had a magnum today...

we are in spain. still pinching ourselves. but what helps offset that pain is the delicious magnums we had today!!!! (if you don't know what a magnum is...it's a very special chocolate covered ice cream bar, much like you find in the states, but the chocolate is european, so it tastes much more amazing)

anyways, today was our first day exploring madrid. we saw a lot of gorgeous architecture everywhere we walked. and it wasn't just the special buildings with the collonades and capitals and cupolas, it was EVERY building. pretty much. i couldn't believe my eyes. how long did it take to create cities like this? so many highly skilled architects and laborers worked to make these beautiful edifices.

we met a friend yesterday from australia, named kellie. we shared our room with her and and we decided to hang with her for the day. she had all sorts of things planned to see and since mesha and i knew nothing about madrid, we asked if we could tag along. we had lots of fun walking the streets and exploring the plazas and interesting shops. plaza mayor was my favorite in madrid, it was so cute and authentic.

we eventually made it to palacia real de madrid, which is where the royals live (or lived...not sure). we had to pay to get inside, but we were offered the student price...aparently we look pretty young...but we'll take it! again, the style and design of the palace was beautiful and we wandered for a time taking pictures. which made us hungry. time for tapas!

we found out from kellie that the prado museum was free after 6pm each evening, so we decided to hit that up and see some amazing art for free! our first art museum of the trip, we were pretty excited about it and were not disappointed. we saw tons of goya and velasquez! my favorite painting from this museum would definately be "las meninas" or "maids of honor." check it out. its a stunning piece with tons of symbolism and hidden meaning.

after the museum we headed to el parque retiro (a HUGE park near the center of town) and meandered the paths to the crystal palace...which was quite beautiful and the walk was cool. did i mention it was hot out? and that spanish parks don't have grass? well, at least not the ones we found.

isn't the palace beautiful?

we head to barcelona tomorrow...on an afternoon flight. so excited.