Madrid

I spent the entire last weekend in Madrid! It was really fun! On Friday I went to the Royal Palace. It is not the palace that the Royal Family of Spain currently lives in but they still use it for special ceremonies and events. It was so beautiful! The details in every single piece of furniture and decoration was so amazing I cant even describe it. Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside the palace...so I cant show you any. But I took some pictures outside of the palace in this gigantic plaza type area that was between the Church of Spain and the Royal Palace. I guess high schoolers have their proms here...how amazing would that be to have your prom right outside of the royal palace. Here are some pics of that:



Being Princesses in Front of The Church



Being Princesses in Front of the Royal Palace





 




The arcs outside of the Palace (I'm the 4th pillar on the left side)







The View from the Royal Palace



On Saturday I went to the Centro de Arte de Reina Sofia. It is an art museum with a ton of Picassos more modern art. It is free on Saturdays after 2:30 which is awesome. The art was so beautiful! I saw the Guernico but was unable to take a picture of it. I got pictures of a lot of other Picassos thought. There were these sculptures there that kind of looked like candy land...I was taking a picture and I guess they must be special so a  lady came up and told me no cameras were allowed....fortunately she told me this after I had already taken the picture. Idea for next years halloween costume??? I think so :)Here are pictures from the museum:







Outside of the Museum





The candyland statues (shhh...I didnt take this picture :) )





A Picasso



Sunday I went to El Rastro in the morning after checking out of our hostel. El Rastro is a huge open-air market that is held in Madrid every Sunday.  I didnt buy anything but it was very fun to look. Then on the way to buy my train ticket for later that night I ran into the Tour de Espana which I guess is a very famous bike race! Lucky me! Pictures are below! Later that evening I went to a bullfight! The bullfights are held every Sunday in Madrid. The Plaza de Toros was huge! It was very gory and bloody but I am glad I went because I feel like I know so much more about Spanish life and it was very interesting. The whole thing is a huge process. First the banderillos (about 3 of them) come out and try to get the bull all riled up by a waving pink cape at the bull. Next the Picadores who ride on horses put a lance in the bull. Then the banderillos jump up and thrust sticks into the bulls back. Then the matador uses a red cape to get the bull more riled up and eventually stabs the bull with a long sword and kills it. I couldnt get the videos to post so I am going to try to find a way to link them on here....more to come!