Madrid Adventures

After the first week, Matt and I didn't spend so much time traipsing around Madrid since we went traveling a bunch, and he had to work during his last week here. A few things we DID do, though, were:

• Visit the Prado, Madrid's fine arts museum. Although I'd been on previous trips, I had yet to visit the museum since I arrived in September. I loved it just as much this time around and enjoyed introducing Matt to Las Meninas and Goya's pinturas negras. One of my faves:

• Rowing a boat on el estanque del Retiro. It was a gorgeous day for it and so relaxing. Except for when Matt tried to row me under one of the fountains in front of a lot of onlookers.

• Eating cocido madrileño with Marilén. Oh, how I wish I brought a camera with me for this one. Cocido is a traditional regional dish that involves cooking garbanzo beans, other veggies, and a gazillion different cuts of meat in a broth. One then removes everything from the broth, then serves the broth, then serves everything else. Sort of like a multi-course stew. Upon sitting down at the restaurant, they immediately served us free cava (sparking wine) and croquetas (pretty much the best tapa ever invented) before bringing out a big pot of noodley broth and then 3 heaping platefuls of all the other food. Matt went crazy for the morcilla (blood sausage) and bone marrow, while I mostly stuck to the legumes and jamón. However, not one of the three of us went for the lard that also comes on the meat plate.

• In general, drinking red wine and eating pastries pretty much every day. I LOVE that españoles seem to drink wine every day for lunch and then return to work. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to get away with this when I start teaching again.