The Light Side

On Sunday we had cafe y churro at a local cafe (called Arysol) for breakfast



We then headed in search for El Rastro street market. The market was enormous and there were thousands of people. The stalls ranged from antiques to gas masks to t-shirts and general tat.



Next, we went to the Renia Sofia art museum. It was a massive place (and ex-hospital I think) that had lots of abstract pieces of art. Some were bizarre, others I felt I could have done better (but that's probably because I'm not an art appreciator nor an artist).



We spent the late afternoon/early evening in a cafe watching the F1. Poor old Lewis didn't manage to seal the championship, but then neither did Alonso. It was interesting to see the F1 coverage as (not surprisingly) they're massive Alonso fans. There are Alonso branded products and massive TV coverage with him. The most amusing thing was they kept showing various Plazas around Spain with hordes of people waving Alonso flags and banners, then they'd cut to Stevenage (where Lewis is from) to an empty sports bar - although I didn't understand the commentary it was clear the point they were making.

In the evening we went in search of a restaurant along Cava Baja only to find it closed. Found another which we booked a place at for the next day as it was fully booked and headed back into the centre to have dinner at Museo De Jamon. This place is a mixed from a deli, cafe and restaurant. It has drying hams hung on every wall.




We finished the evening with Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Plaza Mayor.

Once we'd arrived and had a wander round the rather busy streets of Madrid, we headed off for some Tapas. We found this little Tapas bar called Dona Juana



where we experienced the taste sensation of pigs ears



They were as chewy as you'd expect and didn't really taste of much, so thank goodness for the spicy sauce they came with.

Today we went to Upton Country Park to an art festival with mum, dad and the girls. We started off with a picnic for lunch.

There were activities which the girls enjoyed including making mobiles for the garden, reed butterflies and circus tricks, as well as live music.

It was my mother-in-law's birthday yesterday - Happy Birthday Maureen.



We went for birthday lunch at Flame at Tower Park with Tracey and my niece. It was an eat all you can Chinese buffet.

In the afternoon we then went to Burley in the New Forest, had a look round



and then took a tractor trailer ride to feed the deer in Burley Park (more pictures in the photo gallery).





A cup of tea and some birthday cake then followed



with proper tea at Tracey's in the evening.

Another lovely day out

Today we went into Poole, had a look round some shops, met our son at the bus station (who'd been away with his natural father in Newquay for the week) and had KFC for lunch in Poole Park.



Afterwards, we stopped off at B&Q for some anti-weed material for our garden path and a new shower screen. We spent the afternoon fixing our back garden path, with cooked tea and a movie in the evening.