Segunda Día en Madrid

La segunda día, the second day in Madrid was spent rather well. Taking a long stroll from the hostel named MAD hostel (for reasons unknown to me), I ventured down to one of Madrid´s most famous of the many museums located in the compact city. Museo del prado. A practical must. I´m not one that is much for art and art galleries but the prado was different and I was never disappointed nor did I ever get bored. I especially enjoyed the mass amounts of the infamous spanish painter, Goya. I´ll never forget learning about him numerous times while taking high school Spanish with Sr. Boca. It was almost nestalgic and slgihtly comical to see first hand the real thing. Especially the black paintings which gave Goya his extreme popularity. I mean hey who wouldn´t love paintings that practically set a time table for an artists uncanny and phsychotic demise as he slowly crept into the depths of insanity. Appropriately called the black panitings as their base is dark and their images the same. I took an illegal photo (shun!!) of these paintings and you´ll find many posted around the internet, but unfortunately posting from a hostel computer I can´t upload my photos just yet. So to all keep waiting and they will come. And when they do... well let´s just say I get a little crazy with the photos!

During my time at the Prado I became venturous into the world of beverages and decided to try a common european take on the ever popular coffee. If you´re thinking of the coffee that you would brew at your house and enjoy, or the image of the McDonald´s coffee, throw it out the window. This is REAL unfiltered espresso and leche (milk). You are given one sugar packet and in reality if you use it all your asking for trouble. The taste is bold and yet thick creamy and supple. It´s like nothing you´ve experienced before. The baristas (coffe maker guy) even get fancy with these little cups and make cute designs in the foam. Now the cup is also very little but it´s really all you need because it still fills you up. If you´ve ever walked into a starbucks or any other coffee shop you´ve heard the term latte well that is what I had, but it was an experience like no other. So when in Europe drink European coffee and you won´t be disappointed. Not surprisngly as is the European (and especially) Spanish style even a small cup of coffee is a long drawn out process. Meals can take up to an hour or more. Coffee is similar in that there is not really such a thing as "to go." You sit for a minimum of 15 minutes and enjoy the pure innocence and timelessness of a simple cup of espresso and milk.

After the Prado it was on to touring several of the parks near by. Venturing over to the famous botanical gardens I found it was a costly venture and for the little amount of time left before Siesta it was not quite worth it to continue inside. But the view from outside is absoltuely gorgeous, so many roses and other flowers that the smell of flores (flowers) eminates half way down the street. So instead I wandered off to another park nearby where I got lost venturing through the endless pathways and beatiful fountains while watching the numerous amounts of dogs roamnig alongside there owners. As Siesta was drawing near the decision was made to eat lunch in the park at what appeared to be a locals only restaraunt. I opted for a simple bagette with cheese as is seemingly common among the people of spain, accompanied by some delicious sangria, a spanish favorite as well. Lunch took a long time as well since I was not expecting the sandwhich to be so large and I had to eat extremely slow in hopes of being able to finish it all. During lunch a family came and sat at the table next to me and there little toddler and I hit it off rather well. I think I may have had a fling! Just kidding, but the boy was infatuated with the little sparrows, the pigeons and this other strange bird that everytime I tried to capture it in a picture it literally hopped out of the camera view (it is also something I have never seen in America before as well.) So we played with the birds for sometime untill I was able to finish lunch and say goodbye to my new found playmate.

Siesta had arrived and so I made my way back to the hostel for a short nap. After the nap it seemed that nothing exciting was going to happen and so I turned in early for the night after hitting up a local supermarket for some cheap dinner (spanish take on ravioli, rather delicious if I do say so myself) and enjoying the sunset from the rooftop with a group of guys from australia who truely enjoyed chatting up a storm... Another day comes to a close and with it antoher chapter...