Madrid

So last night we went out to see some monumentous things and eat some food. I take back what I said about hating cities. I just mostly dislike them. There are parts of Madrid where it's a lot more laid back and doesn't feel like you're in a big city with a lot of people and traffic. This morning we went to Museo Nacional del Prado. There's a ton of really, really fantastic art there. A lot of Valazquez, Goya, Bosch, Titan, Rubens, those guys. Got to see the real Las Meninas, which is pretty cool. We were there for about 3 hours and you could probably spend days in this museum, it's so freakin huge. There was some art that reminded me a lot of the kind of art that my grandfather painted. It was really cool to see very similar paintings in a world renowned museum. Then we went and got bocadillas and sat on a patio. Now we're just chillin/siestaing until about 5 when we're going to go shopping. I have to buy a new suitcase (it's cheaper to pay for 2 then to pay for the overage rate which is by the kilo) and some new clothes and possibly some presents for people!

Tomorrow we decided just to stay in Madrid for another day instead of traveling to Toledo or Segovia since everyone has to travel alot on Saturday. It's hard to believe that I'm descending in on my last 24 hours in Spain. I'm sad, but the more I think about it, the more I know it's a "until next time" not a "goodbye". I love this country and I'm definitely coming back when I can financially. On Saturday I take off for London to go see Kate. We've got tickets to see the play Wicked and a dinner cruise on the River Thames and are going to get tickets to see Zac Brown Band and Kings of Leon in Hyde Park. Hopefully I'll get to do some other things like see Big Ben, the London Eye, etc, etc.