event, I steered clear of a certain Italian chic as we got off the coche in Madrid.

For lunch we returned to Plaza Santa Ana, my dad’s fave spot.

The place we chose was less determined by the menu, and more based on where enough seats were available.

In the end, a place called Naturbier won.

My dad was the only one who ordered a brew.

My mom ordered a salad that was huge, so we all shared.

As for the rest of us…

We were bread whores and tortilla mongers and that’s all that needs to be said.

In lieu of digesting, we got right back into tourism mode and took the Metro to my mom’s old neighborhood.

After the cobwebs cleared from her cabeza (it’s been 30 years so I’ll cut her some slack), she finally remembered which apartment was hers.

We even managed to sneak in.  [To be clear, I mean the building’s lobby, not the individual apartment]

Calle Serrano is now mega designers.  Window shopping only.  🙁  The next stop, back at Gran Via, was more in our price range.  We found an English bookstore (Casa de Libros) which was fun to browse, but not long after I hit a wall and had to return to home (but not without giving in to the seductress herself…Starbucks).

Kyle and I facetimed as I sipped my Americano with soja.  Double the pleasure, double the fun.  [Don’t make that dirty, it was just a normal conversation]