Up early and off to the airport. We arrived in Madrid and waited in a line of 100 people to catch a taxi. The line went surprisingly fast and with some of my broken Spanish I was able to get us to our hotel where we were meeting Sam's schoolmates. Where they are staying is right in the heart of the downtown at the Puerta Del Sol with all kinds of street performers and restaurants and great people watching. We wandered across the pedestrian plaza area and found our hotel just off the square. Inside we walked right into Sam's Spanish teacher, Ms Huser. Sam went and said hello to his friends Nick and Alex who he is sharing a triple room with. I dropped my bags off in my room and then the boys and I went out exploring. They had arrived a few hours earlier and had already been out for lunch and some of the kids were resting in the hotel. We walked the streets and found some engaging reality photo art exhibition in front of the Opera House and had fun taking pictures. We also stopped at a chocolate shop and inside they were selling what I would describe as Spanish Fondue. We had 4 pretzel looking churros and then a pot of warm dipping chocolate. We would dip the ends of our plain churros into the chocolate.... Oh my heavens was it good!!! Could be one of the best things I have had while in Europe. Tomorrow I hope to go and get a waffle, with a side of dipping chocolate. Our pot of chocolate and 5 churros was only 3 Euro!
We regrouped back in our rooms before dinner and meeting up with the rest of the group. I leave tomorrow morning but Sam and his classmates are with a few other kids from different schools. The leader is awesome!! Her name is Lisa and after dinner we talked for a bit about traveling and how much she loves to travel. This past year she spent 3 months backpacking around India! Hard core, is all I can say. She stayed in hostels and took trains all over the country. Loved hearing about her travels. She does student tours in Portugal so she also gave me some pointers for my trip there for the next week- which I am really excited about and have made no plans for ;)
It is all coming together because my friend Kim (Gorland) Hirsch, one of my besties from high school, has a home there and she just sent me an email too with a bunch of great places to visit that she recommends. Thanks Kim for all the great suggestions this trip, in France too. I will meet back up with the kids in Malaga next Thursday. Fun to see Sam all independent and happy to be with his friends although it reminded me how independent he is getting. When I offered him to come hang a little before bed tonight and he was just wanting to hang with his friends. I get it and I am glad he is good to be on his own, but a reminder that this was just a perfect time for me to have done this trip and to get this quality time with him before he really picks his friends over his mom ;( Love that boy. So grateful for this time.
We regrouped back in our rooms before dinner and meeting up with the rest of the group. I leave tomorrow morning but Sam and his classmates are with a few other kids from different schools. The leader is awesome!! Her name is Lisa and after dinner we talked for a bit about traveling and how much she loves to travel. This past year she spent 3 months backpacking around India! Hard core, is all I can say. She stayed in hostels and took trains all over the country. Loved hearing about her travels. She does student tours in Portugal so she also gave me some pointers for my trip there for the next week- which I am really excited about and have made no plans for ;)
It is all coming together because my friend Kim (Gorland) Hirsch, one of my besties from high school, has a home there and she just sent me an email too with a bunch of great places to visit that she recommends. Thanks Kim for all the great suggestions this trip, in France too. I will meet back up with the kids in Malaga next Thursday. Fun to see Sam all independent and happy to be with his friends although it reminded me how independent he is getting. When I offered him to come hang a little before bed tonight and he was just wanting to hang with his friends. I get it and I am glad he is good to be on his own, but a reminder that this was just a perfect time for me to have done this trip and to get this quality time with him before he really picks his friends over his mom ;( Love that boy. So grateful for this time.
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