Madrid day 2

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After a disappointing night last night, in which I went to bed early from sheer exhaustion, I had high expectations for today.

I woke up and first wandered towards the royal palace, which is only a 10 minute walk from my hostel. Unfortunately the palace was closed for "official ceremonies" until further notice, but it was still very interesting to see from the outside.

Later, I walked to the Plaza del Sol to see some of the urban action during the day. The plaza was packed with tourists, shoppers, cafes, and such, and was a nice place to see.

Next I walked to the Parque de Retiro for an afternoon stroll. The park was beautiful and the weather was nice, so I lay down in a grassy area for a while and took a little siesta. When I woke up, I saw 2 young girls nearby with pens and paper, and figured they were trying to solicit something. They eventually saw me and approached, and tried to get me to sign some petition. When I tried to explain that I didn´t speak Spanish well, and that even if I did, I had no interest in signing whatever it was that they were presenting, they persisted, and as soon as they forcefully shoved the page in front of my face and tried to stand between me and my backpack, I stood up and walked away.

Next, I went to the Reina Sofia modern art museum. This place was AMAZING! The building itself is a work of art itself. The highlights were some of Picasso´s works, including his famous mural, Guernica. But the most interesting part was Salvador Dalí´s exhibit. I am not sure what kind of drugs a person has to be on to produce this type of art, but it is creepy.

Then I came back for a siesta, and tried to find some people to mingle with, in spite of the terrible atmosphere in the hostel.

By chance, when I walked by the laundry room I heard 2 guys speaking Hebrew, and we struck up a conversation. My fluency in Hebrew has increased dramatically over the last 3 weeks and I was able to converse very well.

Once again, the night was pretty much a bust. The bars we went to all sucked, were filled with guys, and played excessively loud music.

So all in all, Madrid nightlife has been a bust for me, and the hostel here has been sub-par, but I´ve met some interesting people nonetheless, and the city itself is amazing.

And now I´m ready for some quality time the beach in San Sebastian.

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Comments

[mom]

mom
hi ev how's Paris? update your blog so we kow how you are and your new phone #. We had a nice weekend at the cottage--the boat lift cable broke ( not the usual one--the one at the back) so we have the boat on the lawn on the trailer and we'll have fix it next week. The Shalitas were there, and yos Cec ands Yuval. Byr for now--hi to Bob---xoxoxo mom