Madrid!!

We arrived to Madrid safe and sound. It's just crazy to think that I was here 4 years ago when I was 17. It's funny because I remember getting here and being so miserable and homesick. I appreciated everything I was seeing, but now it will actually mean something to me. I was very excited to see the city again and go on tours. This was where it all started 4 years ago!

We visited The Prado, which is an art museum, and it was so great. I made sure to see all the works of art I remembered and studied in high school. I was actually able to remember some of the things I learned about the paintings and told my friends what I knew. I went to the gift shop to see if they had a good book about the Prado and I found a great one, in Spanish of course, that explains all of the important pieces. I figured it would be very useful for classroom material. After the Prado, we went in search of some tapas. We asked someone where a good place was, but he said that there weren't any tapas bars, but a lot of places that had "raciones" like small rations of food. So we ended up at a little place and got bocadillos (sandwiches). I got a Calamari (fried rings of squid) bocadillo and it was really good. After that, we went back to the hotel to get ready to go out. We waited over an hour because people couldn't make up their minds, so my friend and I decided to just walk around for a little bit and then head back. I was really excited about the next day because we get to visit the Palace, the Reina Sofia and tons of other places.

We went to El Palacio Real and took a tour of the inside, which was incredible. The Palace has over 2,000 rooms! Each room we visited was so lavish, and it sucked that we couldn't take any pictures. Every ceiling had a beautiful painting, and they were decorated from top to bottom. Some of the uses of the rooms were funny because the rooms were so amazing. There would be a huge room, but it would just be the room where the king changed his clothes, or they would have different rooms for meals. there was a certain room for lunch and a certain room for dinner. It was a great tour. After the Palace, we had free time to walk around and go to La Plaza Mayor. It brought back memories of my first time in Spain. We ate lunch and did some shopping. I'm finding some great things for a classroom!

Then we went to El Retiro, which is just a big park area that reminded me of Central Park. It had tons of paths and some soccer fields and even a lake where people could take boats in. There was also a glass house thing which was pretty cool. It was fun exploring the park with everyone. Our next stop was the Reina Sofia which is a museum of contemporary art. This museum has the famous painting "Guernica" by Picasso. It is a huge painting and is just incredible to see. Of course, it was my second time seeing it but it was so great. We also walked around to other paintings that we knew of, but Guernica was our main objective. There is a song by one of my favorite bands that is titled "Guernica", so of course I was singing it the whole time. It was a good time. After that we went out to dinner for Kebap, which is Turkish food but it is sooooooooooooooo good. I love it. To end the night, a group of us decided to go out but we couldn't get into one club because we were 22, which was weird, so we kept searching for places and asking people, and no one seem to know of any places. We finally found a place to go but it took a while.

The next day we took a walking tour of the city, but it started out crappy because it was a little rainy and cold, but as the day went on, the weather got better. Some people didn't want to go, but I wanted to see more of the city and take more pictures. When we were done with our tour, we ate some lunch and we picked this cute little restaurant/bar. I ordered a Calamari bocadillo again, just because Madrid is known for the best Calamari, and let me tell you, it was the best Calamari I have ever had. I just couldn't stop talking about it. It was perfect and sooo delicious. It was a great note to leave Madrid on. It was such a good trip and I hope everyone likes my pictures!