Tour Bernabeu

The place where your dreams come alive!

Today was a magical tour of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid C.F. The tour began with a panoramic view from the fourth tier terrace. Following the renovation, the stadium now seats 85,000 and all seats have heating. From this height, and through the silence, you can imagine a million cheering fans.

The self guided tour then brought you to a modern and interactive room, complete with giant screens and multi-touch technology. Roman was entranced with the screen scenes of all the best players at Real Madrid since 1902. Mabret enjoyed the amazing trophies!

The boys got closer to the action by walking around the very pitch where all the greats have played. The most amazing part was being able to actually run up the players' tunnel and sit in the players' and coaching area. From here, it all looked so different!

    Imagine Cristiano Ronaldo sat right here! 

We then entered the home and visiting teams' locker room. The Madrid changing room was very nice and included; whirlpool and plunge pool, WC, showers, massage room and of course each players' actual locker.

Finally, the Press Room where Roman and Mabret answered some tough questions.

A good day was had by all. Roman's favorite part was walking onto the field and Mabret's was the locker room and sitting on the players' 'bench' - they are actually fully padded comfortable chairs!

Real Madrid

Our 'Real Madrid' is a relaxing apartment right outside the central tourist area. Our arrival was by Socibus, a six hour ride from Sevilla. The bus was comfortable and even had a charging station. We arrived in the rain and thus took a short taxi ride to the Madrid Central Suites where check in was quick, easy and the apartment bright, clean and cozy.

   Waiting in the bus station.

Our first full day in Madrid was spent playing Minecraft, hanging out in the apartment and planning out the next eight days. 

     Minecraft Multiplayer!

     View from apartment balconey!

Wednesday we again tried something new. The Madrid City Tour Hop On Hop Off Bus with an audio guide of all the attractions, museums, palaces and sites in Madrid. I thought the bus was a good idea because it was slightly cold outside and the city is too large to force the kids to walk around and see everything.  On the bus they have audio specifically for kids, nonetheless, it took less than an hour for Roman to get bored. We stopped for lunch and got back on to see the second route offered. 

Bottom line bikes beat buses, hands down.

       Madrid City Tour Bus Routes

    Kids having fun dancing to the soundtrack accompanying the audio tour. It got too cold to sit upstairs with the partially opened top.

    

   Many languages from which to choose.

  Fun at lunch making ice cream soup.

  They are experts as they 'graduated' from Ice Cream Soup University.

    World famous Spanish Hot Chocolate with churros for dipping!  From Churreria Chocolateria Los Artesanos 1902. The Traditional way was passed down from father to son for over 100 years.

Peace out from Madrid.

Real Alcazar, Sevillla

Roman and Mabret enjoyed the English audio guide at Real Alcazar as a change of pace and an alternative to reading the signposts or listening to Mom explain the highlights of this wonderful palace.

They also enjoyed pretending they were 'real' phones and having crazy pretend conversations.

The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville,Spain, originally a Moorish fort. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, and it was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the Seville Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies. The Almohades were the first to build a palace, which was called Al-Muwarak, on the site of the modern day Alcázar. The palace is one of the best remaining examples of mudéjararchitecture. Subsequent monarchs have added their own additions to the Alcázar. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as a residence.

Mabret particularly liked the ceiling in the Hall of Ambassadors.  This is called the Half Orange because all the gold simmers in the light and was rebuilt to resemble stars.

Beautiful Muslim architecture inside the Alcazar.

The gardens were huge and even had a labyrinth (maze of hedges) that the boys said was way too easy.

Our last day in Sevilla ended again at the park with a zip line and bouncy house.

Good bye Sevilla.

Thoughts From The States

I cannot believe that I have been away from my family for almost two weeks.  I have enjoyed the blog from afar as so many have since November. The fun that Kathy, Katie and the boys are having sustains me during lonely times. Since returning to the States, the effects of the trip upon me have multiplied.  While I have spent many hours working, I have also reflected upon the gift of spending nearly four uninterrupted months together with Kathy and my boys.  A frequently asked question is, "Was it difficult to spend so much time together?"  I can honestly say that the answer in no.  Particularly for Roman and Mabret who have treated each other with amazing mutual trust and respect. 

Recently, I posted the link to the blog on Facebook with the following thought from Kathy and I:

Although we have learned countless lessons about ourselves and our children, perhaps the one that resonates most is simple...the world did not stop spinning in its axis when we walked away from our everyday lives and responsibilities.  We understand that our trip is extreme and was years in the making, however, the simple lesson for us is put down the electronic devices and shut out work and other responsibilities just for a day or a weekend.  Do an activity with your family that requires your full attention on someone or something else.  We hope that our blog encourages a few of you to turn off the noise the next time that there is a choice between a family activity and working.

We hope to follow our own advice when we ultimately return from our journey as a family.  

On March 4th, I will fly to London where the RTW Adventure Family will reunite and rock it out for a few days exploring the city before returning to the States as a family.  I cannot wait!

Play Day in Sevilla

Today was a beautiful, relaxing, kid fun day in Sevilla. The goal was soccer in the Parque Maria Luisa and the Plaza de Espana.

Again we began with lunch of inexpensive tapas (tapas for Mabret, Katie and I, nachos with guacamole for Roman).  The restaurant, Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, is an order at the bar and pick up in ten minutes type. Tables are on the sunny sidewalk outside with mostly Spanish speaking people taking up the majority of the tables. 

The conversations the kids and I have had at this relaxing sidewalk restaurant have been enlightening. The opportunity for open honest questions and answers are much appreciated from both the kids and adults. Time well spent.

 

Aside from the 'presents' from the birds we all had fun here.

We then walked over to the park for play time and movie making.

The Maria Luisa Park (Parque de María Luisa) is a public park that stretches along the Guadalquivir River in Seville, Spain. It is Seville's principal green area.

The park is home to many monuments, and to numerous ponds and fountains. Among the most famous are the Fountain of Lions (Fuente de los Leones) and the Water-lily Pool (Estanque de los Lotos).

The Plaza de España was a principal building built on the park's edge to showcase Spain's industry and technology exhibits. The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over the moat by numerous beautiful bridges. In the centre is a large fountain. By the walls of thePlaza are many tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. Today, the plaza buildings are mainly used for government offices.

While at Plaza de Espana we took the opportunity to recreate a scene from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones which was filmed at this spot. (Sorry blog.spot does not allow me to post videos) I can send it directly to you via email if you ask nicely. Roman portrayed Anakin and Mabret Padme.

After a full day of wandering the plaza and soccer time, I realized that I did NOT have the keys to our apartment. We called and emailed the manager/contact person repeatedly ...to no avail. We were locked out. Long story short, one hour and fourty five minutes later a server from a nearby restaurant cut a soda bottle's top and bottom off and used the curved plastic to pop the lock on the apartment door. The boys cheered and said they love him. Mabret tried to force him to take some money. He refused and quietly left us to celebrate having beds to sleep in for the night.

Climbing the Catherdral

Today we left the doors of our apartment with no specific plans in mind. On the walk into the center of town we stopped for some cheap tapas and a look at the map.

We decided to climb to the top of the Seville Cathedral (the minaret). It is said to be the largest Gothic cathedral (although not all of it appears to be gothic architecture) and the third largest church in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also claims to be the burial site for Christopher Columbus.

       Facade of the Catherdral.

The Catherdal contains 80 chapels in which 500 masses were said daily in 1896.

 No excuses here for not making mass! 

The boys had fun taking photos and enjoying the art/architecture from different angles.

We then climbed the 35 ramps (no stairs because horses and donkeys won't make the climb down) to the balconey for a great view of Sevilla.

Afterwards, Mabret and Roman did a quick search of "fun" things to do in Sevilla. To their surprise, it ended up we found a hair salon and both boys got a quick clean up and cut.

Looking good gentlemen!

Peace out from Sevilla