The Next Big Trip

I may have already mentioned this, but next month I will be making another trip to Spain.  Werner, my Swiss cousin who lives in Madrid, invited me to come for his big sixtieth birthday celebration.  My first reaction was "Two trips to Europe in one year?", but it didn't take me long to decide "Why not?"  Some of Werner's family will be attending, so I will also have a chance to see again some of my other Swiss cousins that I met two years ago when I went to Switzerland.  On my last trip to Madrid, I didn't have much time with Werner, because he had to leave on a business trip.  So I am really looking forward to spending time with my Swiss family. 

My flight reservations have been made, and Werner is booking rooms for the out of town guests at a nice hotel that is very close to his home.  After the celebration is over, he has invited me to check out of the hotel, and spend the rest of my time at his place.

Obviously I am not going to make the long trip and only spend a weekend there.  I will be spending two full weeks in Madrid.  Although I have been to Madrid numerous times, there are still plenty of places that I want to see during my trip.  One of the places within the city is the Archaeological Museum.  I haven't been there since the 1970s on my first trip to Spain.  The museum was recently closed for renovations, and it now open again.  So that is on my list.  In recent years Madrid built a very nice park along the banks of the Manzanares River.  I haven't been there, and plan to visit that also.  The Thyssen Museum, which contains what was once the second largest private art collection in the world, is another one of Madrid's great museums.  I was there some years ago, but only saw about half of it before "museum fatigue" began to set in.  A return trip there is in order.

In addition to sights within the city, there are many interesting places nearby Madrid that are easy day excursions by train or bus, and which I have not yet seen.  The town of Aranjuez is famous for its former royal palace and gardens.  Alcalá de Hernares was the site of one of Spain's most famous universities and was the birthplace of the great author Miguel de Cervantes.  And I have read about the picturesque Castilian town of Chinchón a short distance from Madrid.  So there will be plenty to keep me occupied during my two weeks there!

 

This is a photo of my cousin Werner from March of 2011.  Through my genealogical research we had made contact in January of that year.  He invited me to come visit him in Madrid, so three months later we met face to face.  He is holding a picture which I painted for him as a gift.  It is of the seventeenth century church in his hometown of Othmarsingen, the birthplace of my great grandmother.

 

I am looking forward to seeing Werner and visiting Madrid soon!