casacollins

Photo 1: The Collins Gang in front of a pond in Madrid's equivalent of Central Park.


Photo 2: The port in Barcelona--a cool combination of architecture from the 15th to the 21st cenuries. We went on a ship where one of the "Three Kings" greeted kids and asked them what they wanted from the "Reyes Magos" which is who brings the gifts on Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas) instead of Papa Noel on Dec. 25th. We went to a really cool Reyes Magos parade on Epiphany Eve in Barcelona. Dozens of floats each with their own King proceded down the streets with kids on them throwing lots of candy to the kids watching from the curb! Pretty magical!



Photo3: Susan, inspired by the Muslim history of Granada, overlooks her prospective kingdom of Moclin. I think she likes it, don't you? (The fez, that is!) She was having a great hair day, but the fez was very important to the locals who prefer the hat to any stylish doo!




Photo 4: Colin, Chris, Reed and Wynne outside the military museum in Barcelona where they saw rooms and rooms of military paraphenalia: flags, uniforms, weapons, technology, etc. They even had a gift shop! Colin and Chris especially liked their special issue, torpedo powered, close-range popsicles!





Photo 5: Wynne and Mark at the Prado. We actually had to carry her a lot in the museum not because she was tired, but because so many paintings depicted the crucifiction of Jesus and still lifes of fowl and game after they'd been killed--a tad upsetting for the five year old mind. So much for this trip to the Prado. I guess it's famous. I'll have to wait till next time to really see why.