¡La Primavera!...casi

I started this post about a week and a bit ago. Fail. But also enjoy!


It's springtime here in Madird! Well...almost. The weather here has been absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately today it's gone back to cold. But we got a taste of what is to come!

On Friday I went on a little trip with two auxiliares: Arvid, an assistant from Holland, Alix, a new assistant to Valdevernardo from the states, and two teachers from Valdebernardo: Marta and Ana. We all met outside Marta's apartment at 10am, ready to leave on our daytrip. Beforehand, Arvid, Alix and I met up and went to Dia to buy some supplies for the picnic we would have later that day. We bought lots of delicious fruits, cheeses, bread and other snacks. We set off in Marta's car, through Madrid, and headed towards El Escorial.

Our first stop was 'Valle de los caidos' (Valley of the fallen). It is a basilica and a memorial monument. It was really a beautiful place, but it is apparently quite controvertial as the monument was concieved by Franco. It is also the place where Franco's tomb is. We only looked from the bottom of the monument, but I really thought it was a beautiful place.

Valle de los caidos

After we looked around, we got back into the car and made our way to El Escorial. We went to the Monasterio de El Escorial which was amazing! We look a tour (in spanish. Great practice! If only the tour guide spoke louder). We walked through alot of the Monestary and visited all the old rooms with big paintings and tapestries. It was absolutely FREEZING inside despite the beautifully warm day outside. My feet were freezing off because I stupidly wore ballet flats with no socks/stockings etc. After our visit there we decided it was time for lunch.

Monasterio de El Escorial

We all brought something for lunch to share. We found a little picnic site by the side of the road with picnic tables and in the lovely warm sun. We all ate some of Marta's lovely tortilla, some empanada that Ana brought and some cheeses, bread, fresh strawberries, chip and other delights! It was SO nice to be sitting in the sun and enjoying food and lovely company. This is exactly what I wanted to do in Spain! Hopefully there will be many more days like this!

The Valdebernardo gang

After lunch we went for a drive to see if we could go to a particular place to go for a bit of a walk, but unfortunately we didnt have enough time. Instead we went to a cafe that Marta suggested. We sat down and had cafe con leche (tea for me) and had a nice chat with each other and with the owner of the place. We even got to try some free cheesecake and muffins, even though we were stuffed from lunch!

We finally started to make our way back to Madrid around 6pm. Marta had to be back in Madrid at 7pm. We arrived in the general Madrid area at around 6:50, but after making a wrong turn off on the freeway we ended up somewhere else. This lengthened the trip by an extra hour. It was pretty hilarious, but also bad because we knew Marta had to be back home in time to go somewhere else =S

It was such a lovely day! These are the kinds of days I really enjoy here in Spain. Lovely company, food and great places.