Madrid and Barcelona

Yesterday (our second day in Madrid), we started out the morning with free breakfast from our hostel. Nick was excited to finally see corn flakes again. He filled his bowl to the brim, grabbed for the milk... and realized the carton was room temperature : ( Really, we aren't even sure it was milk. Luckily, we still had yogurt left over from the night before so he survived.

After breakfast we made our way to the Museo del Prado- the most famous of Madrid's museums. They had a huge temporary exhibit called 'Goya, in times of war'. Apparently this Goya guy is a big deal in Madrid, but really he just painted a lot of pictures of people. We have determined that European art can be placed in to four categories: religious, naked, war, and egotistical self portrait. After having our fill of art for the day, we ventured across the city in search of some local cuisine.

We finally decided on a small local bar/restaurant that was located on one of the many smaller side streets. The menu del dia (of the day) was a reasonable 7 euro. The bartender didn't speak any English, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to try out our high school Spanish. After selecting our dish of choice from the menu, we were surprised to find out that the menu del dia included two platos (dishes). So after eating one lunch, we were presented with another plate full of food. After being proud of ourselves for being able to finish our second lunch, the bartender came over and asked us which desert we wanted (which was also included in the menu). A few seconds later we were presented with an enormous serving of flan and whipped cream- delicious. After finishing off what felt like a third lunch, we continued on towards the Plaza Mayor.

The plaza was quite nice, and also pigeon filled. Nick had a few close calls. The plaza and surrounding area was quite touristy, so we took a few pictures and kept going. We had planned on visiting the Reina Sofia museum, but it just so happened to be closed on Tuesday so we went to the Palacio Real instead. Wow- the palace didn't get any hype from the guidebook but it was amazing! We decided the palace was easily as cool as Versaille and a bargain at only 3 euro each. The decorations inside the palace were incredible, and they had several huge tapestries that were originals from the 17th century. They also had a set of string instruments that were made from the original Stradivarius himself. The coolest part is that the palace is still used for the occasional royal function, and the instruments are even played a few times a year! Included with our tour of the palace was admission to the royal pharmacy and the armory. The pharmacy was actually pretty cool and included entire walls filled with vases and other containers that use to hold their medicines. The armory was also huge, and included several life size horse models complete with full armor and mounted knights. The palace balcony, located just off of the courtyard offered spectacular views of Madrid. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited inside of all of the buildings, so photos of the outside of the palace will have to suffice.

After visiting the palace, we decided to experience a bit more Spanish culture by taking a traditional afternoon siesta in our hostel. We topped off the evening by people watching off of our balcony. We amused ourselves by coming up with a story for every person that walked down the street (we saw some very interesting characters). The highlight of our people watching experience came when a large older man was stumbling down the street out of La Corte Ingles (the department/grocery store) with two store employees hanging on to him. At first we thought we were witnessing a medical emergency, but the man soon made a break for it and started running from the women. Seconds later several police offers caught up with the man (he wasn't going too fast) and apprehended the apparent shoplifter. It was like watching an episode of Cops Madrid style. Soon after, we visited La Corte Ingles to pick up dinner and lunch for the train. We carefully paid for all of our goods so as to avoid an international incident!

We got up early this morning to catch our high speed train to Barcelona. Our guide book listed train routes as taking between 5 and 9 hours from Madrid to Barcelona, but we were lucky to get a train here in less than three hours. The Spanish countryside is spectacular. The terrain varies widely from region to region with mountains everywhere and some green and some desert areas. We arrived in Barcelona around 11:00 and checked into our hostel, which is located in a really cool building near the center of the city. We appear to have lucked out with good roommates again with two nice girls from Louisiana and three from Brazil.

After checking in, we began a walking tour through the city. Barcelona is definitely the most distinctive city we've seen. The guide book calls it funky and we definitely agree. The architecture is very unique and the people are spirited. We walked down Las Ramblas, a very popular avenue for tourists. It is full of street vendors, performers, and human statues. We also stopped at La Boqueria, a HUGE street market where you can buy just about any part of an animal from land or sea. Luckily they also had lots of fruit and other produce and we bought a fruit bowl for an afternoon snack.

Next, we made our way down to the harbor and took in some good sights with Barcelona's famous Christopher Columbus statue, the marinas, and some tourists feeding fish (there were hundreds!). We then strolled through the Parc de la Ciutadella. Some of the locals there were very open in their love and admiration for each other - public displays of affection taken to a new level. At the end of the park was the Spanish version of the Arch de Triomphe, a cool site in itself.

Finally, we hiked across the city to La Sangrada Familia, an incredible modern cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's favorite son. Construction began in 1882 and is still underway today. The architecture and design is completely unique, but it still has all of the grandeur of the classical cathedrals we've seen. It was neat to see how a cathedral is built, and it amazes us how people were able to build the older cathedrals hundreds of years ago with far less sophisticated equipment.

By this time, we were starving as we hadn't had any real food all day, so we made our way to an all-you-can-eat buffet we had passed earlier and decided to take advantage of this great opportunity for unlimited food. It ended up being delicious, but after we made our way halfway down the buffet line, there was a striking lack of meat. Sure enough, it was actually a vegetarian restaurant. After stuffing ourselves full of these healthy platters, we returned to the hostel to plan tomorrow's itinerary.

Hasta Luego!