#4- Toledo and back to Madrid

After visiting La Mancha, we made our way to Toledo. What an incredible, quaint town. It's surrounded by a river and just feels romantic.


Cathedral in Toledo

The weather was crazy in Toledo. It literally poured on us! Everyone was staring at Doug because he had shorts on. We never saw any Europeans in shorts, the men prefer capris- not so cute on the male specie. I, of course, was wearing flip flops and had to buy an umbrella that broke after about 5 minutes of use. I was soaked from head to toe.


We stayed in the neatest place in Toledo. Doug found this old "home" that used to be some wealthy man's summer residence. It was surrounded by gardens and had an amazing view of Toledo. It felt like a bed and breakfast, even though the room had 2 twin beds!





We woke the next morning and headed back to Madrid to go to church. Doug was super excited to see people he had taught while he was on his Mission. I was a little nervous because that meant a lot of Spanish speaking for me. It was such an incredible experience. It was so neat to see those people Doug had taught while he was on his Mission. They were so excited to see him and catch-up on old times.

Ima and her fiance

After church Doug took me to the Madrid Temple and it was incredible. The grounds were beautiful and the temple was gorgeous. Doug was on his mission when the temple opened, so it was pretty amazing to come back and see how much had changed in 7 years. He couldn't believe how big the trees had grown.

Once again, off to another hostel. We were so ghetto! We went through our luggage on the street and left all of our dirty clothes in the car. Don't you love Doug's suitcase in the street!

Walking to the hostel in my heels.

The Post Office in Madrid- not too bad!

We got settled in the hostel and then made our way to Retiro Park. Nothing better than a huge park (I would compare it to Central Park) on a Sunday to people watch!
We rented a row boat and rowed around the lake. Doug had to remind me he had earned his rowing badge in Scouts and was a real show-off, doing spins, lapping other rowers and so on.

I tried to row and realized I was terrible at it.

Fun pictures of the park. . .








I wanted a moped so bad!

My favorite people of the day (sidenote: I think you can tell when I have the camera and when Doug has it):
1. His pants were the best. I wanted Doug to get a pair but he said, "No way!"

2. This guy was busting some crazy tricks on his skateboard. Lucky for me, with NO shirt on!

3. I loved seeing these Disney characters in the park because if you walked another 20 feet, there was another Pooh and Minnie.


4. This blond lady killed me! At the park there was a huge group of hippies playing music and she hit her hands against her hips the same way for at least 30 minutes. I couldn't stop watching her.

Next stop, Barcelona. . .