We Did Madrid.

Our weekend trip to Madrid was full of adventures. Nathan was especially excited to see the capital of Spain and it was fun to explore another part of Spain. We started our first day by visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid. It's still one of the official residences of the royal family, but they weren't home when we visited. We weren't allowed to take pictures in most of the palace but it was so ornate and beautiful. You walk through massive halls with paintings lining the walls. It was really cool to see the forms that inducted Spain into the European Union, and where they were signed in the palace. You also get to see the banqueting rooms, the throne rooms, the queen's residential areas and the Royal Armoury. Just walking outside the building was impressive. There's a huge courtyard that looks out on the mountains. I definitely loved the palace and was really impressed with everything they've kept in the buildings.

Across from the palace is the Santa Maria la Real de La Almudena Cathedral. It's Madrid's main cathedral, and one that I was impressed with. It was colourful and bright inside and surprisingly big. We also hiked up more of our favourite rickety stairs and look out on the city from the bell tower. Definitely some amazing views of Madrid.

On our way to the National Anthropology Museum, we stopped by the Madrid Atocha railway station. It's the main station for both city and country travel. It's most famous for the huge botanical gardens in the middle of the station. You can walk through the gardens and it's really pretty. And the little pond is FULL of turtles. They were everywhere. But the highlight of the visit was definitely an accident. Nathan was in the bathroom and I was waiting for him outside. As I was standing there quietly, I watched as two police officers brought a man down the stairs, and then an officer began digging through the trash. The man kept shaking his head, and everyone seemed frustrated. It appeared no one was finding whatever it was they were looking for. So the officers allowed him to dig through the trash. It only took the man a few seconds to dig out a gun! Then the officers and the man stood and talked for a few minutes ten feet away from me, all while the guy is still holding his gun. Then they walked around me and stood a few feet behind me, while more police officers came over. Nathan finally came out of the bathroom at this point, and we stood and watched for a few more minutes before leaving. Neither of us were quite sure what was going on, but I was definitely worried for a minute or two that this guy could grab me and I'd be a hostage. No pressure. Nathan was a little sad he missed the whole thing. These pictures were taken before the gun adventures.

After the incident, we finally headed over to the National Anthropology Museum. We weren't astounded by the museum, but it was interesting and we did learn some things. The highlight of the museum for me was to see the skeleton of the "Extremaduran Giant." He is one of the tallest men in history, at almost eight feet tall and worked in the circus that moved throughout Spain, and even met the king. 

We headed over to the Prado for some art culture, and stopped at the Plaza Mayor on the way. It's one of the main plazas in Madrid, and full of life. There were tons of vendors and restaurants. 

The Museo Del Prado is the national art gallery and has an amazing collection of European art and is the best collection of Spanish art. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building, and I wish I would have broken that rule. Next time, for sure. It was an amazing collection to see. One of my favourite things was to see Goya's collection of art. He's always been a favourite painter of mine, and it was definitely an experience to see the biggest collection of his art in just a few rooms. My other favourite part was getting the see Las Meninas. Nathan was really excited to see it because he had studied it in one of his classes in Granada. And when we visited Barcelona, the Picasso museum has a collection of fifty-eight paintings done by Picasso, based on Las Meninas. After seeing both, it was interesting to see the differences and what Picasso had and hadn't focused on. The Prado was massive and overwhelming, but definitely worth it. 

Across from the Prado, is the San Jeronimo el Real - a church that also houses other works of art owned by the Prado. It was fun to visit and it was really a beautiful church. 

We finished off the day by visiting the National Archaeological Museum of Spain. I loved this place so much. Because of the importance of the artifacts in Europe, many of the oldest and rarest pieces must be housed in the capital city. So this museum was full of amazing pieces of history from as early as sixteenth century B.C. There are collections from ancient Greece and Egypt and prehistoric life on the Iberian peninsula. It was overwhelming and amazing. We thought we could do it in the two hours before the museum closed, but we definitely couldn't. We ended up seeing half the first night and waking up and doing the second half the next morning. We thought we were crazy, but since we got in for free being students, we weren't too worried. And it was so worth it. Everything was amazing and I loved every minute. 

After our return to the Archaeological Museum, we stopped by the Real Madrid football stadium. Unfortunately they weren't playing the weekend that we visited, so we didn't even have the option to watch a game. But we went on an amazing tour of the whole building. They had an entire floor dedicated to the trophies that had been won by the team. Real Madrid is one of the oldest football teams in the world, and has an amazing story to go along with it. Nathan was especially excited to actually get to stand on the pitch, and sit on the bench. Those chairs are so comfortable, I wouldn't even be mad if I didn't start. I could hang out down there all day. 

Our last stop of the day was the Temple of Debod. The temple was originally built in Egypt, and was donated to Spain in 1968 to thank the Spanish for their help in preserving the pyramids and other monuments. It was dismantled, flown to Spain, and reassembled in the middle of a beautiful park. It was really cool to see such an out of place monument - not only is it so unlike the surrounding architecture, but it's also in the middle of a beautiful park. It was an unexpected sight.

Our last day in Madrid, I wanted to do a few of the things that we didn't have the chance to see the first two days. Nathan did not agree. He convinced me to go to the Madrid Zoo and Aquarium. I hate to admit it, but it was a good idea. So much fun! We loved the animals. Our favourites was the bear who would wave to you when you said "Hola, Oso!" Oso means bear in Spanish. We also loved the baboons. They were in a giant enclosure, and people were throwing all kinds of food into their space. It was clear that people just brought bananas from their own houses and fed them to the animals. They did it with all the monkeys. Another perfect example of the Spanish ignoring all rules. We were definitely sad no one told us, otherwise we would've brought bananas too! It looked like so much fun. All the animals in the zoo were very friendly. Definitely nicer than Canadian zoos. But of course, our favourite part of the zoo was feeding flamingos! I was hesitant at first, birds have always freaked me out and I had a hard time bringing myself to let a flamingo eat out of my hand. I squealed. But it was so cool! I would definitely do it again, and it cost one euro for all of our fun!