My roommate Niki and I decided a week ago to go to Madrid for our four day weekend at the end of January. We woke up really early on Friday and went to the train stop. The train was excellent. We could have flown, but most cheap flight around Spain don't even fly out of Barcelona. They fly out of a town that is an hours bus ride away. They train was extremely easy going. No hastle, about the same price, and very comfortable. We only packed our backpacks, and it was nice traveling light. We arrived to Marid around 11, but had to wait till 2 to check into our hostel. So while we were waiting we relaxed at this amazing fountain! Our hostel was pretty nice. We were staying in a room with 12 beds in it, which was an experience in itself. Fortunatley, due to my amazing planning skills the hostel only allowed students, so most the people were relatively trustworty. This was good because they didn't have lockers to keep things in. So we took all of our valuables with us, but left our backpacks.

On Friday we wandered around close to the hostel, but the hostel was basically downtown, so there was some amazing sights to see. First off, we went to this old monument that had been given to Spain from Egypt. These were build around 2nd century BC!
So for the day we wandered and had lunch. I finally tried Paella, which is a very Spanish rice dish usually with seafood in it. That evening we went to La Reina Sofia Museum which is a museum with more modern art in it. So there was tons of Picasso there. (For anyone who doesn't know--I didn't--Picasso was born in the southern part of Spain) I (illegally) took a picture of one of his most famous pieces called La Guernica that is supposed to reprensents when a town in Spain was bombed by Hitler during WWII. During this time Franco was in power and he in no way retaliated against Hitler. This is the picture I snapped for all of you!
During these adventures we were able to meet up with one of my good friends from Gonzaga who is studying in Madrid, Katie. She came to the museum with us and then showed us some of Madrid's nightlife.

The next day, Niki and I took the train 20 minutes outside of Madrid to Sagovia. This was such a nice day trip. First off, we got to see some of the Spanish landscape and we also got to go to a much smaller town and see how different it is than Madrid or Barcelona. Even though it is so small, Sagovia still has some amazing sights. My favorite was a castle that played a big part in Spanish history and often housed the monarchs of the time. This castle is also said to be the inspiration for sleeping beauty. We paid 4 euros to go inside and it was amazing! They had everthing very nicely preserved. There is also a beautiful cathedral and an aqueduct that is in amazing condition. Apparently, if it were needed, it is still in working condition. We were in Sagovia for about 4 1/2 hours and it was so much fun!
On Sunday we had a full day. THis is the day that most museums and other activities were free and we were planning on hitting a lot of sights. In the morning we went to the biggest flee market I have ever been to. However, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting markets like I saw in Italy and the farmers markets back in Wisconsin with all sorts of food, arts and crafts, jewelry, and other interesting assortment of things. However, the majority of good for sale in the fleemarket were knockoff clothes! It was amazing to see so many stalls though...and people! AFter that we went to El Palacio Real, which is the Royal Palace. Its importance is equivalent to that of the White House since Madrid is the capital of Spain. Niki and I went inside for 8 euros, but we couldn't take any pictures. We got to see room after room of lavish decoration with gold and bronze everywhere, and I'm pretty sure each room had a unique and equisite crystal chandlier. It was an amazing sight.
After this, we met up with one of Niki's friends from her hometown Milton, WI. Kelsey is studying in Toledo, which is about an hour bus ride away from Madrid. We also met up with Katie and then all four of us went to El Prado. This is the most famous museum in Spain and houses some pretty incredible pieces. Niki and Kelsey had studied tons of Spanish art history in their Spanish classes, which is something I never got to do, so they acted as tour guides and told us all about the most famous painting. It was ver fun! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures here. THey were much more strict:)
Monday was our last day in Madrid, and considering most of the touristy sight places were closed, we decided to go shopping. Surprising, shopping in Madrid seemed to be much cheaper than Barcelona. We had an amazing time wandering around the streets and going into every store that caught our eye. AFter this we retrieved our bags from the hostel and went and wandered around a park next to the train stop before we left. It was quite an amazing trip!
Classes started on Tuesday 2nd, so I'm sure I'll be having a lot of homework soon. Till then, I'm enjoying wandering around the streets of Barcelona, going running, and generally just relaxing.