So then, after a few finals, a research paper or two and some Medieval Spanish Literature (ew), I hopped on a train to Madrid (anyone coming to Spain, if you check the Renfe website ahead of time, they will have internet specials on certain trains and cut the price down to nothing...) and met up with Brom. The last time I saw him was around Christmas/New Year's... it had been some time. Almost didn't recognize him. :)
We met up at our hotel which was right off of Puerto del Sol, the plaza that marks the very center of Spain and basically the center of downtown Madrid. First we wandered around the Botantical Gardens, and took some great flower pics. It seemed like they were replanting some sections of it, but the parts that were done were very pretty. The gardens were right next to the Prado, Madrid's famous art museum, so we headed there next. No pictures allowed inside, but it was awesome. They were hosting a huge Goya exhibit that week, so it was perfect timing. Bromley lasted a few hours before the jet lag started to set in and he couldn't handle any more art.
That night we walked around Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, and ate dinner at a very cute italian restaurant in the middle of the plaza.
The next day we got up early and went to the Royal Palace. There was some sort of official ceremonies going on outside and on the streets the around the palace, with horses and carriages and guards dressed in costumes. The horses were beautiful.
We ate lunch with my friend Kim who was in Madrid with her Aunt who is visiting from the States, then we headed over to Retiro Park. Hundreds of acres, with forests, gardens, lakes, fountains, pavilions, almost anything you could imagine. Bromley decided we should rent a row boat, so we rowed around the lake for a while. There was an accordion player on the shore, which I loved, so it was really nice. We walked along the entire park and stumbled across some sort of movie shooting, which a water glass player. Probably some crazy spanish movie.
Next we went over to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum. Two of the rooms were closed for maintainance, including Picasso's "Guernica," very disappointing. On the up side, our admission was free. We saw other Picasso's and many Dali's, so it was pretty exciting.
On the way back to the hotel, we found some ice cream in Plaza Santa Ana.
Madrid is a great city because all of the major sights are within a few miles right in the center of the city. We barely used our metro passes. All of the museums and monuments are right next to each other. From Madrid, we woke up early the next day and headed off to Portugal.
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