Madrid: Day Two

We woke up pretty early considering how late we actually went to sleep, mainly because we wanted to get out of that hostel. We got ready in the bathroom and headed to the bar for a complimentary breakfast that turned out to be toast and coffee. No thanks. We knew that we wanted some wi-fi and a better breakfast, so naturally we went to McDonald's. I know what you are thinking - McDonald's? In Spain? Come on! But really, it was a two-story Mickey D's with free wi-fi, a bakery, and a darn good smoothie. After starting my day with a strawberry and banana smoothie, an apple, and a little bit of email and Twitter, I was ready to go. We got on the subway at Puerta del Sol, the very center of the city, and headed in the opposite direction that we did yesterday. We wanted to see some of the gardens, and being the English nerd that I am, the National Library. We were also on the hunt for a place that we found on Pinterest, Burgundy Street, but we found no information about said street, nor did any of the locals that we asked seem to know what or where that was. We headed off in the direction of the gardens anyway, and though we never found Burgundy Street, we did find a plethora of beautiful sights. 

We came across Parque del Retiro, which is huge, and just enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. Spain is definitely a country of sleeping in, which means Sarah and I get the mornings all to ourselves because we wake up so early. We did see quite a few runners and I was itching to go running. We do walk a lot though, so I guess I can count that as a workout! We found swings at this park, we saw people on bikes and people on rollerblades, we found a body of water (not sure if I can classify it as a lake?), and we saw so many different types of trees. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, and we loved having the park basically to ourselves. Madrid is a great city, but it is also very, very crowded, making it a prime place to become victim to pickpocketing. We held tight to our purses and made sure to put luggage locks on our backpacks, as we had to be out of our hostel by 11:00am, but our train wasn't scheduled to leave until 5:30pm. We probably looked like the ultimate tourists carrying around purses and backpacks. Hey, we are still in possession of all of our belongings, so I will gladly accept my label as a typical tourist!

Channeling my inner child

This reminded us of Town Lake - an Austin favorite!

Senior pictures in Madrid 

So artsy, right?!

:)

After exploring the park, we decided that we really wanted to see the National Library (duh, that is an English major's dream), so after somehow walking the wrong way for a bit, we managed to find it, and though we did not go inside because we did not want to go through the trouble of putting all of our bags through security nor did we really want to have to pay to go inside, we had fun taking pictures with some of that statues out front!

Relaxing in the park

After our library adventures, we still had about an hour and a half until our lunch reservations at Botin, so we (again) headed over to a sunny park area, put our feet up on the benches, and read until some police officers informed us of a festival that was about to take place. We decided that we should probably head back over to Puerta del Sol to make our lunch reservations, as we weren't quite sure where the restaurant was. Luckily, we found the restaurant pretty quickly and we were immediately led downstairs to be seated in the basement area. Botin is known for its pig and lamb, and though Sarah and I opted against those options, we both agreed that our meals were just fantastic. I opted for the vegetables with ham, and sarah went with chicken and rice - both were delicious and very filling.

We thought the bread was complimentary, and then we had to pay three euro for it! At least it tasted good! 

My delicious meal!

Sarah and I

Oldest restaurant in the world!

Before we left the restaurant, we talked to the people at the table next to us and discovered that they are also studying abroad in Barcelona and that they attend Georgia Tech, but one of them is originally from Dallas and we found out that we had a few mutual friends! Small world! We talked to them for a bit, and overall just really enjoyed our experience at Botin. After asking for the check, we decided to just head over to the train station so that we would be sure to make our 5:30 train back to Barcelona. We loved our time in Madrid, but we were ready to get back home! We had an absolutely wonderful weekend, well worth the trouble we went through in getting the tickets to actually get to Madrid (more on that soon!) and we decided that a trip back just might be in our future. After a great night's sleep, we are off on a bike tour of the city, and then we are making our first official trip to the beach! 

We also have a holiday today here in Spain, but I will be thinking of America today on Memorial Day and remembering all of the soldiers who have died fighting for our freedom. Have fun today, ride the jet ski for me, and eat an extra burger! Hasta luego!