Madrid, Spain

Spain was so awesome! Madrid is a beautiful city with shops, cafes, restaurants, stands, and so many beautiful buildings that it takes your breath away! On Friday, January 1st, we explored the center of the city near Danny’s apartment and had churros. Churros are fried dough that you dip into a mug of melted chocolate! (I am sure there is a better way to describe them, but that’s all I have!) They are delicious! Later that evening, we went to Mass at a local Cathedral and the building was gorgeous! I had never been to a Catholic Mass before and I found it comforting to be around such tradition as well as to be in the walls of such a splendidly decorated building. Honestly, all I knew of a Catholic sanctuary was what I saw in Madonna’s Like a Prayer video. But, it looked quite similar! There were gates in front of all the different Saint’s rooms just like in the video! I though it was beautiful!

Saturday was spent in Toledo, Spain and will take a blog entry of its own…it was amazing!

On Sunday, we went to a flea market and to the Plaza Mayor were lots of old men had tables with stamps, coins, books and other odds and ins. It was pretty awesome! The flea market was HUGE and went on for blocks and blocks and was 3 or 4 streets wide! I bought so much stuff! I apparently love shopping in Madrid! Late that afternoon, we went to the Museo Nacional Del Prado, which is a gigantic art museum. Goya, a famous Spanish painter is well displayed there and the difference in his two styles is really interesting. His earlier paintings are colorful and the figures in them are all playing sports, laughing, and enjoying their time. His later paintings are called The Black Paintings and they are all dark both in color and in content. We also saw Bosch’s Table of he Seven Deadly Sins, and his Garden of Earthly Delights, which is a three-panel piece. My favorite though was probably Murillo’s The Immaculate Conception.

We did not take pictures of the art Museum, but we did take several pictures of the buildings in Madrid, a few of the art inside some Cathedrals, as well as statues and parks. To view a few more photos from Madrid, click here.