Thursday morning we were up bright and early because it was Aunt Kait's last day. We started off with the hotel's buffet style breakfast and it was delicious. One of the most colorful breakfast plates I've had in a while, plus some good strong Spanish coffee. First stop after breakfast was trying to find my host mom's house, even though she isn't currently here, we wanted to see if we could find it. Along the way we found a store called Futbol Mania where many great purchases were made, and I am sure many more are still to be made. Hopefully the World Cup jerseys will be purchase-able soon! We then found the house and it is in a fabulous location: very close to the Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, and at least one Metro station. I can't wait!
We then walked to the Palais Real. It was absolutely incredible. Each room was more lavishly decorated than the one before it and the colors and fabrics were incredible. Almost every single room had some sort of fresco painted on the ceiling, all of the doorways were marble with huge curtains and tassels that were ginormous (my mom was a big fan). My favorite part, though, were all of the clocks. They were absolutely incredible and ranged in size, shape, color, simplicity, etc. Side note, we did the audio tour and my thing died halfway through. So much for my pigeon poop luck. Anyways, outside of the palace was a courtyard that had a fantastic view out over the hills as well as the cathedral that was located across from the palace, which happened to have The Godfather song playing. We didn't go over that way because when we left the palace we were very hungry.
We stopped at a random little restaurant and it ended up being fantastic. It was called Paradita de Santiago. The weather here is hot and sunny unlike Paris and London, so cold cervezas tasted heavenly. We had a delicious house salad with tomatoes, dried cherries, almonds and walnuts, figs, and brie cheese; a mushroom risotto with shrimp, chicken, asparagus, and manchego cheese; and an incredible fried codfish. By far one of the best meals, and also tapas style, so we all got to try everything!
After lunch we walked over to the Reina Sofia Museum, which ended up being closed due to the holiday that we weren't completely aware of celebrating Madrid's patron saint San Isidro. The Reina Sofia is home to many of Salvador Dalí's works as well as Pablo Picasso's extremely famous painting La Guernica, which is actually Spain's national piece of art. We are sorry Aunt Kait missed it! We went back and saw it today and it was breathtaking. The piece itself is something like 286 square feet and is guarded by two workers making sure nobody takes pictures. I personally was more fascinated by the pictures on the wall across from it that show a timeline of how it was made. It was very cool to see it as it developed and which things were changed and which things stayed the same. Anyway, because the museum was closed we made our way back towards the hotel along Calle del Prado and passed the Botanical Gardens. The line was far too long at the Prado Museum so we sat outside on a bench in a shady area. It was wonderful. Plus there was an ADORABLE little boy running around which always makes everything better.
When we had sat long enough, we went back to our hotel, the Villa Real, for some cocktails. We sat outside on the plaza and took in the beautiful surroundings which include a view of a church down the road, a fountain of Neptune, and a statue of Miguel de Cervantes. We then made our way to look at the Plaza Mayor, which was hopping. A concert was going on in honor of the holiday and we were lucky enough to get to sit in the plaza and eat a little dinner. It was a very fun atmosphere. After we were finished we headed back and called it a night after saying good-bye to Aunt Kait. She had been the navigator up until this point, but she taught my mom and BB well!!
This morning we caught the tail end of the breakfast buffet and then headed out. First stop was the phone company Orange, but because I'm a genius, I didn't have my passport with me so I couldn't buy a phone today. So we shall return tomorrow. We went to Corte Ingles next, which is basically the biggest department store I have ever seen, second only to Harrods, but infinitely less crowded. I got some nice bath towels and then we were on our way back to the hotel. We paused quickly then headed back to the Reina Sofia, which was a successful visit this time. Then lunch was at the oldest restaurant in Spain and one of the oldest restaurants in the world: Sobrino de Botín. The gazpacho was absolutely incredible as were the Iberian cured ham and huge artichoke hearts. After lunch we stopped at the hotel again before going to our second museum of the day, the Thyssen-Bornemisza. We got there just before the extremely long lines and got to see an exhibit of works by Cezanne before it leaves Madrid on Sunday. This time my audio guide didn't die halfway through!! And the still life pictures were really beautiful in person, plus I learned that Cezanne thought that fruit liked being painted better than flowers, so that's why he painted more fruit. Odd.
After we were finished we came back to the hotel and sat outside again and I had some ginger ale and palomitas (popcorn). We read through the Duke study abroad summer guide on Madrid and learned all about things ranging from how to tip, to table manners, to climate changes throughout Spain, to information on hospitals. No more switching hands after cutting my food because that's impolite here, plus I'm supposed to keep both hands on the table. I'm going to come home with those table manners and hope that my mom doesn't kill me. After we were finished we called it a night. Which meant blogging and of course hours of Candy Crush. Don't worry, my mom is addicted. She's playing on both her phone and iPad now, too. I'm a great influence....
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