Madrid

Since I got back, I have been so slack and not updated the parts missing from my trip. And to be honest I am a little rusty! By the time we got in Madrid, I was pretty tired, especially of hauling luggage. We sort of went to the wrong hotel at first, right brand, but wrong location. Madrid has a lot of prostitutes and one hour hotel rentals if you get my drift.

We got in pretty late in the afternoon, so we just wondered a little that evening and found a bike tour for the next morning. Our tour was lots of fun and we really saw so much of the city and got a good idea of the things we wanted to go back to. We visited the Prado Museum which had amazing works by Goya, Velazquez, Dali, Picasso, Miro. There is something to be said about seeing the works in person. I have seen so many of these works in art history classes or on TV, but to see the real thing! We also went to the The Reina Sofia Museum, which is a little more modern and boasts some amazing Dali as well as the highlight for me, Picasso's Guernica. Again I had seen the piece in a class, but to see the real canvas. It is 25 feet wide and 7 feet tall. It commands your attention when you enter the room.

Throughout Europe we have run into a lot homeless people or beggers, gypseys in Paris, etc., but in Madrid we meet The Lazy Beggers. In a word where so many people tend to lie or bend the truth, their refreshing honesty was not what one would expect. They have laptops, sleeping bags, everything they need and they admit to being lazy. They even have a Web site where you can keep up with them and even donate. They were really friendly and we spoke to them ever time we passed going to our hotel.

A must in Madrid is eating at Botin, the oldest resataurant in the world. Fabulous food and a fun atmosphere. The third night we went to see Grease The Musical, but the catch was it was in Spanish. I really do believe that the English version of the soundtrack played in my head. Even though we couldn't understand exactly what they were saying, it is such a classic we knew what was going on. It was weird though because radom parts were in English, like the song "Blue Moon" and then the movie scene, all the titles were English as well as the music the DJ played before the show started.

Our last night we got tickets for a bull fight, which we thought was a must since we were in Spain. With tickets in hand, we catch the metro to the arena. It is like a big concert or something, with concessions and merchandise, though after seeing the fight, I am not sure how anyone could eat there. I just imaginged that it would be more skillful maybe? At first there are 6 matadors to 1 poor bull. Then he gets stabbed twice in the back by this man on a horse, and luckily the horse wears armor because the bull then rams him for getting hit in the back. Then three different matadors stab these stick things in the bulls back and then you have the one on one fight between the bull and the "head" matador. And if the bull starts running at them, they just run and hide behind the wall. The last matador then stabs a sword down the bulls spine to kill it. If they miss a couple times, that is when the crowd gets mad. To sum it up we didn't like it and left after the second bull was killed. There are a total of three bulls killed at each fight. It is something you need to see, but I can bet you won't like it.

That was a weird event to end our trip on, but that was it. One more Champaign Sorbet and then it was time to pack and get ready to go home. I LOVED everything I got to see and do on this trip, but I was sooooo looking forward getting home.