CWT Journal – August 16, 2026, Madrid

Today's impromptu adventure took us to El Retiro, Madrid's enormous green oasis in the middle of the city. Once reserved for Spanish royalty, the 300-acre park eventually opened to the public and is now part of Madrid's UNESCO-listed historic center.

We wandered without much of a plan, listening to street musicians and performers and, naturally, stopping for our now-mandatory daily ice cream. We explored the Palacio de Velázquez, now a contemporary-art exhibition space, where the girls discovered that sometimes the best way to appreciate modern art is simply to become the art themselves, posing alongside and imitating the sculptures.

We also found the Fallen Angel, a striking statue depicting Lucifer being cast out of Heaven—and supposedly one of the world's few public monuments dedicated specifically to the devil.

That evening was date night! Mom and Dad headed into Madrid's Chinatown for dinner at Restaurante Royal Cantonés, where we drank jasmine tea and Chinese beer and feasted on roast duck, crispy pork, steamed fish, prawns, Cantonese-style vegetables, and fried rice. After weeks of European food, it was a delicious change of pace—and one of our best meals in Madrid.

Another day when having absolutely no plan turned out to be a pretty great plan.