On Friday the 21st of June, we left Madrid. 

What we were doing at 5:15 a.m.

The flight attendant couldn’t get the cable to latch to block off boarding. This scares me slighlty about the plane’s condition… <gulp>

Charlotte bound!

Getting ready to leave

Goodbye, Madrid! Hello, Charlotte!

On the 20th we all packed up, the boys for London that evening, and us for Good Ol’ Charlotte the next morning. The boys left around lunchtime and then we spent the rest of the day in Madrid. 

Leaving our apartment

Mom and Big Al saying goodbye

Mom and Dad on the escalator in the train station.

Andrew and Gus saying goodbye. Someone please explain to me why Gus tried to hug Andrew around his neck? Gus is a tiny peanut.

After leaving the boys we spent a little time in Madrid before we went to Pablo and Carolinas’ house.

Me and Fernando, their latest model. (Isn’t he CUTE!?!)

This little monster went through my purse and found some stuff to accessorize his pajamas. 🙂

Sitting around talking.

Poor Pablito was beat…

Isabela was instructing me and their au pair on how we (princesses) were supposed to act. 🙂

On the 19th we went to Toledo. Toledo is 70 km away from Madrid. We took a high-speed train that was very comfortable. We got into Toledo and took a bus around the outside of the city. After that we walked around. Toledo is famous for being known as the “City of the Three Cultures” because it was peacefully inhabited (and still is) by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Because of these three cultures it has a very interesting mix of architecture and art. 

The city from the outside.

Andrew and Dad with Toledo in the background.

Dad and Alex and some little ragamuffin that keeps tagging along with us. We think he escaped an orphanage.

The facade of the Catedral Primada Santa Maria de Toledo.

We went to the Alcazar and walked around it and the shops in the surrounding area. The Alcazar is most famous for when, during the Spanish Civil War, Colonel Jose Moscardo Ituarte held it against the Spanish Republican forces. The Repblican forces captured Jose’s son (Luis) who was 16 at the time and threatened to kill Luis if Jose didn’t surrender. So Jose talked to Luis and said “Then commend your soul to God, shout ‘Viva Cristo Rey’ and die like a hero.”. And so they killed him. However, in the end the Nationalists (Ituarte’s “side”) prevailed.

Family picture!

The Coat of Arms of Toledo.

At this point it was time for lunch. We got some cured meats, some fresh hot bread (he pulled it out of the oven and gave it to us. It was fantastic), some beer and some fruit and ate outside at a park bench in a lovely little area. Dad decided he was going to quit Market Source and become a hippie/bum. He immediately put this plan into action as you can see….

After leaving Toledo we went over to have dinner with a colleague and friend of dad’s and his family. At dinner we tried to take a picture and all the sudden everyone was picking up random bottles of alcohol. Augustin started it when he grabbed the Irish Cream and by the end we were all dying laughing.

Nice picture

Gus…. (and actually, little Alfonso, Alfonso’s son was giving us a thumbs up.)

And now it’s building…

Wow….