MADRID, SPAIN

1st NIGHT:

I forgot to write anything for our first night, but we arrived in Madrid like around 3 and got to our hostel around 4 or 5 pm. Man...my backpack was HUGE!! like on the side....it had a mind of its own...haha, and I got laughed. The airport had the metro connecting and we quickly got to our hostel. Madrid´s so nice! I became the camera whore..haha. It´s so pretty and old and nice. We arrived there on a sunday, so everything was closed. But once we got to our hostel and got everything settled down, I went for a shower...sigh* It felt good, after the sweat that accumulated from the damn backpack...haha. We went exploring, and it was quite windy but nice. We went in a circle around the neighborhood of the hostel. I swear, EVERYWHERE has graffiti on it. ALL the stores closing doors thingy has at least something on it. It´s cool. Then we went to a metro place, don´t know how to spell its name, but the space beside it, there was some like of muslim gathering. There was music and dancing, but I couldn´t see since there was so many tall people in front of me...haha. Then we walked some more, I saw a couple making out...heavily..hehe. We walked more and took stupid pictures and then we got hungry. Sadly to report that the first meal we had in Madrid was nothing of local cuisine. We walked into this Indian/Hindu street, there was many restaurants and we where tired of looking for a spanish restaurant so we went into that one. All three dishes were chicken, two were curry, once spicy yet sweet and the other normal. It was really good and fulling. After that we decided to return to the hostel. We also met the first of many of our dorm-mates. Her name was Claire and from the US. She gave us some pretty good tips.

2nd Day:
We woke up around 8 am today. Toke a shower and then went for breakfast downstairs. Then we decided to go to the local train station: Atocha. It was grand, not really THAT pretty but still pretty neat. We got our passes validated and then went to check out the famous Museo Reina Sofía.Ugh, forgot my student card there so had to pay regular price. T.T. Man, when we went it there was this sick but cool sculpture two man hanging on the ceiling by there tongues or something and they moved. The museum: I did not understand it all. There was paintings that were like they were drawed by kids, like sketches. Also, there was some so with some much cleavage...haha. We saw groups of little spanish kids and they were so cute!! We also saw Picasso´s most famous painting the Guernica. When I first looked at it, no freaking idea what it was supposed to mean, just thought it was kind of ugly, and there was animals and humans, an eyeball with its pupil as a light bulb. Later by wikipeding it I found out its a painting of a bombing of the town Guernica during the Spanish Civil War by German bombers. The museum also had these odd-looking rock sculptures of people.There legs were like a round ball...it was funny. oh, also there was this room of some many men, I swear they looked chinese! with there small eyes. haha. Too bad I couldn't´t take a picture to show they didn´t allow it. Next we got some food and went to Madrid´s Park. It was huge and pretty and green and trees in full bloom. Compared that to Edmonton, we sure are slow. haha.

After our 5 hour nap, we woke up around 9ish, and it took us about an hour to get out the door. So we were heading to the Puerta del Sol when before the metro station I spotted a convenience store. The owners inside were Chinese! We walked around and found the big bottles of water. This chinese lady comes up to us and ask if we were Chinese, so then I was forced to converse in my poor chinese. But I must, I can soo can by with my chinese...hehe, and she said my chinese was good...don't know to much about that. But her chinese wasn't really mainland, more taiwan, dunno. Then we headed to the square. It was huge, but there was some construction going on so we could see the middle square...shame. We actually found a spanish restaurant this time: TapasBar. It was red, modern and a waiter that can speak english!! hehe. We ordered Estrella beer, which is a local beer. Raeanna got Paella Mediterrane, rice with seafood and sauce, Marvin got chicken with vegetables(Pechuga la planc) , and I got Duck meat and citrus fruits (Magret de Plato). It was good. ^_^. We finished dinner around 11:30, and decided to walk a bit and reach Plaza Mayor, it was this huge square and at night, there was a few people. Two men have tried persistently to try to sell some flowers to us which cost 1€ each! Later chilling around the square, we headed back home. <3

So for our last day in Madrid, we first went to this Egyptian Temple: Templo de Debod kinda far from the city's center. But the temple was cool, it was part of this huge park. The temple itself was ancient, like from the 4th century or something, and for me the first time I saw some Egyptian hieroglyphics and that was cool, although it was still kinda hard to see. After that we went back to this square called Plaza de España, there was this huge fountain thing in the middel, and also another small but pretty one. Not far from the square we decided to do some shopping along Gran Via. This big street that had many stores. We went to some, don't remember the names, but for lunch we had KFC. Because Marvin and Raeanna said that the MacDonald beside smell like ass, and it did!!! Can't believe there was still people that were eating there..@_@. But our KFC meal..delicious and only 2.50 Euros. Not bad for a meal I must say. Later we made our way again the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor just to see the place in daylight, and it was much more alive in the day. Especially in the Plaza, there were acts and people laying on the floor, birds and sun! We bought some local souvniers and then decided to rest for a bit at the square.
After some rest, we headed back to the big park and decided to check the crystal museum and rose garden before going the Prado. We saw the museum, and I was not entirely impressed. The place was going through renovations and thus, there was nothing in there to see! Then we TRIED to move on to the rose garden, unfortunately for us, Marvin let us on the wrong way and we went west instead of south. HA! We never made it to the rose garden, we all were too tired. After another break to enjoy the park, then walked out of the park to go to the Prado. But before we went to the Prado, which let people in for free: tuesdays from 6-9, we went around and took pictures outside. There was this huge ass church, I went in while Raeanna and Marvin chill outside. The Church inside was so pretty! @_@. I felt I had to cross after entering this place. Man, this place was old school, so much symbols, so much icons, so much of Jesus. LOL. It as so grand for a church. The alter was crazy and awesome. After my exploring, we went down the street to find the Communications Palace. Man that place was huge, and so over just for a post office that wasn't even open..haha. The place was around the circle lane of traffic, and in the middle was also a landmark of Madrid, the Cibeles fountain which was very cool.
After that, it was time for the Prado! We weren't allowed any pictures in the museum, and we're under a tight schedule to see as much as possible before closing time. The museum was so cool. It was simple, and the paintings all had a border and below telling the artist name and date.Mostly the paintings were of religious themes or portraits of the royal family of the past. I saw Las Meninas by Velázquez and both the cloth and nude Maja by Goya. Both of these paintings were huge and cool to see in person. There also was alot and I mean alot of paintings of Jesus and his crucifixion, it was cool and eerly at the same time. There was these paintings with three panels with paradise: Adam and Eve, in the middle; an earthly paradise and hell. We pretty much went through the whole museum and most of the rooms and saw the paintings at least one second each? lol. By the end, all I know is that my feet and legs were dying! haha.

(to be continued...too tired and hungry...>.<)

After the visit to the Prado, we decided to have Micky D's for dinner. At 1 Euro per item, it was the cheapest meal we can have. I had a Chicken sandwich thing. I was expected the same as in Canada but this one, it's sauce was spicy and different. I also had a salad, it was good. ^_^. We then headed back to the hostel to pack. In the end, we didn't pack. Me and Raeanna both were very tired, and we would pack in the morning.