Conociendo Madrid

Today I met my friend Erika in the morning to do some sightseeing around Madrid (finally)!! We went to the Prado Museum again, and this time were able to spend a good three hours there. It is actually free admission for students, which is really nice. I may end up being a frequent visitor. Then we walked around the area, took pictures and ate at a small restaurant where we finally tried tapas! Tapas are very popular here. I had been hearing about them since I got here but I had no idea what they were until this afternoon. Basically it's toasted bread with any variety of things on top. We shared four tapas, one with eggs, one with bacon and melted cheese, one with ham and one with breaded chicken on top. We both ordered a water and an orange juice (freshly squeezed; it was delicious), and I ordered a pasta with pesto. I'm pretty sure we sold ourselves out as Americans for ordering WAY too much food. I could barely eat any of my pasta by the time it came. Regardless, I'm glad to say I had my first experience at a Spanish restaurant eating real Spanish food! After eating so much, we were both too tired to keep going so we just went home. However, I'm happy with today--I finally saw Goya's dark paintings, including "Saturn devouring his children," I did a little souvenir/gift shopping and I was able to walk around beautiful Madrid! Pictures are worth a thousand words so I'll let you see for yourself!

                                         (above: statue of Francisco de Goya outside the Prado)

                            Above: Went to Starbucks and this is how they spelled my name! Haha.

                                                          I liked the bark on this tree...

                                              Palacio de comunicaciones!