Day 138: Day Trip to the Medieval City of Toledo
Got up and went to Siclo again. Loved it.
We decided to join Lobsy and “The Sisters,” as Willa and James refer to them, on a daytrip to Toledo, which is about a 30 minute train ride away.
The kids were excited to spend the day with Lobsy and “The Sisters” but also sniffed out that this might be a historical tour of some sort. They put not this routine over breakfast — the first of a lifetime of making fun of mom and dad.
We caught the 11:20 am out of Puerta de Atoche train station and did some math work on the train ride, meeting up with the rest of the crew at the Toledo station (their seats were in a different car).
I’m not sure how this group ever gets from point A to point B. So many people with so many ideas and opinions! Somehow it works for them — but I feel like I’d be the worst addition to their mix because I’d just start impatiently bossing everyone around and herding them .
But for a day trip on their program I just went with the flow.
Eventually the full group started making our way toward a restaurant in the old city where we had made a 1 pm lunch reservation.
Abida was located in a 12th century abbey, and we had a long table in the basement in what looked like a long narrow barrel-vaulted alcove/former hallway.
While we waited for the table to be set, James made Belle and Karen play Rat-a-Tat-Cat — again. The kids continue to be obsessed with the game.
Lunch was tasty. Teddy and I shared tortilla (Spanish eggs and potatoes), tomato and tuna salad and ham/cheese croquettes. Kids got cod balls, a ham and cheese sandwich and shared a Sprite. Our waiter was a little French-like. No patience for a gabbing, indecisive, no-Spanish-speaking table of 10 Americans.
“Can you please hurry, I am very busy,” he huffed finally when we were trying to order. Excuuuuuuse us.
When lunch was done, the aunts peeled off to meet their guide for a three-hour walking tour they’d booked. We set out on our own, content to stroll around and eventually ride a little tour train.
The town is very cool, especially if you’re like me and love being able to put yourself into historic settings (I love a good diarama — and this one’s real!). With all the Game of Thrones we’re (still) watching, it was fun to walk narrow cobblestoned streets and see tiny balconies, moats, arches, old doors, etc.
Reminded me a little of Mont St. Michel in France, but I think that might be even cooler.
Is it touristy? YES. Must be brutal to be one of the 10,000 people who actually lives inside the old city walls. Like, I just want some milk and eggs — nope, sorry, every store in this city only sells suits of knight armor, replica swords and needlepoint pillow cases of dogs in medieval Spanish garb.
We bought tickets to explore inside the famous Cathedral, which was completed, after 250 years of construction, in the 1490s. One of the most beautiful cathedral interiors I’ve ever seen — and that includes Notre Dame and Chartres.
Willa and James love lighting candles in old churches. The novelty of it — matches, fire, making a wish, etc — is so exciting for them.
James lit one for baby cousin Teddy and Willa did one for cousin Crosby, baby Teddy….and Sergio, our host/butler at the fancy Villa Santorini back in Mozambique.
Why Sergio? “Well, I mean, he cooked all that food for us and picked us up from the airport.” Gratitude!
We continued walking. We were looking at the alter and James goes, “Is Church just STARING at all of this? It looks like it.”
Glad Lobsy didn’t hear that!
Speaking of, from across the cathedral we spotted the great aunts and their guide. Willa and James ran over and jumped on Belle, who almost had a heart attack.
The group was gathered around a smooth piece of marble worn down by lots of people touching it. Apparently you touch it for good luck/make a wish because it’s a said to be the spot where the Virgin Mary once appeared.
We overheard Willa explaining it to James: “You touch it and make a wish because Mary once stepped here. Whatever that means.”
At 4:15 pm the four of us boarded a little “train” to loop the old city. It was neat to see it all from outside the walls. The setting, with the blue blue sky and huge cumulus clouds, looked like an old school oil painting.
We were joined by about 100 Asian tourists. This couple in front of us on the train were in love with Willa, and kept smiling and waving at her. When we stopped to take a panorama photo of the city, the couple asked to take pictures with Willa and eventually James.
Willa and James were loving the celeb treatment so went with it.
James was like, “Didi never let us do that.” When we asked him to clarify, Willa explained that back in NYC, our nanny Didi would always shout “No!” at tourists near the Stock Exchange who’d try to take their pictures. We had no idea. Always funny to hear about about things like that that happened to the kids when we weren’t around.
Around this time I started to feel feverish and crummy. You know how it just hits you? So we sat on a bench, and then another one, and then cabbed to the train station to hang while waiting for our 7:20 pm train back to Madrid. Did some math and drawing.
The day ended with an easy ride back to the city, and a quick trip to the grocery store. We got the kids to sleep by 9:30 and watched a little Game of Thrones before crashing.
Tomorrow: Willa’s 7th birthday!
Miscellaneous 1: We’ve always put our kids to bed super early like 7/7:30. That’s changed a bit on this trip but never so much as here in Spain, where it doesn’t get dark until late. The kids are going to bed more like 9-10 pm — and it’s so fascinating how that impacts us.
I get SO MEAN after 8 pm. I think I’m just so over it and so used to having my own time in the evenings. I’ve exhausted all my patience and desire to parent by then. I really don’t know how parents do it who have kids who stay up late. It’s so annoying!! Go away, people!! Hahahahaha.
Miscellaneous 2: We had been asking for some pics of Molly from our friends at Silver Streak Dog Retirement. Here she is!
That’s our girl!
Here’s an update from the owner, with all punctuation copied / pasted: “Molly is easy to care for right now and does sleep a lot,,,her condition is still good ,,just a little food aggressive, ,otherwise she gets along with everybody”
