Madrid

Despite the lack of waterfront, I have to say that I really liked Madrid, even from the first few minutes there. We got in late Friday afternoon, did some shopping and head out in the evening to hang out in Plaza del Mayor. We had run into friends of Jasmine's outside the hostel, so they joined us as well as an assortment of other english speakers that we had met. At one point, these people in orange shirts called everyone over to make a circle and 30 minutes of singing and dancing then followed.. I still don't quite know what was going on, but part of it involved names of fruit.

Saturday morning I went to shul, and managed to find it even though it was beyond the border of my map (impressive for me!). The Rabbi's wife invited all of the tourists over for lunch, so that was a definite bonus. I met up with Jasmine and Winnie in the afternoon to see the Reina Sofia museum (yay for free museums) and we walked to some sights later in the day including an Egyptian temple, the Palacio Real, Place D'espana (statue of Don Quixote and Sanchez). On Sunday we started the day with an excellent flea market, and then head off to the Prado museum (free on Sundays!). We spent a few hours in the Parc del Bon Retiro and eventually decided it was time to head off to catch our overnight train to Paris. We made it to the train with a full 10 minutes to spare and I got quickly acquainted with the girls in my train cart (I had been separated from Jasmine and Winnie). Thankfully, they were all friendly and not too noisy and I had a great night of sleep to top off my relaxing weekend in Madrid.