Visiting Kenneth

Kenneth and I after our tour of the palace ♥

Two guards that I spotted outside the palace...

Palacio Real de Madrid

Marisa and I with one of the Matadors after the fight...

Taylor, Marisa, Kenny and I after the bull fight!

Kenny and I before the gore; we were in for a surprise!

Matador...

Bull fight...

This old man and woman (who I assume were married) were singing together at the Rastro... so cute ♥

This man was playing Beethoven on crystal glasses on the sidewalk during the Rastro; it was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.

Batman and the gang taking their bows after their show concluded... what a thriller!

Kenny and I getting ready to watch the action packed Batman show at the Warner Brothers Amusement Park!!!

The New Cathedral of Salamanca; it was huge.

Some beautiful Pansies that we stumbled upon in Salamanca...

Crepes, crepes, crepes... Everywhere we go!

This is inside the Salamanca cathedral. I am obsessed with the ceilings and architecture in all of the cathedrals and palaces I have seen...

One of the many alters inside the Salamanca cathedral...

Facade of the University of Salamanca...

Kenny and I breaking it down in the Salsa Club... Sooo much fun!

My favorite... A Crunch Wrap in Madrid! I was in heaven :)

This is one of the most famous paintings in the Museo Nacional del Prado. It is titled "Las Meninas" and it was painted by Velázquez. It is one of Kenny's favorites, and I enjoyed seeing it too.

Sangria and tapas at El Tigre... Yummy!

As soon as our flight arrived in Madrid we headed to Kenny's apartment. I am a little jealous about how much more spacious his accommodations are than mine. He has a three bedroom apartment that he shares with two other boys, Taylor and Michael. We dropped off our things and decided we would try and make it to the bullfight that was supposed to be taking place that afternoon. We hopped on the metro and headed to the arena... Things seemed quite hopeful when we got there because it was swarming with people, and there were stands set up everywhere. Unfortunately, the fight was canceled on account of rain. We didn't let that get in our way though. From there we headed to Sol which is a large plaza near Kenny's apartment. Sol was buzzing with people... And much to my liking was filled with places to get €10 piercings. Thanks to the cheap price Kenny and I each acquired a new piercing! Don't worry, its just my nose... Afterwards we headed to El Tigre; its one of the bars Kenny goes too where you get free tapas with your drink. I had my first taste of tapas; basically tapas are just bar finger food... Kind of greasy and kind of delicious. I ordered sangria and it came with a bunch of fresh mint, and was delicious as well! After leaving El Tigre Kenny and I headed back to his apartment because I wasn't feeling too hot. I fell asleep as soon as we got back and woke up at some point in the night with a 103° fever. I slept most of the next day, and then Kenny took me to the doctor sometime that afternoon. I started my antibiotics and was feeling better by the next morning. Thank goodness I had Kenny there to take care of me; he was a really good nurse ♥

The next morning I was feeling a million times better, so Kenny and I decided to grab some lunch and go to the Museo Nacional del Prado. For lunch I got to try a bocadillo de calamares, which is a sandwich with calamari. It was traditional Spanish food and pretty tasty. After lunch we walked over to the museum; it is a huge art museum with works by Velázquez, Goya, and other Spanish painters. Kenny had visited the museum several times with class before taking me, so he made an especially well-read tour guide. After our visit to the museum I decided to join Kenny for his drawing class. His class met at the central train station and was given two hours to draw something architectural from the station. I wish we had some sort of art class like that in Prague because it was really fun. After class we went out in search of one of the very, very rare Taco Bells in Europe. Apparently there are only three and one is in Madrid. Taco Bell is one of the things that I miss most about the United States, and I was sooo excited when we found it. I had a Crunch Wrap and a Spicy Cheesy, Bean, and Rice Burrito. Sooo tasty and sooo just like home. That night my roommate Kendyll took a train from Barcelona to Madrid and joined Kenny and I for a couple of days.

The next morning Kenny woke up and headed to class. We had made plans to meet him for lunch, so he took us to this place that is really cheap on Wednesdays. We had some sandwiches and salad and it was really good! After we tried to go to the Palacio Real de Madrid (a.k.a. The Royal Palace.) Wednesday is the free day to visit the palace, but unfortunately it was closed for official ceremonies. We decided to grab some vino tinto and head to Retiro park instead. We just relaxed for a while and layed out in the grass near a pond. Afterwards we went back to Kenny's and hung out for a while with his roommate Taylor. The four of us went out that night for some drinks at a small club.

The next day we woke up and decided to attempt the palace again, but it was still closed. Instead we walked around for a while and hung out in Plaza Mayor. It was there that we realized Kenny's soccer team was playing Liverpool in a champions league game that night. We tried to get tickets, but what a shame it was when we found out that the tickets were going to cost €80 a piece. From the stadium Kenny and I headed to another one of his art classes. The class met at the modern art musuem, Reina Sofia. I meandered around on my own while Kenny stuck with his class. I am a huge modern art fan and really enjoyed looking at the different exhibits. After class we went back to the apartment and picked up Kendyll and Taylor. We decided to watch the game in a bar since we couldn't afford to watch it in person. Kenny is also in a dance class, so after the game was over we met up with some of his classmates and went Salsa dancing. Kenny showed me some pretty sweet moves, and we had a really good time.

Friday morning we had to wake up bright and early for a field trip to Salamanca, Spain with Kenny's program. Salamanca is a small college town about two hours away from Madrid. Throughout the day we visited the New Cathedral of Salamanca, which was built in the 16th century, and the University of Salamanca, which is the oldest university in Spain. The town was very old and rich with culture. We had a couple of spurts of free time, which Kenny and I used to wander the old cobble stone streets. I was able to try chocolate con churro (yummy Spanish dessert) and had a menú del día. A menú del día is simply a multiple course Spanish lunch menu. It started with some sort of Spanish lasagna, the second plate was, what I assume to be, pork and french fries, and finally some sort of cheesecake dessert that I didn't like much. After the bus ride back from Salamanca I was exhausted, so Kenny and I took a nap that turned into a full nights sleep.

On Saturday Kendyll decided to cut her trip a little short and flew home. Kenny and I decided to spend our day doing something a bit out of the ordinary: visiting an amusement park. We wanted to go somewhere with good roller coasters, so we settled on the Warner Brothers theme park. We had to ride a train to the outside of the city, and we were quite surprised when we arrived. There were some really large and thrilling roller coasters along with a Batman stunt show. After riding all the rides and taking full advantage of all the park had to offer, we headed back to the apartment and enjoyed a hamburger at a small restaurant. That night we were supposed to go out with Taylor and his girlfriend, Marisa. Per usual, we took a nap and didn't get up.

Sunday morning we woke up fairly early to hit the Rastro. It is one of the largest outdoor markets in Europe and is extremely crowded. The booths to purchase goods ranged from blankets on the road piled high with peoples' junk to tents selling really cute clothes. I had a great time sifting through the "junk" and even found a really cute necklace. After the Rastro, we decided to make another attempt at seeing a bullfight and invited Taylor and Marisa to join us. Let me just tell you, no one can possibly prepare you for what a bullfight actually is. I am not sure if I am just naïve, but did you know the matador kills the bull? I thought they just teased them with their silly red cloths. Before the matador even enters the arena the bull is tortured so badly it is barely hanging on to life. And then comes the matador, who after teasing the bull with the silly red cloth, shoves a sword through the bull's back into its heart. This doesn't always happen on the first try... It may take up to 10 attempts (as we witnessed.) Oh, and not just one bull dies, five do!!! It was painful to watch, but I kind of became numb to it after the third bull was dragged bleeding away from the arena. We decided after the fight that we needed to pay El Tigre another visit. After a mojito or maybe two and a plate or maybe two of tapas Kenny and I headed back to the apartment and fell asleep.

On Monday morning Kenny woke up and headed to class. We made plans to meet each other at the palace for one final attempt when he got out. Before getting to the palace I laid out in a park and soaked up the sunshine, by the way it was in the 70's and 80's during my visit. Luckily, the palace was finally open! It was the most intricate and well kept palace I have visited so far... much, much better than Versailles in Paris. The rooms were decorated so beautifully. The palace pharmacy was also open for viewing, which was very interesting to see. After our tour we grabbed some lunch and then went to Kenny's dance class. I sat on the sidelines and got to watch Kenny bust out his moves. He is by far the best dancer in his class, aside from the teacher, who he has a crush on ;) After class we watched the sunset from the park near Kenny's apartment and then headed home to make dinner.

The next morning I woke up and packed my things and got ready to head to the airport. I had a super long visit with Kenny and I loved every second of it. He was the best tour guide ever! While I still think Prague is the best city, I do think Kenny is very lucky to be studying in such a beautiful city and country.