46. Our Day with Brett!

This week has been very different than the schedule we've adapted to for the past two months. We have expanded our group to ten, learned how to travel by car and metro every day, start our adventures earlier, end later, and most importantly have found new friends to visit! Today we met up with my friend Brett from PMO and toured around the Retiro. Our first stop was the Crystal Palace. Not sure why it exists, but it's pretty! We made sure to get a picture of the Purdue people. We are going to make the Purdue Alumnus Magazine after this week.

On the way to the playground for a picnic, Brody grilled Brett with every question he could think of. So now we all know Brett's sister's best friend's dog's middle name. We went to a modern art museum and admired the ability some people have for turning elementary level finger painting into famous masterpieces. Brett's favorite was "Olive Tree Grove." (might not really be the name) This was basically a giant canvas covered in a peach color with blue dots. Obviously a tree. With olives.

We made our way to the Naval Museum - Grandpa will be so happy - and Brett split off to go to class. What? School? 

I've made it a priority to learn each of these knots during this trip. Never know when it could come in handy! This museum was full of ship models. Some were cut in half, and others showed the different layers of the ship. I learned that the older the ship, the prettier. My favorite probably has a proper name, but I call it the circle ship. It's very spherical and just looks cool. There were also life size models of what certain rooms of the ships looked like and Mom now has the design for a library room she will have one day.

Every day we have new experiences, and today we had an experience that hasn't happened on this trip yet. Our first day in the city, Dad and Uncle Brian easily found a public parking spot on the side of the road. There were green lines which clearly indicated "Free Parking Here!" We got back and all was well. after struggling with parking garages, we were glad to run into this luck. However, by Tuesday this luck had run out. We got back today and someone had put a flyer, no receipt, no a TICKET on our windshield. Okay Madrid, what do you think green means?