Madrid!

We have free weekends to basically do what we want. On Friday, we went to Madrid with our whole group. They taught us about the transportation system, showed us some big things in town, like the Museo del Prado, and then let us go. I ended up staying in a hostel with a bunch of people from our group, the Way Hostel. It was nice and clean. The hostel had some computers we could use.

I mostly hung out with 3 other girls, Susan, Kasandra, and Katie. We also had other people 'float' in our group. On Friday, we went to the Museo del Prado, which is an art museum that has Valasquez, Goya, Rembrant, Raphael, etc. I really enjoyed that, but not everyone did. After, we found a place for dinner that had wraps and pizza. I then went to el Parque del Retiro, a beautiful park that had monuments, a lake, and fountains. I loved it!

That night, I went out for a little bit with some friends. Luckily, I'm not the only one that doesn't drink. I didn't stay out too late, just until 11:30. Some people stayed out way too late, like 4:00 in the morning. Not for me!

The next day we did a little bit of shopping. It's hard to shop over here because the sizes are different. I feel they're also more expensive, but it's hard to tell.

After shopping, we went to el Palacio Real, the Royal Palace. They don't use it anymore, except for parties. It's huge! And very beautiful. It was amazing.

That night, I went to a bullfight. That was different. It was cool to be in Madrid watching a bullfight, but I got sick of it pretty quickly. I couldn't watch it all. I ended up leaving early and not watching the last fight.

On Sunday, we just went to a gigantic flea market and then went home. I was kind of disappointed in that because I wanted to see more. Everybody else wanted to go though, so I left as well. Madrid is only an hour and a half bus ride away, though, so I might go back for an afternoon.

Here's some pictures!

This is the cathedral right next to the Palacio Real. It was huge and gorgeous!


El Plazo del Torros! We saw a bullfight here.

The entrance to the Palacio Real. Just a small section of it. It's incredible!

This was in the Parque del Retiro. I can't remember what it was called in Spanish, but it translated to the Crystal Palace. It was very beautiful!
This statue is the symbol of Madrid. Not sure why, but it's a bear and a tree/shrub. This was in the Puerte Del Sol. Interesting fact about the Puerte del Sol...all roads in Spain 'lead' there. The roads are measured from kilometer 0, which is in the Puerte del Sol.

This week is Toledo on Wednesday and Sevilla this weekend!