Spain (Madrid)

First of all, sorry for the intermittent posts throughout our trip. It has been difficult writing posts using our cell phones so we have been trying to find internet cafes or computers at our hotels to update our travels. (Currentlz, we are in Swityerland where this kezboard is super funkz). I will try to write a couple today and tomorrow to get somewhat caught up.  

 

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Madrid, a bustling city much like New York City with different areas of people centrally located around common similarities. We are evidently staying in the more "bohemian" area, but its nice because we have a small apartment where we can relax for a couple days. Also like NYC, Madrid has a large park (parque del retiro) which was our first destination. In the middle of the park was the Palacio de Cristal, which was a big glass conservatory looking over a pond.

 

Quite a picturesque setting, where Tricia and I took an

enjoyable break to feed the ducks and turtles, which is something I could easily do back home but never imagined doing for having "better things to do".  In the evening we had some delicious dinners filled with patatas bravas, tortilla Espanola, and churros con chocoláte (mí favorito!).The best being from the chocolateria San Gines.

We also ended one of our evenings with a live Flamenco show at casa patas which was filled with great impressive dancing and music. An intimate and cozy setting, albeit a little claustrophobic at first, made the show all the more heartfelt. Flamenco is one of those spectacles much more impressive experienced live than through a recorded camera lens. Unfortunately a large tourist group did not seem to share the same sentiment as myself and ignored the "no media" signs. Hence no pictures or videos are available to share, sorry. Suprisingly, Madrid does not have much to see in terms of famous or noticeable monuments or scenic views compared to other larger cities. We did go to the Museo del Prado which was a nice art exhibit but we were told that pictures were not allowed, which was surprising since the Louvre allowed photos without flash. Maybe it was because we decided to relax than take a city tour, but I would say that Madrid is a little underwhelming, but then again we enjoyed the ability to stay in one place for a while.