4 Scooter riders in 1964 from a bus
Side of the Royal Palace in 1964
Park in front of the Royal Palace
My niece was good and when it came time to go to the Prado, she fell asleep. So since I had been yesterday for several hours by myself before my sister came (the Prado is near our hotel and I was waiting for lunch), I sat with my niece on the bus while my sister went in.
xerox of Velaquez painting of a queen's horse
Then we went together with the stroller for another hour after the tour until 2 when the Prado museum closed and had a crayfish and a cheese sandwich and a coke at a sidewalk cafe
Eating in a cafe
and went to have a nap.
Niece in her crib at the window
At 5:30 we aroused and packed up again and went to a bullfight. Although I had said I wasn't interested in doing that, it was a holiday and nothing else was open. My sister fed niece dinner there. My niece really liked the bullfight, although she somewhat mistook the bull - pointing and saying "See kitty". She was a great attraction at the bullfight (admiring attention) and has been very good.
Bull Ring from the outside
Postcard of the Madrid bull ring from 1964
My niece is crawling up and down the bed preparatory (we hope) to going to sleep so we can have dinner. The maid listens for her. Even though we haven't been to dinner yet, I thought you'd like to know that we were still alive. We're eating in the hotel dining room -- which is a German beer cellar
The baby is eating canned meats that my sister brought and powdered milk with bottled water and cereal with same and fruit, like bananas that we get at the hotel dining room.
Tomorrow we are going back to the Prado again and maybe to the Rasto (flea market). Then we are leaving for Lisbon. We have a double Wagon-Lit.
Sunday, July 19th
I don't think my sister will have much time to write - she has just finished a sponge bath and is giving the baby a bath in the sink and a shampoo. I have been doing all our wash (all 3 of us) but it needs more than that. I have some postcards bought and addressed but not written yet. I found the francs I though I lost stuck in the bottom of my pocketbook.My niece seems very wide-eyed at the advent of another 'almost' mummy (me) as we do sound a look a bit alike I think except for my sister's glasses. I think she would cry less if my sister didn't wait until she had already started before she gives her her bottle for instance. She calls it a 'last resort' and I suppose that without a pacifier it is. Otherwise I am very admiring of all her preparations, except that it takes us so long to get going anywhere. Not having regular baby food jars (which I was supposed to get from my cousin in Frankfurt) makes it harder.
Eating lunch in Parque del Retireo in 1964
Postcard to my daughter:
Dibujo. Asta su buelo by Goya
Dear D.
I thought you might like this picture of a donkey. It is part of the collection of pictures from Madrid. Your cousin would say "Hello", but she is asleep. She went to a bullfight with us this afternoon. She had her dinner there and her lunch in the Retireo Park. Love Mummy
I identified one other picture that I took in the park - a picture of the Statue of the Fallen Angel Lucifer who has been thrown out of heaven and must suffer pigeon droppings for eternity. It is claimed that this statue is the only known public monument of the devil. Apparently I didn't remember or didn't know what the statue was of because I labeled it "Statue with Pigs"
Statue of the Fallen Angel
We are packing for the day and to check out, go to Prado and maybe Flea Market and leave. We had lunch at the Prado buffet -- fed peas and ham to the baby. She wouldn't eat the can of liver! We bought her a straw hat like the Spanish children have and one for my daughter.
Flea Market on Sunday
El Rasto 1964
El Rastro in 1964
One of the narrow streets around El Rastro
Flea Market 1964
My sister's picture of me with the stroller
The flea market was HOT and we had to walk BLOCKS for a taxi, but the baby was still going strong and didn't seem to mind. She's been asleep for 2 hours -- 1 hour past the checkout time and they are being nice about it.
Los elefantes - Goya drawing - postcard from the Prado
Card to my daughter from Madrid:
Dear D.
Your cousin is asleep now and we are packing so we can leave for Lisbon tonight. Lots of the children here have pierced ears if they are girls with little gold buttons in them. They wear cute straw hats. Maybe if we come back to Madrid we can buy some as the stores are closed today - Sunday. Love Mummy
Spanish child's hat
She woke up after a 2 hour nap and we exited for RR station where we had a tremendous dispute with the baggage man over whether he would check our bags thru to Lisbon. The baggage man tried to tell us to go jump in the lake by making swimming motions!
We finally went inside to Cooks where the man spoke French, and my sister with her 1/2 German 1/2 French and I managed -- after 10 min. to conclude we had only checked them -- not checked them thru. So we taxied to the hotel, took a promenade and ate at a cafe (my sister thought it was a ghastly tough cured ham sandwich which I insisted was typical) and fed my niece -- ending by spilling everything everywhere -- and left.
- Next entry in the series 'Visiting Europe - 1950, 1964, 1992, 2002, 2015': Training to and Touring Lisbon in 1964 - post 5
- Previous entry in the series 'Visiting Europe - 1950, 1964, 1992, 2002, 2015': Meeting my Sister and Niece in Madrid in 1964 - post 3
