Afternoon Emilio

Grand Tour, Day 40: Last Day in Europe

Our last day in Madrid was very chaotic at the start. We thought we were going to miss our flight. My mom and I started running towards our flight. Pablo and Nina tried to keep up with us, but they got lost. Luckily, my dad found them and we made it on the plane. On the plane I watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and a little bit of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Every hour, I stopped watching and wrote about our last days in Europe for thirty minutes. Pablo was very happy on the plane because he got Goldish for the first time in 40 days. We landed in North Carolina, Charlotte, and we had to wait for a few hours until our flight to Texas took off. I did not really like the flight to Texas because it was pretty boring. We landed in Texas got our bags and then we saw Grandmother and Grandaddy waiting for us. We drove to their house and went to sleep after talking for a little while.

When we got back to Ada, my dad asked us some questions about memories from Europe. Here are my answers:

1. Best Decision? Going to Zell-Am-See.
2. Best Train? Salzburg to Zell-Am-See.
3. Best View? From the top of the Alps in Austria
4. Best Dessert? Nectarine Ice Cream at Madrid Rio park
5. Best Restaurant? Pizza in Torino on our first night there
6. Best Snack? Malaga Goldfish. I was very happy when we saw flavor-blasted Goldfish in a store in Malaga, but no one was happier than Pablo.
7. Best Walk? Malaga with my dad
8. Best Art Museum? El Prado
9. Best Day? The day when I played soccer in the park and had a sleepover with Rita and Uxue. I forgot to write about the sleepover in my journal, but it was fun.
10. Best non-train transport? Madrid Metro. I really didn't like any non-train transports, but this one was OK. If the chair lift counts, then that would definitely be it.
11. Hottest Moment? Rome Taxi to Vatican. That taxi ride almost made me throw up.
12. Coldest Moment? Alps
13. If we had one more day to spend in any city we visited,  it would be … Madrid. I would spend time with Abuelo and Abuela and Rita and Uxue and Tia Gimena.
14. Most Memorable Artwork? "The Night Watch" and "3 de Mayo."
15. Best Bed? Bruges Hotel
16. Best Shower? Abuela and Abuelo’s
17. Biggest Surprise? Missing the train in Munich. That was bad.
18. Best Performance? Soccerman on Montmarte. That was awesome.  I don't know how he did that. It was like he was defying graviety.
19. Best Book? Trials of Apollo
20. Best Park? The park where I played soccer with some boys in Madrid.

While we were in Europe, I tried to write every day, but sometimes I either forgot or did not have time. So I sometimes had to write two or three days in one day. I also wrote the last ten or so days on the plane from Madrid to Charlotte. During my sixth grade school year, I came to my dad’s office and typed my journal entries. During the summer of 2018, my dad and I worked on giving them more detail and making them longer. At the end of the 2018 summer, we finished writing and posting it. I think that this vacation was the best vacation eve,r and I wish we could do it every year. I saw a lot of famous artworks, famous buildings, and a lot of my family that I had never met and family that I had met but don't get to see a lot. My favorite thing was seeing family.

These are my reflections on the 2017 Ruiz Benton’s summer vacation. Emilio out.

Grand Tour, Day 39: Madrid Wednesday

When we woke up, I went with my mom and dad to buy presents for our family. Then my mom went back home, and I went with my dad to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is an art museum.

One of the most memorable paintings was by Vincent Van Gogh of Auvers Sur-Oise. There is grassy field with some trees in it. It was memorable because we had been to Auvers Sur-Oise.

The other memorable painting was by Salvador Dali. In it there a woman down on a rock in the middle of a large mass of water. There are two tigers about to pounce on top of her. One of the tigers is going to get eaten by a big fish and the other is going to land right on her. This one was memorable because I knew about it before we went there because it was in the Study Blue that I wrote about earlier.

With "Santa Casilda" (1640-45) by Francisco Zurbaran.

With "Hotel Room" (1931) by Edward Hopper.

After the museum, we went back home, and Rita and Uxue were there. I tried to read them a book called "Asterix" in Spanish. Then they had to go back home. After they left, we had dinner. I had a mango popsicle, carrots with hummus, and tomatoes. Then we played our last Carioca of the trip. Abuela won.

Grand Tour, Day 38: Madrid Wednesday

When we woke up, we had breakfast. Then I played on my mom’s phone until Abuela’s friend Emilia came. She gave  me a sketch pad with pencils, an eraser, charcoal, and oil pastels. I used them to draw a picture for Rita and Uxue.

The picture depicted El tres de mayo by Francisco Goya which is the picture above. It had a man with his hands up and three dead people around him. Then there is a man pointing a gun at the man with his hands up. The man with the gun has three people behind him. The sky is red and every thing else is black except for the people. At first, I did not want to give Rita and Uxue the picture because it had dead people in it. But Tia Gimena wanted me to give it to them, so I did.

When Rita and Uxue came over,  we all went to the park. There were some boys there who asked me if I wanted to play soccer with them. At first, I did not want to play because I could not talk to any of them, but then I thought that they might not talk to me anyway, so I played. The guys on the other team were show-offs. They put all the bad players on one team and all the good players on the other team. They put me on the team with the bad players, but I scored three goals and had two assists.  They beat us, though. They scored, like, twenty goals. 

Then we went back home, and I played on my mom’s phone and watched Hercules with Rita and Uxue. Rita got scared at the very end when Hercules almost died, so I comforted her by telling her that he wasn't going to die. She got less scared after he didn't die.

Grand Tour, Day 37: Malaga to Madrid

When we woke up, we went to climb the Gibralfarol. The Gibralfarol was the last stronghold of the Muslims in Malaga during the siege of 1487. The path we climbed was very steep.

The view from the path to the stronghold was amazing. You could see all the buildings, and then behind them, you saw the Mediterranean Sea.

After we left the stronghold and came down, we met Abuela and Abuelo at a restaurant. I had paella and tomatoes. The paella was super tasty--one of the best dishes I had on this trip.

Then we all went to Zara to get some clothes for Nina, and we got some ice cream. I got strawberry. My brother dropped his scoop and got another scoop for free.

After we got our luggage, we went to the train station. We put our bags in the waiting room and went window shopping. Then we got on our train. We were not sitting by Abuela and Abuelo, so I played Carioca with my mom. She beat me.

Once we got to Madrid, we went to Abuela and Abuelo’s house. We were planning to go on a walk, but right before we left, my mom’s cousin Gonzalo and his partner Karina came to Abuela's house, and they came with us.

We made a loop around a park where we crossed a bridge and played on a rope-climbing course, which I liked. Then we went back home. I had rice and tomatoes for dinner. Then, since Gonzalo is the best player in the family, we played Carioca. He won.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Playing Carioca with Gonzalo, Karina, my mom, and Abuela
2. Walking in the park with Gonzalo and Karina
3. Climbing the Gibralfarol
4. Riding on the train to Madrid

Grand Tour, Day 36: Malaga Monday

After we woke up and got ready, we went to the beach.

When we got there, we played with paletas that we had gotten the day before.

Then humongous waves started coming, and I played in them. For lunch, I got tomatoes and pita bread. By the time we got home, it was 5:00!

When we got home, we took a shower and played Carioca while my dad and Pablo went on a long walk. I beat my mom and Abuela.

Then we ate dinner. I had carrots, hummus and a nectarine. Then we got ice cream. I got mango, strawberry, and raspberry with a lemon macaroon on top.

On the way to get ice cream, we walked by a wall that had words in Spanish on it, and I tried to climb it. It would have been easier if I had been wearing my Converse shoes instead of flip flops.

After everybody else went back home, my dad and I went on a walk by the port, beach and a lighthouse!


My dad thinks that we might have seen Africa. We looked it up later and the closest point in Africa was 105 miles away from Malaga.

While we were walking, my dad told me stories. One was about how he almost got robbed in Morocco, and another was about how he almost helped a Moroccan woman illegally immigrate to the United States.

Here is a list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Walking on the beach with my dad
2. Swimming at the beach
3. Playing cards with Abuela and my mom

Grand Tour, Day 35: Malaga Sunday

When we woke up, we went to the house where Picasso was born.

My mom and Nina got audio guides. Picasso's birthplace was different from Karl Marx's birthplace because it was small and only had a few rooms. I think it is cool how Picasso paints three-dimensional shapes but turns them into two-dimensional forms by taking away the illusion of depth.

After we left, we took a picture of me standing in front of Picasso's house wearing a shirt that used to be my Mom's

We also took a picture with a statue of Picasso. Nina and Pablo got gifts for their friends. I didn't get one for my friend, because I had already gotten one in Germany.

Then we went to have lunch at a place called Mala Pizza. The pizza was not bad ("mala"). While we were there, we watched the European Championships of track and field.

Then we went home, and I played Carioca with Abuela, Nina, and my mom. I won.


Then we got ready for the beach. Everybody but Abuelo went. Pablo built sand fortresses while I swam. We only stayed there for an hour. Then we went home, rinsed off, and played Desesperado. I won.

I like playing cards with Abuela because we don't get to see her very often, and she comes from a family that is famous for playing card games.

Here is list of my favorite things I did today:
1. Playing cards with Nina, my mom, and Abuela
2. Going to Picasso’s home
3. Swimming at the beach