Back to Madrid

Though I was technically in Madrid at the very beginning of my trip, I didn't have much time to really explore the city, so my friends Erica and Nikita and I went for a long weekend recently. We stayed in a hostel that was a little old and the mattress were hard, but we didn't get any bed bugs, and we had a great time, so all in all it was successful! It was weird because we stayed really close the hotel we had stayed at with Emory when we first landed in Spain back in August. Since we walked everywhere, we got to know our way around pretty well, so it was funny to see where our hotel was in context to all the landmarks. I can't believe I hadn't noticed before!

Madrid is so much bigger than Salamanca, so it was really nice to experience a bit of a big city. There are tons of museums, the royal palace, grand cathedrals, and the streets are way bigger. We went over a festival weekend, so there were tons of people out and about. Not to mention the weather was gorgeous! We really lucked out. Since it was a holiday, the museums we went to were free entry! And there was a military parade with the royal family, although there were so many people and I am so short that I only saw the top of people's heads. Here's a picture I managed to snap of someone waving the Spanish flag:

The museums we went to were the Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia, which were really cool. I liked the Reina Sofia much better, though, because the artwork was more modern and significantly less boring to look at, but it was cool to see some famous paintings in the Museo del Prado, too. We saw Las Meninas painted by Velazquez and some paintings by El Greco. Below is a picture of me with Erica standing in front of the museum. 

At the Reina Sofia, we saw lots of Dalí, Picasso, and Miró, which I appreciated a lot more. Below is a picture of Guernica by Picasso. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snapped one secretly, which is why it's a bit crooked. It's a famous painting depicting the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War by the Germans. It was especially interesting for me to see because I actually learned about it in my Spanish class, so it was nice to see it in person.

We walked around after out two hour siesta and managed to catch the sun setting in front of the cathedral of the royal palace. The photo below that is a picture of the royal palace from the back.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend, but it was nice to get back to Salamanca where I had my own room, free food, and cheaper ice cream. I hope I'll get to go back to Madrid soon, though, because I know there is so much more for me to see.