Driving was a SPAIN in the Ass

This weekend, Tori's mom and step-dad (Linda and Mickey) were in Spain. They got into Madrid last weekend while we were in Tenerife and had a rough start to their trip. The first day in Spain, they lost their car in Segovia for about 2 hours. Neither of them know Spanish and the Spaniards that spoke English couldn't understand their Southern drawl. It had to have been extremely frustrating, but something to look back and laugh on. After spending a few days in Valencia and Barcelona, Linda and Mickey joined up with Tori and I in Madrid on Wednesday. We went to the world famous Prado Museum Wednesday night and skimmed through the most famous parts. (I don't think the paintings intrigued Mickey because he is "more of an outside game kinda guy", hahaha) However, my mom would be happy to know we did see works by Rembrandt, El Greco and Raphael, as well as, Las Meninas by Velazquez- the most famous work in the museum. Velazquez paints himself into this painting of the royal children and their servants. In addition, Velazquez paints the king and queen in the mirror in the background. (See Below)

On Thursday after classes, we all left Madrid and headed to Córdoba in the rental car. Within 5 minutes, I understood the difficulties Mickey and Linda had been having the last couple days. The streets in all of Spain are poorly indicated, impossible to navigate and mostly one-way. This combination led to a lot of time spent lost. In the words of Tori, I wish the entirety of Spain had a complaint box, so I could leave them a note about their awful street design. We often resorted to just guessing and hoping we were going in the right direction. And of course, stopping and asking for directions wasn't an option because I only understood the first word. Frustrating, but it allowed for a lot of bonding time for the 4 of us!