Day 66

The fact that this is Day 66 only makes me think of Order 66 (if you don't know what that is, don't worry about it).

I woke up pretty late, so I pretty much just got dressed and ready and then went downstairs for the walking tour.

The tour was great! Our guide, Violetta, was awesome. I want to be her friend. She was so funny, and definitely knew a lot about the history of Madrid. Here's some of what we saw...

The largest royal palace in Europe! Hard to capture in a photograph!

The cathedral

After the tour, Violetta invited us all to go to lunch with her because we could get a free drink, and so obviously several of us went. The food was so good! I had hummus, really good fish, rice pudding, and a tinto de verano to drink. (In Madrid, they think they're the only ones who have tinto de verano, but little do they know that Seville has it and does it better).

It was another chilly, overcast day, so Katie and I went to the Museo del Prado for the rest of the evening (yes, evening. Lunch ended at 4ish. That's Spain for ya). We saw some famous pieces by Velazquez and El Greco that we had studied in our LAC class, so that was pretty sweet. There was supposed to be a Caravaggio there, but I guess it was currently out on loan or being restored. Lame. Overall, though, another really cool museum with free entry for students.

Sights outside of and around the Museo del Prado

We went back to the hostel for a little bit, and then participated in another hostel-sponsored activity: a trip to a super local tapas bar! Apparently, in Madrid, the dirtier the floor is in the tapas bar, the more truly local the place is. We were encouraged to throw our napkins and food scraps on the floor, which was really weird, but fun. They gave us sooooooo much food. It was excellent.

We left the tapas bar around 10:30, so that seemed like a good time to head back and get ready for bed, especially after our festivities the night before.