Friday, May 8

On Thursday, per Rick Steve's advice, I bought tickets for my parents to see the Cathedral the next day.  His tour book for Spain is the one that my parents are using, and they're enjoying it.  His advice is to buy tickets ahead of time to avoid the long lines at the Cathedral.  And this can be done at the large church nearby, Iglesia del Salvador.  After buying the tickets, we'd taken a quick peek inside this church and my parents had the chance to see a paso up close.

On Friday, my parents were off on their own to the Cathedral and they just held up their tickets and they bypassed the whole line.

Meanwhile, I met the kids for lunch.  It was Rosa's day to choose and she chose ordering sandwiches at a bakery around the corner from school.  After eating lunch on a bench by the mushroom, we walked over to the "throwing shoes" playground.  More on that later.

On the way, we walked by a Clarks shoe store.  It was closed for siesta, but Rosa (and Devon) still wanted there photos taken and sent to Chloe.  

Chloe - this one's for you!

This is the "throwing shoes" playground.  The kids name all of the playgrounds.  This one is named as it is because it's often empty when we're there, and the game the kids like to play is for Devon to take off his shoes and then the 3 of them throw the shoes around.  It keeps them amused, so I let them do it.

After I dropped the kids back at school, I decided to try out a coffee shop that I'd seen weeks earlier, Cafe Red House.  It was the first time I've been here that I was served coffee in an American-sized cup.  Usually coffee (and beer) is served in tiny cups.  I'm finding that I get enough of a kick, from both, in the tiny cups.  But, it was wonderful to have the big mug.

Scott often gets home early on Fridays, and so he met me and we walked around a little bit.  After school we wanted to show my parents the rooftop of El Corte Ingles.  It has "The Gourmet Experience" inside which is like a high end food court.

Rosa's beautiful rose designed ice cream.

Devon's beautiful rose designed ice cream.

We all enjoyed our afternoon snacks (merienda) on the outdoor deck.

Afterwards, we went home and watched a movie to relax and to hold off on eating dinner until Spanish dinner time.

We went to Taberna El Panduro for our 2nd time.  It's one of our favorite restaurants here, and it's quite close.  

While at dinner, and unexpected parade went by.  It was like Semana Santa all over again.   

I'm so glad that my parents got to experience it.  The best way to understand it is to be here for it.  And while they weren't here for Semana Santa, they got a small taste of it.
This paso (religious float) was being carried by younger people.  We thought that they were paso carriers in training.  The route was much shorter than the route at Semana Santa time and the float had much fewer items on it.