Madrid

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As we didn’t have classes on the Friday before university classes started (September 19), Kelsie and I decided to go to Madrid. It was kind of spur-of-the-moment; we didn’t buy train tickets in advance or anything. We caught the 2 ½ hour train ride to Madrid at 6:00 Friday morning, completely exhausted, hoping to be able to sleep on the train. But we had to wait for the conductor to come by so we could buy our tickets. The bad part about buying tickets on the train is that other people who get on at other stops could have your seat, so you have to move. And Kelsie and I had to move, and we were separated. Also, once we got to Madrid, we had to go to the ticket counter and confirm our reservation and our seats for the return trip.
After all that trouble, our first stop was the Palacio Real (pronounced ray-al, meaning “royal”). It was a longer walk than we had anticipated, but we finally got there. It was worth the walk. It was gorgeous. Every room had a slightly different theme, and almost every ceiling was painted. It was like there were 30 mini-Sistine Chapels. Too bad I can only show you the outside, because we were forbidden to take pictures on the inside, so you’ll just have to believe me. One of the rooms is known for being used by Carlos III. It was where Carlos “celebrated the ceremony of getting dressed”, or something like that. I almost burst out laughing when I read that. Wow. Someone has a big ego.
After the palace, Kelsie and I decided that we were tired and hungry. Since Madrid is a big city, we figured we’d be able to find a good Asian restaurant. But it was more difficult that we imagined. Even with asking about 10 people, it still took us 45 minutes to find one. But we were glad we found it. It was delicious. I hadn’t eaten Chinese food since I got here. Any sort of non-Spanish food isn’t very big in Spain.
Since we had rested during lunch, Kelsie and I decided to glance in El Corte Inglés, the famous shopping mall in Madrid. Well, we both thought it was a pretty bad mall. However, that could be due to the fact that we actually underestimated the extent of our exhaustion and overestimated our interest in shopping. So, we decided to make our way to the Retiro, Madrid’s form of Central Park. Once we got there, we collapsed onto the grass, and just lay there for awhile. In the Retiro are a few sights to see. One in particular is a statue. It is one of only 2 statues in the world of the devil. Well, really it’s of Lucifer, the fallen angel, but, same thing. And that’s how we ended our day trip to Madrid. There’s probably some sort of underlying symbolism in there, but I’ll let you come up with that.

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Photos

Some of Madrid
Do you see all that smog?!

El Palacio de las Comunicaciones
Was built to look like it was built a long time ago, but actually was built in the mid-20th century. Used to be Madrid’s main post office

Something
It was pretty, so I took a picture. In the middle of the road. It was a crosswalk, don’t worry!

Up close view of the "something"
It says “reign of Charles III, year 1778 (if I got the Roman numerals right)

The back of the "something"
I'm pretty sure there’s a story behind this thing, whatever it is, but I don’t remember the story. Oh well.

Us
At a huge pond in the middle of the Retiro

Madrid cares about the nevironment
They are apparently super active in that area. With cars and everything!

Palacio de Cristal
Nothing much to see, just an empty glass building. But it’s pretty!

My favorite tree ever
There were lots of these trees in the park, and all of them were bent in some strange way. I really want to find out what they’re called.

Sunset from the train
Not the best picture as you can see my camera, but I like it anyway.