Fun Indoor Activities in Madrid: Museo del Romanticismo

So I went to the Prado recently and it was a total bust: very hot indoors with minimal AC, super-crowded, then the museum cut off access to half of the museum with no warning due to a private event (which included basically all the bathrooms), and it was just a real blah experience. 

There's also a heatwave going on (july problems...) and I just felt like, I don't know that I can handle going to the Big Two Museums of Madrid (Prado, Museo Reina Sofia) if it's going to be herds of people and minimal AC and high admission prices and maybe not even the whole museum open to the public.

So, I started thinking of all the "little" museums of Madrid that don't get a lot of visitors and have very reasonable admission prices, and thought, let's try those museums since, it's a heat wave and I need some indoor activities to entertain both myself and my early elementary schooler.

Enter, the Museo del Romanticismo: it is a Victorian mansion (I know that's not the right term for Spain, but it's a 19th century palace) that has lots of rooms decorated with Vict--I mean, XIX century objects.) It's a self-guided tour where you just wander through the rooms oohing and aahing. 

Very self-guided tour

In addition to the museum itself, there is a delightful little tea room (which also serves coffee) and a little interior garden patio with seating. 

the tea room. LOL, just kidding, this is the dining room of the historic home

this is the actual tea room at the Museo del Romanticismo

The museum is air-conditioned and a great way to spend about 30-45 minutes. The museum is also very conveniently located a five minute downhill walk from the Alonso Martínez metro station, and is also very close (500 m? away from) the Museum of the History of Madrid (Museo de la Historia de Madrid). Plus, admission was free! the day I went. (otherwise it would have been 1,5 to 3 euros). I did have to leave my giant purse in the free lockers but it actually made it easier to walk around since, you're basically walking through living rooms. 

The Garden Café (Café del Jardín) of the Museo del Romanticismo

Age range: Early elementary and up--not for preschoolers, too many breakables!