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Madrid is amazing! The streets are clean and the architecture is beautiful! Like nothing in America...
I caught my first glimpse of the city as I emerged from the Gran Vía Metro station under the weight of my belongings. The buildings are not only old brick, but they all have ornate facades with intricate carvings around windows and balconies. One of them, was my hostel. I trudged over to the front entrance and took the lift up to the reception desk.
Room 313, the woman said as she gave me the key and my Hostel card. I took my things up to the room and inside were five beds, three of which were occupied by luggage. Within 5 minutes, my friend, Caitlin, opened the door and said, "oh good! You're in my room!" I was relieved to see a familiar face.
I dropped my things onto one of the empty beds, and Caitlin and I wandered out into the city. We walked for about and hour or so. After three tries to find somewhere to exchange my travelers cheques, I finally had some Euros in hand. We continued on, looping back toward our neighborhood. Snow was falling in giant flakes, the size of quarters at least. We checked a few stores for pay-as-you-go phones and eventually got cold, wet and tired of walking.
It was about 1p.m. and we decided it was close enough to 2 that we could find somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up at a small Cuban restaurant where we each had a tortilla. I was beat after getting little sleep on the plane. (But I have to say, international flights are much better then even last spring when we went to Italy. I got my own TV screen with total control over the movies! I watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Vicky Christina Barcelona.)
After having lunch, we returned to our Hostel where I proceeded to pass out for three hours while Caitlin did a walking tour with our British roommate, Elizabeth. When they returned I was awake and the three of us decided to go to El Prado Museo, because admission is free from 6-8. We saw Velazquez's Las Meninas (so awesome!), Goya's Third of May, Clothed Maja and La Familia del Carlos VI. And a number of other pieces by famous Spanish artists.
I'm already loving the atmosphere here. Until next time...
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