We have a new car. It’s a Citroen 4 door luxury car. Black. You can’t rent cars for more than a week or two in Europe so we are leasing it. The way the guy went over all the instructions, and the way it smells like a new car, you could tell it was ours. No pressure!
Taxi to the car-lease hut, and off we go to the north with our soothing GPS lady telling us how to get to Miraflores de la Sierra. Meanwhile, the skies are clouding over, we see intermittent bolts of lightening and rain comes and goes (the thunder is drowned out by the GPS lady).
The gas gauge is an issue so we pull over for gas at a hill side spot on the way up to Miraflores. Bathroom, gas up, buy a Coke Lite, and the music on the radio turns to Happy by Pharrell Williams! This song is turning into our personal anthem. It played in the airport. It played in the zoo. Each time we hear it we all get a groove on, smile and sing. We are a bit of a scene. Let me tell you that dancing and singing to Happy at an isolated, stark, gas station by ourselves was one of those fleeting joyous moments you wish you could bottle and unleash as needed throughout your life.
(I’m afraid Medium is barely letting us upload photos so the video will have to wait)
Just seconds after I stopped the video, ear splitting thunder rolled around us. Laughter and excitement and onward.
Curving up through Miraflores was very anxious because what if we don’t like it?! We’ve paid for three whole weeks! The town is very difficult to describe. A mix of old town quaint but also developed enough to be suffering from the unfortunate economy. A cute old square and sweet old small streets with newer much uglier buildings peppered throughout. Lots of for sale and for rent signs. Many things are boarded up and closed.
Villa Maria Teresa is the name of our home for now. Walking through these rooms for the first time with the thunder and lightening was down right spooky. Memorable for sure. It was built at the turn of the century but seems even older. The windows have metal shutters on the outside and wooden shutters on the inside. All of the doors and windows are original and surprisingly functional but difficult to maneuver. There are two staircases which are equally suicidal but for different reasons. One is new but frighteningly steep and the other must be original; the tiles are loose and the treads have wood trim which are giving way. The kitchen is in the basement with stone flooring. I have a new appreciation for exposed lightbulbs. The design/decor here is what I’ve dubbed ‘Rustic Lux’. Very minimal. Very old world. Is there really any need to cover a lightbulb? Apparently no. And it provides it’s own sense of style!
Our Madrid city experience had small accommodations with modern, efficient amenities. There was no view or pool, comfortable beds, and gleaming showers. You couldn’t walk for more than two minutes before seeing a lovely play park. Hardly any dogs. Sophisticated people, well dressed and many speak English. Miraflores and Villa Maria Teresa are the opposite in pretty much every way. The house is huge (Can’t wait for Brian and Amber to get here!), drafty, and everything you see and touch (with the exception of the oven) is old and partially broken. The view here is stunning. Miraflores doesn’t offer much in the way of play parks. Dogs are everywhere and the people don’t speak English and are pretty earthy.
That first day was so dark and cold, the town seemed deserted. We managed to get some lunch at a quiet restaurant where Anja devoured her first calamari (it was especially delish).
The next day we drove to a neighboring town to see a castle!…..the best preserved medieval castle in the whole Madrid area.
Today (day four), I really wanted one of those ‘do nothing summer days’. Where the kids stay in jammies as long as they want, teeth-brushing is optional and if it’s warm enough, they run feral outside. This moment, right this moment is a perfect moment; it’s mid day, the kids are in various states of undress, taking turns throwing socks into the pool and fishing it out with the net. They each just peed outside. It’s sunny and I’m sitting at our outdoor patio table. Even during a blessed two month summer family sabbatical in Spain, these moments are few and far between. I think we irrationally thought most of the trip would be like this but it’s still real life (Duh). Laundry, teeth brushing, navigating food/vitamin/fiber intake for Johan, sleep issues, cooking, dishes… cooking, dishes, grocery shopping. I’m not whining, although it might seem like it. Doing these things in a majestic house in the exurbs of Madrid is certainly more interesting and exciting than at home but it’s also a bit more stressful.
The one thing I feel genuinely bad about is not having friends for the kids. Sometimes they play with Spanish kids in the plaza or play park but the language barrier is tough. So they are forced to play with each other which is good and bad. Good because they are bonding but bad because they get sooooo sick of each other! I think we are all sick of each other quite honestly. Randy and I are scheming potential side trips … either a parent with a kid or just a parent to ‘get away’. We are still contemplating going to Pamplona for San Fermin but it’s expensive and certain to be rowdy.
Day two we went for a long very beautiful hike nearby. The kids made it to the tippy top! Go kids! Sunny but chilly in the wind…I got a massive rookie sunburn on my shoulders. This area is popular for outdoor sports. Mainly hiking and biking. The bikers are everywhere! On these super narrow winding roads. It’s crazy and looks hot and difficult! After the hike we drove onto a tiny town. Rascafria…on the other side of the mountain pass where we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant with an open meadow.
Yesterday we celebrated a full week in Spain by taking the train into Madrid (30 min drive to station from here and another 20 min train right to center of city) to see the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, get coffees at STARBUCKS, go to a MALL to see a MOVIE (the greatest pirate fairy movie ever made—yes it was in Spanish) and buy TOYS. By the time we got back we were all exhausted, short on patience, hungry and we still needed to make dinner. Kids are getting to bed well after 10:00 these days.
Apparently Miraflores is famous for the it’s cheese and honey. If we can manage to get dressed and (maybe) brush teeth, we might venture out to explore a cheese making place where they make and sell both.
Johan has this to say today: “I got my first nerf water gun. I liked it better in the first house because it was newer. But I like the Legos here. It is fun at the zoo. I wonder what the Warner Brothers park will be like. The food here is strange. I learned how to make a water bomb out of paper”.
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