Dancing Through Madrid!!!

Hello All! I had an absolutely amazing time in Spain and am going to try to post a very good description of my trip and all the wonderful things I saw! It was great to travel alone because I was able to make all my own decisions and also meet so many people from all around the world. It was an unforgettable, amazing experience!
First Stop, Madrid. I got to my hostel around 9pm, which is dinner time in Madrid. I put down my bags and found out that later that night there would be a pub crawl, so I went out in search of food before the festivities. But first I saw this and it made me feel much better in my new, exciting but a little scary, trip alone. Then, after walking around, I decided to go to a place that was selling montadillos (mini sandwiches) for 2 euro. The one on the right had ham (bacon, as they call it) melted brie and a spicy tomato sauce. The one on the left had fried cheese and caramelized onions. Needless to say, it was a warm welcome into Spanish food. They were delicious and cheap! Then, I went on the pub crawl and made some great friends, many of which I continued to hang out with for my entire time in Madrid.
Then, the next day was my walking tour, Where I learned all about the city and saw many interesting buildings and things. The tour guide was great and we started at this statue, the symbol of Madrid.
It is a bear eating berries form a tree, berries which if eaten ripe, are alcoholic. It is on every trashcan, major sign and even carved into the sidewalk occasionally. We saw so many beautiful things and heard some terrific stories. One of my favorite places was the palace, which was breathtaking. Here I am in the palace gardens in front of the fountain! And here is the palace, which is so big it is hard to get a picture of the entire building.
Then, we walked all around the city and over to a street called Grand Via. Grand Via was rebuilt sometime recently to mimic US Art Deco styles and, to me, is much more beautiful and lavish than anything I have seen in America. Here is the building at the beginning of the street. It was also a great area for restaurants, shopping and just hanging out.
And after all that walking, food was needed. The tour guide showed us a place with paella that he raved about, and it was pretty tasty. I got paella mixto, which had seafood and chicken. We also all shared pitchers of sangria and feasted on tapas--chicken wings, marinated veggie salad, potato salad and bread with tomato and oil. It was delicious. Here it is, before I dived in and ate it all up! Yum!

Then, the next day I went to The Renia Sofia Museum. Here I saw some terrific paintings by Dali, Miro and Picasso. They also have la guernica, which is much larger than you ever thought possible and amazing. (CAUTION: Nerd Moment Alert!!) I also went to a temporary exhibit at that museum all about the Ready Made Movement and how Duchamp and his Readymades including the Bottle rack, which I SAW!!! CRAZY!! Here it is. Then, it was all more contemporary artists who used readymade as a concept to create more detailed and complicated readymade projects. Much of the art here was made form household items and it was all terrific. There was even an entire hall way filled with tires staked and piled in various places. I loved it. Then, I went to the train station to buy my train tickets for the entire trip. The old section of the train station no longer has trains and they put a tropical garden in its place. There are all sorts of plants and more turtles than you have ever seen! I had to wait for almost an hour to get up to the teller, but it was okay because I was in a tropical oasis. It was so cool. Then, after consulting my "Lets Go Europe" book, I found a place to eat lunch. For an appetizer, entree, dessert, 1/4 liter of wine and a roll you pay only ten euros, and the food was amazing. Here is my artistic(I wish!) picture of the restaurant, complete with my wine glass and cool menu. The restaurant is called Bazaar and is decorated with cool bottles of water, tins of tea and bags of rice, much like a market. For an appetizer I had gazpacho, because I was in Spain and it was almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside! It was delicious! I don't usually love gazpacho but this one was creamy and smooth. I loved it. Since I do not speak Spanish, the entree was a slight gamble. I saw the word Atun (tuna) and decided to give it a try. It was stewed pieces of tune in a rich broth and also amazing. It had a slight kick to it and also a very tangy lemon element. Then, after all that food, I was stuffed and opted for the plain yogurt and sugar, a popular dessert here in Holland as well, for a light and yummy dessert. It was an unforgettable lunch and, needless to say, i returned there during my trip.
The next day a friend i made, Jennifer, and I went on an adventure to a free museum recommended to us by one of the people who worked at the hostel. It was called The Caxia Forum, which many major Spanish cities have. It is a great building, which has an entire "green" wall, covered in plants. The first floor, that you walk into, is actually all outside and you must enter a aluminum stair case in order to enter the building. There we saw a photo contest about world change and suffering, which was cool and an exhibit with photos and film excerpts on Fellini, the Italian director. It was an amazing exhibit and we spent nearly 2 hours in that one room! Then, we went to the major park in Madrid, which was beautiful. Here I am, standing on top of a staircase in front of a terrace. It was beautiful! Then, we wondered around and found some beautiful things, including a building called the glass palace. It is so cool and is the location for some of the readymade art from the Renia Sofia. You cannot see the art in this picture, but you can see where the glass palace got its name. After another long day of walking, we decided to get our Spanish lunch (starts around 1:30 or 2pm) at the same place I went the day before. We both had an appetizer of a salad with tostas--and the tostas had a salad of roasted eggplant, peppers, garlic and onions. YUM! Here is a picture of Jennifer with her roasted turkey leg with veggies. For the main course I had a delicious beef stew with mashed potatoes. Then for desert we had Flan, and here I am so excited to start eating mine! It was a terrific meal and we both enjoined it (and each others company) a ton! But, after wards, we needed a nap. Then, we went to the Prado Museum, which is the national Spanish art collection, and we saw possibly 100 pictures of Jesus in so many different positions, ages and colors. But, its free for the last 2 hours of the day, so we were fine with just browsing through and then going home for the tapas tour! We had snagria and tapas form the first bar and the second bar we had a traditional Spanish Apple Cider, which had to be pushed through a speacial aerator for each person. Here I am doing it! Then, one friend I made in
Madrid, Milad, and I decided to have a fun night on the town. We went to a bar and had a few jager bombs while dancing and meeting lots of Spanish people. They are all so friendly! Here we are, enjoying our night! Then, it was bedtime and an early train ride the next day to Valencia. There is so much to say, I will have to do a post on Valencia another time! As you can see, my trip was off to a fantastic start!