Madrid!!!!

The first stop in my 2 week adventure was Madrid, Spain. The first day I was there Kelli was not with me, she arrived the day after, so I spent the first day with my friends Alex, Margot and Julie. We first made our way to the Parc de Retiro where we rented row boats, had some ice cream, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.



Then we headed to the Prado museum to see some fantastic artwork from Goya and the likes.
Kelli joined me the next day and we did a walking tour of the city where we had a crazy guy from texas as our tour guide. Then we went to the Regina Sophia museum where we got to see modern art like Picasso and Dali originals.



Madrid at night is so beautiful, and Kelli and I spent every night wandering around Plaza del Sol people watching, and posing with the bear, the symbol of the city.

We also went into the Spanish Royal Palace and visited the gardens. The insides of the Palace were so ornate it was fascinating. Since Spain was a catholic country they were not allowed to show their "pride." This being said, the outsides of their buildings were very boring. However, once you got in the inside the rooms were beautiful. Decorated from floor to ceiling with incredible paintings and furnishings. Not to mention the gardens which were huge and had peacocks! Naturally Kelli and I had to walk to see them.



Note the peacock in the back left of the picture! We were able to walk right up to them :) That night Kelli and I had the best hot chocolate in the world! Featured on the Travel Channel even! It was so thick you had to dip churros into it. So I think it is safe to say that after all the tapas, paella, and chocolate, sangria I think I ate well in Madrid. Despite rather loud hostelmates, we boarded the train early in the morning (in a station with a jungle inside!) and headed to Beautiful Barcelona!