Great Day!

Today was such a great day in Espana! After class, Allie and I went to grab lunch at a place called Quarter Time and we had a delicious, cheap lunch. It was just ham and cheese on a bagel but it was toasted so it was really flat, like a grilled cheese! Oh how I miss American food! And the best part is it was only 2.50E! Then with our group, we took a field trip to the Prado Museum! I have been before but not since I was younger so I don't really remember too much. My freshman year at SMU, I took an art history class on Spanish art so seeing some of the paintings I studied was really special. Our group went with one teacher who really knew what she was talking about. We all walked around the museum with nerdy headphones and she talked into a microphone so she didn't have to yell in the museum so we could all hear her. At one point, we lost her because she turned really fast and we all went straight and we could hear her talking and saying, "Donde estais?" (where are you all?) but we couldn't see or find her. It was pretty funny.

I really enjoyed seeing all the art by Velazquez and Greco. My favorite part was seeing "Las Meninas" by Velazquez. It is one of his most famous paintings and I have loved it since I studied it two years ago. I was impressed at how much information I remembered! We were there for about two hours which was a good amount of time and we got to see the most famous paintings that are there. After the Prado since we were already in a great area, Allie, Matt, and I decided to explore. We walked up to the Plaza de Santa Ana and had a beer and some tapas. We were really excited to find some German beer after our trip to Munich last weekend, we are now obsessed and I guess you could call us beer snobs now.

We decided to keep walking and find another place to stop. We ended up in Plaza Mayor where there was an Argentinan market going on. They had the coolest jewelry and clothes! It was a really cool and unexpected find! Then we walked a little and then tried to go to the oldest restaurant in the world that we have heard so much about! It was founded in 1725 and is famous for it's cuchinillo, the baby pig that we ate in Segovia. Unfortunately, it was closed so we ended up stumbling upon this indoor market. It was in a glass box basically that you could walk in and go to each stand. It was so amazing! They had everything: sushi, tapas, mexican food (such a treat in Spain!), wine, and even fresh hot-dogs! We were in heaven. We stayed there for about two and a ha;f hours just walking around even though it wasn't very big. We had a couple glasses of wine and A LOT of food. It was so cheap and fresh we couldn't help ourselves!

During the afternoons, Allie and I usually just sleep and catch up on our TV shows in the US that we are missing so this was a great adventure for us! It was nice to get out of the house and explore this amazing city we are living in. I love waking up everyday and knowing I am in Spain!

We were still so full that when we got home around 7:30, we immediately went to our "siesta room" (a small room with two couches and a tv just for me and Allie) and laid down haha. We were even too full to have dinner! Loles was very surprised considering we usually eat everything she serves us!

This weekend a lot of our group went to Munich so we are going to take it easy this weekend. Allie and I want to do a little shopping since I haven't bought ANY clothes yet. Very surprising, I know. It is starting to get cooler here so I can't wait to buy fall clothes and get ready for my favorite season! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings in SPAIN! :)