Los padres en Madrid

Before the Pope's visit. I had some even more illustrious and beloved guests, my parents. This is their fourth visit to Madrid, so we more or less have a routine. We don't worry about cramming the itinerary full of tourist activities, and allow lots of time for drinking coffee on my terrace or naps when jet lag hits.

I am always on the lookout for museums or activities related to vehicles for my father. Alas, Madrid is a city of of art, rather than vintage automobiles, so this can be rather difficult. However, two different people had recommended the airplane museum to me. It's far out of the city, next to an air force base. They had half a dozen hangars and a large field of planes. My father spent the four hours they were open carefully examining planes, and my mother and I looked at a few, then enjoyed a very long coffee break at the cafeteria, so a good time was had by all.

I really appreciate the efforts my parents make to visit me. I'm well aware that airplanes only get less comfortable as you age. On top of that, two of their four visits have had delays of more than 24 hours, so it's even more impressive that they keep coming back. 

 It was a short, six-day trip, but we managed to have really good gelato twice.