Night Time in Madrid starts with dinner around 10:30 pm. Late huh? For dinner we went to this great little restaurant called The Museum of Wine. It was amazing! The ceiling was made of wine bottles on racks, and the waiters (or camereros) were older men who were professional waiters.
Dinner started with the first course. It was a soup called gaspacho. It is a non cooked blend of cucumber, pepper, onion, and tomato. Next oddly enough was roasted chicken with olive oil drizzled over and french fries. This was followed by flan that was soaked in what tasted like coffee liquor. (And of course I had a good spanish beer as my drink) It is funny because wine and beer is the same price as a glass of water over here. Mixed drinks are about 10 dollars though.
After dinner we all decided to go to this little tapa bar next to the restaurant. Spanish people do not start going out until around 11, and this is only to pregame. They stay out until almost 530 am! Anyway, the tapa bar played what they thought was American music, and it was, but Christmas music and Elvis. At the bar, one of the girls convinced me to try a chupito (a shot) of Grappa. Grappa smells like a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and to be perfectly honest...tasted like it too. We were all still jetlagged and decided to call it a night around 1:30. Here and Andrea and I in our going out attire:
Buenos dias. This was the wake up call at 8:00 am. I have to say, breakfast was amazing! We walked into the cafeteria and a spread of fruits, cheeses, breads, and meat were in front of us. The yogurt was very cool, flavors like mango and pineapple, guava and peach. Next we went to the Palacio Real (the kings palace) and toured it. No pics inside, but it was the gaudiest thing I have ever seen. To give you an idea...the throne room was red velvet walls, gold chandeliers, a huge fresca painting with statues on the ceiling...it was like what Donald Trump would decorate his throne like. I have to say though, the outside was beautiful.
After the castle we headed to the Prado, and I got to see the dark paintings by Goya that I wrote a long paper about in my Spanish class last semester! It was a great experience to see something I researched so hard, and to know the back story to a set of very famous paintings. I was not disappointed!
After the Prado, Andrea, Emma and I went to grab lunch and do some shopping. Well, at lunch I decided I wanted a salad, and did not read what was on it...pickled squid anyone? It tasted like they poured tidal wave water on top of lettuce! Needless to say I did not eat much :)
Shopping in Spain is amazing! I bought a cool translucent white tshirt at H&M, a green blazer, and yellow shirt to go with it at Zara.
After all this, we needed something to cool down. We have spoken mostly Spanish all day and decided to go to a vendedor de helado (Ice cream seller) to grab something. Well, we do not know how much the total order is, the guy doesn't tell us and we had him money (not enough) and the whole thing leads to a sloppy conversation that ends in Emma screaming "How much is in your hand!" Of course the poor guy has no clue what she said, and we finally get the icecream and pay him.
Here are some random photos of the day:
 |
| A living statue? |
 |
| Protesters! |
 |
| Yeah, the showers on are covered half way...try not getting water everywhere! |
 |
| Andrea and I in front of the Palace |
 |
| The Hangover 2 in Spanish! |
 |
| Euro trash silver shorts! (No worries didn't buy) |
 |
| the fountain of Neptune |
