When Rachael got back an hour and a half later, we were all ready for the day and even munching on lunch already. We decided to stay in the hostal room until check out time and just eat a very very early lunch. (Check out time was 12 noon). We still had the food left over from yesterday so we munched on that. We checked out and put our bags with the hostal staff and we were off to start our day.
Today was the day that we were going to conquer El Prado, the very famous art museum! On our walk to El Prado we got to see a lot of very cool buildings. This was the same walk that we took to get to Reina Sofia except this time I actually took pictures. I am not exactly sure what I was taking pictures of though.. but the building itself was quite detailed and pretty spectacular looking.
Taking this picture was very dangerous! I stopped in the middle of the crosswalk just to capture these arches, and I don't even know what they represent!
When we got to El Prado, this was practically the only picture that I was allowed to take, of the building itself. No photos were allowed inside the building and we weren't aware of that until Rachael tried to take a picture and got told that they weren't allowed.
El Prado was very cool to see all of the works of art and in such huge amounts and so much talent in one small space. It was amazing to be in the presence of such famous pieces of work. A lot of the art pieces I did not recognize the name of the work of the artist but Rachael and Michael knew a good amount of them. I learned a lot today about art!
After we left El Prado we came across this cool looking church so I decided to take a picture of it. We couldn't figure out the name of the building, but it is still fun to look at!
We wandered around for a bit looking for the Parque de Madrid and we found it quite easily. It was very close to El Prado. Inside the park there was a lot of greenery and plants that made you feel like you were back in a smaller city and not a city of 6 million people.
We came across these trees that amused us. We still don't know if they grow that way naturally or are trimmed that way by the workers. Either way it is still a sight to see!
A fountain in the park.
What seemed to be a man-made lake that you could go rowboating in for a price. There were also vendors lined up and down this walkway that were selling everything from food to whatever you could imagine. Here there were also a lot of the people who sold their stuff off of blankets.. most likely illegally and jipped off goods.
As we were leaving the park we saw that it was lined with shrubs all shaped into something geometrical. I tried to snap a picture but I wasn't too successful, as you can see.
When we left the park we headed back to the hostal to grab our things and catch the metro back to the bus station. Traveling all went smoothly and we made it to the bus station with about 40 minutes to spare. Better early than late!
We found a place to sit and wait and then we loaded the bus when it was time. The seat next to Rachael, the one that I was assigned to, had a broken arm rest and I was not about to do a 5 hour bus ride with no arm rest. Lucky for me, the seat next to Michael was open so I sat next to him. About 5 minutes after I moved seats, the girl in front of Rachael came and sat next to her because her seat was broken as well! What a bus!
We stopped at the same rest stop as we did on the way there and I got some Principe chocolate wafers because I was craving something sweet. On the bus ride we had finished off the crackers and chips that we had leftover from our lunches and I need sweet to go with my salt.
Next thing you know it, after less than 5 hours on the bus, we made it safely to Granada. Earlier than expected by about 15 minutes!
We grabbed our bags from under the bus and then went upstairs to catch the city bus to bring us home. Rachael and I accidentally got off on the wrong stop but lucky for us, it wasn't that far from the stop we needed to get off at.
When we got home Mila was shocked to see us because when we were waiting for the bus in Madrid we called her and said that we were going to be home at 10. It was about 9:15.
Dinner was ready soon there after and we tortellini! Yummy! After dinner we unpacked and got to blogging and talking to our friends back home. Soon there after we hit the hay.
What a successful weekend in Madrid, the capital of Spain!
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