Madrid: Day 4

We got a late start to our final day in Madrid, so we ended up just drinking some fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast (they have it everywhere in Madrid and it is amazingly delicious) before walking through the city for our lunch reservations.

We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Europe (or maybe just in Spain, I can't remember which). A cute little old Spanish woman who was our waitress at the Olive Garden back home told us about it, and so did Katherine, so we figured we had to try it. We're very glad we did because it was soooo good. Greg ordered their specialty which is roast sucking pig. I had some delicious chicken with an almond sauce.

After lunch, we decided to go to a park in the area and just relax for a bit. There were actually quite a few people there. After a bit, we walked through more of the park and saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Mickey was all decked out in a 4th of July type costume, I'm not sure why. Anyway, we also saw that they had a little lake with boats you could rent, so we decided to do that. 

Greg is so strong. He rowed the boat all by himself. 

After the lovely boat ride, we walked over to the Palacio Real (royal palace) only to find out that it had closed about an hour earlier. Oops. The grounds were still nice though and we walked next door to the Church of San Miguel which was also very nice. 

Later that night, we went to see some Flamenco! It was incredible! Greg tried to get some pictures, but the woman was moving too fast, so they all came out blurry. We couldn't decide if we enjoyed the guitar playing, singing, or dancing more. It really was an incredible end to Madrid. 

Madrid: Day 3

Well, technically we weren't in Madrid for most of the day, but still. We left this morning at around 9:30 for Toledo. Actually, we had breakfast first and then caught the metro to the train station where we would then go to Toledo. We thought we had planned plenty of time for all that, but apparently we were mistaken and ended up running through the train station frantically trying to find the right platform. We got on the train exactly 2 minutes before it left. Very close call.

So, once we got to Toledo we wandered around the city for a while trying to find our way around. In the center of the city is the cathedral, so we decided to start there. It took three centuries to build it and it was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but this is what the outside looks like:

Also inside the cathedral was basically a mini museum with a bunch of paintings by El Greco (who lived there for a good portion of time), Van Dyck, Titian, etc. It was great to look at them in such an intimate setting. They also had some robes of the past cardinals of Toledo on display. Some of them were as old as the 1400s.

After our tour through the cathedral, we got lunch at a nearby cafe. Greg decided to try a dish we keep seeing everywhere...I'm not sure what it's called, but here's a picture:

The fact that it had rabbit meat in it kind of scared me off, but the rice was delicious, especially with the lemon juice. After lunch, we wandered around all the awesome narrow streets of the city with some delicious ice cream. At about this point in the day, almost everything shut down. I've heard of this happening in Spain and Italy, but we hadn't seen it in Madrid, so we didn't really think much of it. But seriously, everything was pretty much dead. It was crazy, but very cool to walk through the empty streets.

Unfortunately, this meant that most of the museums and such were closed as well. But we had a great time walking around. It's one of our favorite things to do in new cities anyways. Oh, and notice the blue sky peeping out there? Well apparently there was a 70% chance of rain at about that time. We came prepared. But there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Psh. Stupid weather channel.

Eventually we made it up to the top of the city and here is a picture of the amazing view:

After walking around for a few hours we went to relax in a park for a bit before heading out to catch the train. It was so hot all day that we were very tired by the time we finally left. See?

Oh, and for those of you who are dying to know (probably just me), while there was a decent chance I would get my LSAT score today, it hasn't happened so far. Oh well, more waiting for me. At least I get to tour Europe to keep my mind off of it. :)

Madrid: Day 2

Today did not go exactly as planned. You see, the plan was to wake up, go to the temple, come back and read and write, then go to a nice restaurant we've heard lots about for dinner. I think one of those things ended up happening. Oh well, such is life.

We did wake up, so I guess two of those things happened.

After that, we got ready, took the metro to the stop that's supposed to be near the temple, wandered around for a while trying to figure out where the temple actually is, found two newbie missionaries (one of them said it was his very first day there), and eventually got to the temple, only to find out that it is closed until Tuesday for cleaning. We leave on Sunday. Dang. We were really disappointed. But we still got this picture:

So, we went back to the hotel and checked online to make sure none of our other temple trips were going to have the same fate. Luckily neither of them should, though we might not be able to do a full session in The Hague. I was glad to see that the last two temples should be okay because those are two temples no one in my extended family has been to and I think we're trying to get to them all. 

After that, we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch and headed over to eat them on the steps of the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (we really like eating on the steps of museums). 

Then we went inside the museum to look at some modern art. A lot of the stuff on the first floor looked like this: 

I am not a big fan of that kind of art. Luckily, the second floor was much better. There was a lot of Picasso and Miro. The main attraction was Picasso's Guernica, which you're actually not allowed to take pictures of. Good thing Greg is sneaky with his camera. 

Part of it is cut off, but I thought it was a pretty good picture considering the circumstances. 

After the museum, we went to the train station to book tickets for Toledo, which we will tell you all about after we go there tomorrow. It should be fun. Then we went to the hotel and tried to make dinner reservations at the restaurant. Unfortunately, they were booked until 11:00 and we really didn't feel like eating then. Apparently in Spain, everyone eats really late. Most restaurants don't even open for dinner until 8:00. So, we decided we'll have lunch there on Saturday instead. We grabbed a quick dinner by our hotel and have been writing/watching the World Cup ever since. All in all, it's been a good day, even if it didn't go quite according to plan. 

Madrid: Day 1

So we are now in Madrid. Greg keeps reminding me that this is the city where I will find out my LSAT score. I don't know how I feel about that, but so far Madrid has been great.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:45 this morning, but it didn't really end up leaving till about an hour later. Of course, that meant we woke up around 4:30 to get there on time. Luckily, we were both able to get some sleep on the flight and our hotel let us check in right when we arrived, so we got a nap too.

This hotel is probably the best one we've stayed in yet. Not only is there a shower, a toilet, and one bed instead of two, but we are seriously right next to the train station. We don't really even have to go outside between the two because there's a parking garage. It's great.

So when we were done napping today, we went to Puerta del Sol, which is kind of like the city center. It's a really nice area.

We eventually made our way to Plaza Mayor which is a square where some of the Spanish Inquisition took place. Now, it just has nice cafes and little shops all around.

We had a light dinner at a little cafe and then headed back to the hotel to catch up on email and of course blogging. So there you go, we're all caught up! :)