El Jardin Botanico y El Retiro

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Hola! Well after the excitement of yesterday's Metro excursion and a long period of rest, my grandmother and I decided to first go get some lunch, and we went to a cafe where you could sit outside (those are the best especially in this weather...it's just delightful). After a nice while, we decided to just walk up the street and we realized that we were on the same street as the Prado and had new understanding of our whereabouts in the city. It's always exciting when you start to "know" where you are and how to get around, and when it all gets pieced together. Anyways, we walked up the street and realized we were right next to the Botanical Gardens which is just across from the Prado. Now, if you knew my grandmother you would know that gardening is like...her absolute passion so of course she wanted to go in. I don't mind flowers so much myself so we decided to do it, and it was SO worth it. I absolutely love roses and they had just about every variety and then some. They were all these spectacular colors, some even looked like they would light up a pitch black room they were so bright. My favorite were these huge, lightish pink roses that were speckled with tiny darker pinks spots, like they had been spray painted that way. They were fantastic. The garden was so big and there were hundreds of flowers and plants....it really was so enjoyable and extremely relaxing because we just took our time walking around it all. The remainder of the evening we got to watch this HUGE storm roll in- the view from our 6th story window looks out to the southwest of Madrid and you can see a long long way past the train station, and this storm was eerie looking. The rain set in for the night so it was very relaxing evening too.
Today, I got to sleep in which was much much needed and we finally got up and out around 1:30, and we had decided to see El Retiro since it is just around the corner from where we are. Really it is a huge park with lots of trees- it really is pretty and it was especially green and lush after all the rain we had last night. The main attraction of the park is the square pond in front of this huge monument/statue. it is so very interesting to me that there are these monuments all over the place, and their magnitude is astounding. There are other fountains and such dotted throughout the park and those were pretty as well, especially the one that begins a path toward the Plaza de Independencia, where a set of gigantic arches stands in the middle of a traffic circle. That was a cool sight to see, and very pretty with all the flowers and fountains leading up to it. Definitely got some sweet pictures of it!! On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in this very small, local lunch place (and it was quite cheap...yay) and it was one of the neatest things- there is something about going to a local place that is so charming. The sandwich I had there was probably the best thing I've had since I have been here, and the man who served us was so nice and asked us where we were from and other things. I had an entire conversation in Spanish! I was so proud :-) granted, it was filled with errors I'm sure, but it was still fun, and he got the idea!! It has since started absolutely pouring again, but I don't mind because it is a good excuse to relax. I meet up with my group tomorrow, and I am very excited!! Vale, all for now! Hasta luego!

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Photos

The world's sport
While we were eating a group of kids just started playing soccer in the court in front of the Sofia Reina museum. too cute.

The speckled rose
My favorite flower in the botanical garden!

Flowers
I was able to get some sweet shots of the flowers here.

Butterfly and the Rose
I am proud of this one!

Mira!!
Look what we found. haha.

Assortment
A pretty assortment of flowers.

Wide view
A wide view of the botanical garden.