Al día siguiente, volvimos a la heladería y pedimos un batido de vainilla.

Al día siguiente means the next day or the following day.

Here, al is the contraction of a + el, but in this expression it is best learned as part of a fixed phrase. It does not mean physical movement here. It is simply a common way to introduce the next moment in a story.

Because Al día siguiente is an introductory time phrase.

In English, we often do the same thing with phrases like The next day, .... In Spanish, the comma helps separate that opening time expression from the main action. In short sentences, you may sometimes see it omitted, but using the comma here is very natural.

They are in the preterite because the sentence tells us about completed actions in a sequence:

• first, we went back
• then, we ordered

This is exactly the kind of situation where Spanish normally uses the preterite. If the sentence were describing a repeated habit or background situation, the imperfect would be more likely.

This is a very common learner question because pedimos can be either:

• present: we ask for / we order
• preterite: we asked for / we ordered

The form is identical for nosotros with many regular -ir verbs. In this sentence, the context makes it clearly past:

• Al día siguiente sets the story in the past
• volvimos is clearly preterite
• the sentence narrates finished events

So here pedimos means we ordered.

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

• volvimos = we returned / we went back
• pedimos = we ordered

So nosotros is unnecessary unless the speaker wants emphasis, contrast, or extra clarity.

The verb volver often goes with a when it means to return to or to go back to a place.

So:

• volver a un lugar = to return to a place

Here, heladería is a feminine noun, so you get a la heladería.

Notice that only a + el contracts to al.
a + la does not contract, so a la stays a la.

Heladería means an ice cream shop or ice cream parlour.

It refers to the place, not the ice cream itself. Compare:

• helado = ice cream
• heladería = ice cream shop

In Spain, heladería is the normal word for this kind of shop.

In Spanish, flavours are very often expressed with de:

• batido de vainilla
• helado de chocolate
• tarta de limón

So de vainilla means vanilla-flavoured or simply vanilla in natural English. This structure is much more normal than trying to make vainilla act like an English-style adjective.

In this context, batido most naturally means milkshake.

In Spanish, batido can sometimes also refer to a blended drink or smoothie, depending on the ingredients and context. But since the sentence is about going to an ice cream shop and ordering de vainilla, milkshake is the most likely meaning here.

The accent marks show the correct stress and pronunciation.

• día is stressed on the í: DI-a, not a single-syllable sound
• heladería is stressed on the í: he-la-de-RI-a

For learners, the important thing is to remember that the written accent helps you pronounce the word correctly and sometimes prevents you from merging vowels too much.

It can mean either one.

• we returned is a bit more formal or neutral
• we went back is often more natural in everyday English

In this sentence, both are correct. If you wanted a very natural English translation, we went back to the ice cream shop would sound especially smooth.