Madrid!

So last night I went out to dinner for tapas & sangria. I got salmon and brie on bread, which was very similar to lox. Then being exhausted we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Today was the only full day in Madrid, so I had to fit everything in. Breakfast was at the hotel, and ther were so many options. Meats, cheeses, breads, fruit, pastries and more. I had jamon (ham but more like prosciutto), cheese, fruit, and some chocolate pudding like stuff with shredded coconut. It was a good start to the day.  First on the agenda we had a walking tour of Madrid. We had a tour guide who led us around and told us about lots of the history and important places. So much of Madrid is very old. Some parts we saw were from the 1600s. The street signs here are on the buildings, so you really have to know where you are going when driving around, because you can't see them at all! One of the coolest things we saw was there was some meeting involving royals at a building. The King never leaves the palace and so he send some of his ambassadors to these things. They get to and from in a horse drawn carriage surrounded by guards on horses. So we saw them waiting on the ambassadors, then they took one of them back, and then they returned to get another one. All the guards were dresses like the old times, and even wore wigs. I don't believe it happens ofter, so it was really neat to be able to see it.

We saw the plaza mayor, which it the city center. It is a huge square surrounded by a government building and apartments. Everyone wants to live there. Our tour guide told us to go to a market around the corner, so we checked it out. It had everything, I would say it was the Spanish version of Reading Marker in Philadelphia. We ended up going back there for lunch, but I'll get to that later. We walked through more of Madrid, saw more plazas, and ended that portion of the tour at el Prado. We went in and our guide brought us to his favorites and told us so much about them. My favorite, and the one that is really know there, is las meninas by Diego Rivera. It's of princess Margarita, with her ladies in waiting, midget caretakers, Diego Rivera himself, and the king and queen in a mirror in the back (google it). We learned about this painting during high school, and so it was very cool to be able to see it in person. Our guide made us stand back and take in the big picture, and then make a telescope out of our hands, which made the painting look 3D! Then after doing those things he let us go up close, where it doesn't look nearly as amazing as it did when standing back. Another cool thing he pointed out was there was a painting of one of the kings. Rivera had painted him with his feet apart and a wide cape, but later decided to move in one foot and shorten the cape. After time has passed, the original lines have come through, so you can see almost a shadow of the foot and cape. We saw a few other paintings, some even from the 1400s. We also saw some by Goya, two of his most famous are of a naked woman, and one of her clothed. He painted it while it was against the law & the clothed one is work 60 million euros.

After el prado, it was already 3 o'clock, so lunch time. We headed back towards the market, but stopped on the way for churros con chocolate! Dessert before lunch, what better! The churros aren't all sugared like American ones and the chocolate is so rich and delicious. The place we got it at was pointed out by our guide as the best place for them. Then we got to the market and had to walk all around to see the options. They literally have everything. I ended up getting paella with seafood, and it was delicious! Then we sat around for a while talking before getting up the energy to find the royal palace. We had to walk a few blocks to get there and also passed by one of the famous cathedrals. The palace was huge and looked very fancy. After that we had to walk across a lot of the city to get back to the hotel. Right now it's 7 pm, so there's time to rest before dinner (probably between 9/10).

AND I GOT MY LUGGAGE BACK!!!!

I know this is a lot of writing and I want to add pictures, but uploading them is taking FOREVER. So I'll post photos from today soon.