Day 1: The plane rushed through the sky as Mom, Dad, Ishan, and Maya were waiting to get to Rome, Italy!  After around nine hours, they had made it. We were all ready and excited to begin a new journey! They walked out of the plane, very tired. They heavily stomped over to departure, when Maya realized that they weren't supposed to be there, but Mom and Dad said that they should, so they did. When they got there, there was surprisingly no line. So they started putting our bags in when this lady noticed them, and asked them where they were going. Mom told her that we were not going anywhere so they left when they realized that they were not supposed to be there. Next, they needed to figure out where to go next. Mom found the place where they got stamps on their passports. They joined the line. The line was so long that Mom, Dad,Ishan, and Maya couldn’t even see the whole line. When they got half way through the line, They could hear sounds everywhere. Maya, and maybeI shan,Mom,and Dad noticed these things: There was a smoking room (yuck!), and the toilets were different. So the flush on the top. As they rushed out of the airport, dad saw this sign that said, “ In Rome, take your time,” and so whenever something was taking such a long time in Rome, dad would always say to the family,”In Rome, take your time “ and after awhile it got quite annoying to Mom, Is han, and Maya. They got a taxi, and went to their first hotel. They walked in to find a fancy hotel. They went to the front desk and a kind lady said they were early for their room, so they sat down for a while and the lady gave them chips and cappuccinos. Maya is 9, so she got a sip and she thought it was very bitter. Ishan was 13, and he loved it, and Mom and Dad liked it because they’re adults. After a couple minutes, they all decided to get out of the hotel until their room was ready. They walked aimlessly around Rome for a while to just get used to their surroundings - Spanish steps, boujee shopping, food galore, with a beautiful natural scenic backdrop. Later,  they wanted gelato, so Mom looked up good gelato places to go to. 

              When they found  one, they decided to wait in a line for it. After, they ordered. Maya ordered plain vanilla. Mom and Ishan ordered pistachio. Dad ended up getting a peanut butter flavor he found. The gelateria known as Giolotti’s, is a famous tourist destination for gelato in Rome. After everyone had their fill of gelato, they decided to go to the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are a very tourist-packed area with lots of history. They were made during the 1600s when the Spanish conquistadors came to Italy. We then walked down to the Trevi Fountain, which is a fountain showing the pledging that the Italians did 500 years ago to God and jesus.s Dad remembered visiting Trevi fountain over 25 years ago when he was 18 with his parents. It was a statue of Jesus holding his hand out. It was made out of marble and stone. It was quite a breathtaking site to endure. After the Trevi Fountain, they went back to the room, which was ready after a few hours. Once they went to their room, they took a nap altogether, for about 5 hours before we got back up to go to the bar in the hotel. When they went there, they made friends with the bartender. After we met with the bartender they went to a nice park walking distance from the hotel where Maya and Ishan rode these red bicycle contraptions and rode around the park. After that, they came back to the hotel and rested. Once they were finished resting up, they went to dinner.  The dinner was at a fancy restaurant and a big tourist attraction. It was a late dinner, because we left the hotel at 8. We ate pasta dishes including pasta amatriciana, pasta carbonara, ravioli, and great cheeses. 

 

Day 2:

The next day, we woke up tired, as the dinner was 2 and a half hours long the night before, so we went to bed at around 11 o’ clock. First thing we did was get ready for a pasta making class. We arrived along with a few other families. When we went inside, we made pasta, the sauce, and gelato all from scratch. First we took flour and created a circle with a hole in the middle. Then we placed an egg and gently folded the flour into the egg until it formed a dough. We put the dough in the fridge, and while we waited we made the sauce. Maya volunteered to help mix the sauce. After the sauce was made, we took the dough and used a machine to flatten it to a sheet. Then, we used a tool with strings like a guitar. We put the dough on top to cut small strips of noodles. After we finished making it, they waited for the food to cook and they went and ate all of it. After that, we walked back to our hotel and relaxed for a few hours. By then it was around 4:30 and we were about to leave for the AS Roma soccer game at the Stadio del Olimpico. However, while we went to get an early dinner, it started to hail, so we got to the soccer game a little bit late. The score of the game was 3-0 Roma. They played a team called Sampdoria, who was bottom of the league. Then, on our way back, it was raining incredibly hard and all the taxis were booked up. So, we decided to walk back to our hotel. Once we got back, we were all soaking, so we really enjoyed a nice shower. 

 

Day 3:  After breakfast, we went to Vatican City, the world's smallest country and the home of the Pope. There, we learned a lot of history and a beautiful cathedral at the end, some of which being many different sculptures in paintings made by some of the greatest artists of that time such as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. We also learned a lot about the pope and the history of all the Pope’s transportation methods. For example, the Pope’s in the 1600s used beautiful gold chariots to get to places, while the newest Pope, John Paul II, used a fancy Rolls Royce. We also saw the Chistine Chapel which is home to some of Michelangelo’s most famous paintings and took over 10 years to build. It is an incredibly sacred place and we were forced to be silent during our duration there. Apparently, Michelangelo was in that room 10 hours a day for 10 years, working in a very challenging environment painting complex sculptures upside down lying on what must have been some sort of scaffolding structure close to the ceiling. He even left a symbol to his state of mind during this time of his life. In the painting it depicted him with his skin incredibly loose and scraggly, and it was hanging on a pole, the sign of a troubled soul. After that, we went back and relaxed for a few hours before going back to it. Dinner wasn’t very fancy and after that, we went to bed. 

 

Day 4: The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and  left for the coliseum. When we got to the coliseum, we found our tour guide, and went in. She said that it used to be very beautiful, colorful, and made of something like marble. But they removed them and put them in St. Peter's church. She also said the Colosseum was made for fights, and people and animals would fight until death. They did this to entertain the emperors. It was damaged by an earthquake but  it still stood strong. And then, after the tour, we went to lunch.We learned a lot. For example, over 2000 years ago, the emperors would watch peasants fight to the death. The soldiers also fought animals to the death, and to make the animals more aggressive, they wouldn't give the animals any food for days. Although it was quite disturbing the restrooms used back then were wide open rooms with no circulation and shared rags used for toilet paper.The architect is beautiful. It is completely made out of stone after they took away all the gems and beautiful accessories for Vatican city. When we finished, we went back to the hotel, and prepared for the next day. 

 

Day 5: When we woke up the next day, we started packing our bags for Florence. When we called the Uber, we thought it was only going to take 5 minutes, but it took 30 minutes for the Uber to come and we were super rushed. We then ushered the Uber driver to drive as fast as he could and he got us there with 10 minutes to spare. We had confusion during check-in so that cut our time limit to 5 minutes. Once we were told what to do, we sprinted towards the train. The train was literally about to leave in 20 seconds. We got front row seats so we had to run as fast as we could with our suitcases to get onboard. Once we got onboard the train started moving, as we barely made it. The high speed train went over 200 mph over a scenic green landscape. After a pretty uneventful ride, we started to leave the train when an Indian family lost their passports. We tried to help them look for it but we found it nowhere. We gave our amends and left the train station. Because our hotel was walking distance from the train station, we walked for about a mile before stepping into an incredibly nice hotel. After we checked in, they told us the room was not ready so we left to go see the statue of David, an incredibly famous piece of sculpting by Michelangelo. However, the crowd was immense. The line went all the way to the other street. Realizing the wait wasn’t worth it, we walked back. While we were walking back, Ishan was bored so he pretended to be about to step on a street artist’s work. Reasonably, the guy got mad and he was scared of street artists for the rest of the trip. We then went to a famous food court in Florence and had lunch there. There were many things ranging from pasta to tapas and even to american burgers. After we hung there for a few hours we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit. After that, we went to a tourist-attracted restaurant and Maya tried truffle potatoes for the first time, and she completely fell in love with it and even now, she begs for them every time she gets the chance. After that scrumptious dinner, we went to bed for the long day coming up.

 

Day 6: The next day, we woke up early to get ready for a bike ride all through Tuscany. The place was farther from other places we’ve been, so it took a little while, but once we got there, we went behind a little shed and got our bikes. Maya, however, after she got her bike, was quite upset because she couldn’t ride up the skinny hill leading to the road, so she couldn’t ride by herself. In anger, she gave back the bike and started silently crying for a good 30 minutes. Because we were at a party of bikers, we had to wait for everyone else. Once we left, Maya being in a little bike attached to Summit’s bike, we went all the way to the Medici family's house. The Medici family was incredibly important in the prosperity and creation of Florence. A prominent family of bankers who made a fortune in trade and created a family legacy centered around power, prestige and corruption before their downfall. Once we finished with that, our tour guide gave us lots of history lectures as we biked through beautiful rolling hills filled with different farms, crops, and vineyards. After we biked for around 2 hours, we had lunch at a local restaurant in Tuscany. The first thing we had were freshly made bread and olive oil. Because this was on a farm, the olive oil was made a few minutes before, so it tasted incredible. The adults tried some famous wines, as Tuscany is known for having some of the world's best wines due to their abundance of vineyards. After we had our lunch, we went down to the garden and explored for around half an hour before turning back home. After another breathtaking experience riding through Tuscany, we ended on these steps just outside the city, with a decent view of it. After that, we continued to ride back all the way to where we started, at the shed. Then, we decided to walk back to the hotel. After a really tiring day, we relaxed for a few hours until it reached around 7 o’ clock. We then went to an incredibly fancy place, which is known for having the world’s best steak ever made. Despite not eating steak, we had to try some, just to be respectful and it was very good. After we had that and a few other condiments, we headed back t; o the hotel. The next day, we went on a food tour in the morning. We went back to the supermarket to try some gourmet cheese and meats. We also had some great local bread and olive oil. We also had some seafood like shrimp, calamari, and fish. And then we ended on some gelato, which was incredible. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the pantheon, which is a 2000 year old temple which was made even before christianity started. It was a Pagan temple, but was later turned into a Christian worship area. The line went all the way down the street, but it only took us around 10 minutes to get in surprisingly. After that, we went exploring around Florence, in case we wanted to go somewhere during our free time. We ended up splitting up to go shopping for a few hours. When we came back with all of our stuff, we started to pack, because tomorrow was our last day in Italy. 

Day 7: Fast forward to that morning, we woke up, having our suitcases on the floor. We went down for breakfast and got ready for the driving tour. We would go to different places other than Florence and enjoy food and culture there. This included a trip to St Gimignano, a small town 40 km or so from Florence itself used to identify and protect the city from intruders. The highlight of this day trip by far was our lunch at a beautiful vineyard set in rolling green hills. We had a scrumptious meal outside full of a range of truffle oils and breads, overlooking vineyards and olive trees. Mom and dad enjoyed it so much they ended up buying and shipping a case of wines and oils back home. 

Peru Blog (2022)

Overall our Peru trip with Adventures by Disney was epic and truly memorable for all four of us. Peru is a beautiful country with scenic landscapes and whose Incan history lives strong and is deeply embedded into the culture to this day.  The local Adventure by Disney guides (Harvey and Rudy) created a safe, flexible and fun environment throughout our eight day adventure while navigating a group of 25 fairly privileged Americans through planes, trains, buses, oxygen deprivation, riots, stomach bugs and even Alpacas/Llamas. Every detail was well thought out across a variety of adventures including white water rafting, lots (and lots) of savory Peruvian cuisines, temples, Manchu Piccu, Salt Mines, local markets, amongst others. What stood out most was the guides ability to adapt in real time and create a positive experience for a group spanning ages 6 to 55. Also their ability to convey and often share contrary perspectives (as compared to West) of their history through data and story telling was quite impressive (thanks Adventures by Disney for empowering them to share).  

Really proud of Ishan and Maya for capturing and sharing their view of our Peru trip in the paragraphs that follow.  I found their story comical and eye opening to read the things that stood out to them. Although each of our experiences were unique, I'd like to think the common thread across all four of us was a set of rich experiences (with each other) that I hope gets inked within each of individual life memoirs....

 Day 1 of the Peru Trip,

               The flight to Peru was kind of crazy and chaotic. The first thing that had happened was that Delta ended up completely cancelling our flight from Atlanta to Lima. It was a very tough situation to be in and we were on hold for two hours before the great news happened. If we were to go, we would have to spend more than 10,000 dollars just to get to Lima which is the capital city of Peru. The great news was that they rebooked our flight and we got to sleep comfortably for a six-hour flight at midnight until 5 in the morning. Once we finally got to the Lima airport, we met up with the people we were traveling with who were my dad’s best friend’s family. We went into two separate tour buses to a nice hotel called the Westin. They have them in the U.S if you’re familiar with the name. After that, we immediately tried to get as much sleep as possible. But luck wasn’t on our side. Apparently, the key to the room that we were staying in didn’t work in the slightest. It took about another hour to get the key to work as they came up and down many times. At least that is what I heard, you see, me and Maya were in the room with my dad’s friends. We spent that time relaxing on our devices until the room key finally worked and we had a peaceful three-hour nap. After that peaceful and relaxing nap, we went out to walk around in the city. There we saw some pretty interesting things like an off-brand Dunkin’ Donuts, many off-brand vehicles such as a space wagon which is probably the weirdest car I have ever seen in my entire life. Once we finished that, we got back to the hotel and were greeted with one of our tour guides named Harvey. He told us what we needed and how we can avoid sicknesses and to keep air circulation due to the high altitudes. He also gave us some water bottles which we decorated with stickers and markers. After that, we headed back to the hotel where we went to bed at around 8.

 Day 2,

               Day 2 was also insane. The first thing we did was pack up our bags and head straight to a city called Cusco, known for having high altitudes and many different Incan relics and structures. It is also the capital city of the Incas except the people in Cusco build right on top of it. In fact, some of the rocks used to make the city are still intact after such a long time. After we got to Cusco through an airline called Latam airlines. Once we got there, we took a bus out of Cusco and into a place called the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley extended for many miles and holds most of the Incan structures such as Maccu Piccu, and many terraces used for agricultural reasons. The Hotel that we stayed in was a place called Sol y Luna near the base of the valley. It wasn’t a hotel but rather a rental neighborhood lined with different houses called casitas, which were small and had ceramic rooftops.  Truth is, we ended up staying there for another four days. But before all of this happened, we took a trip up to the highest point in all of Cusco. There, we did many things one of which included one of the best lunches I have ever had in my entire life. We were also taught how these people make their clothes. In fact, they handmake them through Llama and Alpaca wool. It takes months to create only one piece of clothing. But the extreme care and precision put into it was what made it special. After that, I ended up almost passing out due to lack of air. That is why it was really important to drink water up there as it keeps blood flowing throughout your body. My mom was completely freaking out and took unnecessary precautions. Other than that, day 2 was solid and an exhilarating start to the vacation.  

Day 3,

    Day 3 was one of the most fun days throughout the trip for one particular reason. We went white water rafting. Unfortunately for me, it was the dry season so the waves were not as harsh so nobody fell out of the raft. It was slow and boring mostly until near the end where there were some stage 2's and 3's. We also had a revolution against one boat who repeatedly splashed people. After that incredibly cold morning, we went to a place called ollantaytambo where we walked up a very important Incan terrace. During that incredibly long and tedious staircase which by the way, I had to go to the restroom the entire time going up, we learned many cool things about the Incans. One thing is the fact that all the terraces in the sacred valley were made for agriculture and trust me, every mountain you see, there are many, many terraces. We also learned how intricate and hard the stones were to make and place. They had to walk many miles carrying 50 pounds of pure rock just to have to chisel them correctly and if you fail the math, you have to destroy all that work. The Inca's didn't have a set deadline. They didn't care how long it took. It was for the community is what we were taught. After that, we headed back to the hotel to be greeted with a front row seat to a sweet dinner, with freshly baked stones and they stone cooked chicken, and much more. I then almost passed out again for the same reason. After the unexpected turn of events, they put on a show resembling the son and moon gods. Of course, I didn't really understand what was going on because it was in Spanish. The next thing that we did was watch a movie called the Emperor's New Groove. It was more for little kids, so I didn't really enjoy it that much. Then, we played some games like Mafia. After that, we had a peaceful rest for what was in store for us the next day. 

  Day 4,

    
 Day 4 was really cool. We went to the Moray ruins to learn about the way that they stopped rainfall. They ended up using a circular formation to have all the rainwater go to the center, stopping floods and providing more water for agriculture. It was really interesting. After that, we went to some salt flats where we learned a lot about salt. Not the most useful thing to know, but it was really cool. After that, we basically had the rest of the day to ourselves. For dinner, we ended up making pizza dough that was probably thrown in the trash because when we were served our dough, it wasn't even the same dough. We had some pizza and then played some soccer afterwards. Then, one of the best days was to come the next day.

Day 5, 

    Day 5 was the day we went to Maccu Piccu. It was definitely one of the most fun and long days of the trip. We first took a 30 minute drive to the train station to a place called Maccu Piccu Pueblo. It was a small town next to Maccu Piccu. We took a tour around the town and learned that the three sacred animals of the Incas were the Puma, the Andean Condor, the second largest flying bird in the world, and the snake. After about 2 hours of touring the town, we got onto the bus to get to the top of the mountain. Once we got up there, we saw much more greenery than the rest of the Andes. We were right next to the Amazon River. We learned that Maccu Piccu means old mountain. Once we took about a gigabyte of pictures, we went down to the actual city itself. The build was to take over another 100 years to complete which is really crazy of how big the city was to be. We saw so many storage rooms and residences. Next to the city there were more terraces for agricultural reasons. After that, we headed back to Sol y Luna at about 8 and had a large dinner there. The next day will be just as eventful as the next one. 

Day 6, 

    Day 6 we went somewhere called the Pisac Market and searched the markets for something cool to buy for a white elephant gift. I ended up getting a flute with an Andean Condor on it. Maya got a blue Llama stuffed animal. My mom got a handwoven purse to hold things such as passports. My dad got some maracas, which to be honest were the most useless gift there was. After that, we had lunch at a local Peruvian kitchen. We then, took a trip to the city of Cusco where we were introduced with a new hotel that was much nicer than Sol y Luna. We then got to explore the city of Cusco and looked around for places to eat, and whatnot. For dinner, my family and some other family went out to a place called Incanto. It had some good food there, with some starting bread and much more. After that, we headed back to the hotel for a nice sleep before our flight back to Atlanta. 

Day 7,

    Day 7 we went to a place called Sacsayhuaman. Sometimes mistaken to sexy woman... Guys cut that out of the blog. It's not kid friendly Anyways, we went there and learned how much of the Incas were technologically advanced. They had a whole new concept of math, which allowed towers of rocks that were still there not to fall. We also learned this is the third largest structure in the world. We also learned that Cusco was shaped like a Puma and Sacsayhuaman was the head of the Puma. After that, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed until the farewell dinner. During the farewell dinner, we each exchanged the white elephant gifts with each other which took about thirty minutes. After th
at, they got a bunch of people in masks to start partying before we ate. After the 30 minute party, we finally were able to start eating our food. However, ten minutes later we had to go and I didn't know where my jacket was. I remembered I left it in the restroom, but when I went to check, someone forgot to lock the door to the bathroom, and I walked in on someone pooping, which was kind of wierd, but my dad asked him if there was a jacket in there, and there was so after that, we headed to the Cusco Airport to head to Lima. And then from Lima we would head to Atlanta, and that is the end of the Peru trip.

2019 Spain Spring Break Trip

Our flight left at 6pm EST March 30 2019 having us travel overnight arriving in Barcelona the following morning. The kids did well on the flight having slept 4 or 5 hours, Unfortunately Radhika was sitting by the restroom and wasn’t able to sleep at all with all the special flushing sounds throughout the night — being exhausted she had a moment of admiration as we left the plane and walked by first class thinking about what it would have been like to be in a flush free zone. 

Day 1

Our driver showed up proudly displaying a Costco sign and took us to the hotel.  We knew that we booked a nice hotel but Having booked through Costco was surprised by how nice our lodging was at the Fairmont Re Juan Carlos.  Felt more like they scoured our browser history and gave us options right out of the Amex fine resorts and hotel program. 

The kids had a second wind so took them down to the lobby so radhika could get some rest and then we all siesta(ed) together for a few hours before we went out for the afternoon.  At 2:30 e took a taxi to downtown Barcelona to meet our guide for the food tour.  

Her name was Lucy, a German born Armanian body builder who spoke 5 languages and had lived in Barcelona for past 15 years. She was very warm and friendly, felt much less than a tour (never did see the scavenger hunt for kids advertised) but more like running into a stranger you met on the street knew the area well and knew where the good eats were and was up for sharing stories. The first stop was at Petritxol Xocoa for chorros and warm chocolate.   

Then a walk around (not on) shops and stores nearby La Rambla, including beautifully architected buildings with narrow streets and a creative art and books store with live-in cats running around to add that bit of Spanish authenticity - one of maya favorite parts. 

Then for tapas and drinks at a hole in the wall establishment a bit off the beaten path (we would have never thought to stop their on our own) called Medizabal — beers, vermouth (wine and herbs), potatoes drizzled in a white sauce, bread topped with homemade tomato sauce topped and Iberian ham — yummy.  

More sights including an odd mix of a retired hospital that Gaudi died in surrounded by orange trees and homeless people and right next door a fancy garden bar with a vegetable garden in the center. A huge metal statue of a cat that I didn’t follow the symbolism of other than rubbing its private parts giving good luck- which off course we all did.  

And then a trip to the top of Barcelo Raval  hotel — a super modern pink themed punk type establishment with 360 views of Barcelona from the rooftop. 

One last food stop on career de Blai at Blai 9 for Pinxos (tapas with toothpicks).  We then said good bye to our tour guide and acquaintance Lucie for the nigh - not at all what we expected from a food tour but all in all felt like the experience was worth the money being with someone warm and friendly who helped orient us to the area and who you felt gave you a strong experience at the right food and drink spots.   

We ventured on the local train which was surprising easy to navigate despite everything being in Spanish and then a short walk back to the hotel for the night. 

A great first day and proud of the kids for taking strong run at the day despite the jet lag and overstimulated minds so far from home. 

A fairly good night sleep expect for A quick middle of night throw up and clean up given Maya’s excitement and new mix of chocolate and coke intake from the evening before. 

Day 2

The day started off with an unexpectedly good  breakfast buffet at the hotel.  The food seems so fresh and presented so eloquently, wasn’t sure whether it was the bouginess of where were staying or part of euro swagger.  We walked from our hotel 20 minutes to do a tour of the stadium where Barcelona soccer team plays.  We got an audio tour, saw lots of statistics and got a few awesome views of the field (even a VR experience). All sorts of team statistics and endless reams of video of Barcelona doing great things which I won’t remember - what I will remember is how deeply influential this sport team has shaped the culture and politics here and how revered a small team of 11 players in defining what’s possible to the gigantic self sustaining economy that has spun up around being the best.  

After the tour we decided to go back on the train to the La Rambla area to catch the market for lunch.  The market was booming with unbelievably vivid colors everywhere — the rainbow of fresh fruits and juices all over the place, fresh meats of all sorts being cut directly off the animals with leg hoofs and body parts on display. Maya wasn’t feeling so well but seemed to enjoy the experience and Ishan left with his belly full.  Oranges, strawberries, empanadas, chorizo on a stick and a seafood melody jewels from the sea was a sampling of our menu. Octopus, oysters being shucked from the shell in front of us.  

We ventured back on the train - mom and maya siesta(ed) while Ishan read his new book and dad enjoyed a workout at the fancy gym. Later that night we went to a Mediterranean restaurant recommended by the hotel called La Gavina sitting right on the waterfront as dusk turned on the night skyline.  I munched on some seafood paella while mom had fresh San sabastian style guilt head sea bass accompanied with red wine. This along with jokes and lots of laughing made for a fantastic end to the evening. 

Day 3

Radhika started the day early with a run at the fancy gym while kids and I stayed fast asleep.  Another enjoyable and filling breakfast at the hotel and then off by taxi for a tour at the sagrada Família. The face of the Sagrada  (facets they called them) looked straight of the scene of a fairy tale. It was larger than life and had a surreal fairy tale look at first like something out of a scene of a Disney movie.  Fortunately we got a guided tour and got to skip the line and learned a lot about the primary architect Gaudi and the unthinkable level of detail and symbolism embedded all throughout.  In particular his interest in translating the design in nature into the architecture of the cathedral. After spending an hour inside the cathedral (and probably influenced by all the rhetoric about the inner zen Gaudi embedded beneath our feet) I did feel more peaceful and if nothing else appreciated that with the right vision, an endless money line, and a timeless legacy that  a larger than life imagination can in fact get translated into reality. 

We then roamed around park guell — another Gaudi creation.  Beautifully located with views from above of Barcelona sky line, lots of great picturesque photo opts in curvey rock formations and cavern like shapes. The experiences of the day tasted great with ice cream and then later in the evening a taste of home with pizza at a university walking distance from our hotel. 

Day 4

We said goodbye to Barcelona and found our way to the hi speed train off to Madrid.  This go around we stayed right in the heart of the city at gran Melia de fenix. After checking in we walked our way around the city - lots of activity all around.  Local People were dressed very well. Found a huge park of green amidst a busy city park Artio. A cool playground reminded the kids a bit of home (they are both quite home sick at this point especially maya). 

We found a small lake that we rented actual row boats from that took some muscle and coordination to navigate. Kids gave it a go and at the end Ishan got the mechanics of it pretty well.  Then we made our way to the shopping outlet at Zara and the kids rocked with choosing the clothes they liked.     

Day 5

We woke up very early to get to the high speed train to Toledo. The train was supposed to depart at 12:00 but since the Train was full we had to take the 1:00 train. The train took 30 minutes arrive at Toledo. The weather was a bit chilly there. First we took the bus tour around Toledo. We got to see the Alcazar and where the first people that found Toledo settled. When we finished the bus tour we explored the city for the last several hours. Some examples were the awesome sword shops,several churches and some from the 12th century,and other famous monuments. We even saw tools that humans used in Toledo from the 9th century. On the way back to the train station we stopped to get a few souvenirs. Then we took the train back to Madrid. When we arrived at the hotel we were all super tired. 

Day 6

We woke up on a rainy day and Ishan wore the hotel slippers for the first time. First thing we did after breakfast we went to the Prado Museum. The line was cray cray. Most people stood in the pouring rain. Me and Rads were so annoyed so they bought the tickets online. We got to cut the line sort of but when we went to check in the person said that you still need to get the tickets for the kids but the kids tickets didn’t cost any euros. Radhika went in the line but then they stopped the line for like 45 minutes. Then once we started to pass the person said that they needed to see the children in person. Then Rads screamed to get me and the kids attention to come down which wasted our time. Just to check in it took 1 whole hour. The Prado Museum was an art museum. Some of the paintings were gruesome because these were medieval. Some famous paintings were painted by Goya,Rembrandt, and other painters. 

We then ate nearby Prado at a restaurant called Terramundi where Mr. Ishan continued his advertous streak by eating octopus.

After that we went to the royal palace.  It was a fun place to tour with over 1000 rooms each decorated with a specific purpose and theme in mind. It reminded us of a real life beauty and the beast or frozen movie - we thought it fun to look at but living their everyday could be quite lonely.  

Afterwards we meandered around the city found a local park/playground to play in and found a taxi to return to airport just before a random hail storm started. We went back to the hotel with a mix of feelings; exhaustion from the day and excitement and sadness knowing that our trip was over and that the following day we would return home. 

Overall Spain was a fantastic first international trip with the kids.  Turns out the advice about picking a few locations to explore in more detail (vise trying to cram too many destinations) with young kids was spot on -  they were flexible, adventurous and resilient. I hope that you have enjoyed this first family blog and hope that this is a start of a new Sampat tradition for us.