Madrid: Dia Numbera Dos

Today had a rocky start due to a lack of sleep last night--my roommate and I didn't know how to turn on the heat in our room, so we froze all night. Apparently, Madrid is the same latitude as Ohio, Michigan, etc..so they experience quite cold winters. I did not do enough weather research before coming. Tomorrow they are expecting sleet and snow. 

We started today with a bus tour of Madrid. I got to hang out with Don Quixote. 

 

Then we visited the Royal Palace of Madrid. The royal family does not live here, but in a smaller palace in order to be more common. The previous king abdicated recently--to everyone's surprise. 

  

After the palace, we drove about an hour to the ancient city of Toledo. 

We visited a cathedral, church, and synagogue. The cathedral had amazing decor. 

I tried marzipan here. I didn't love it, but it wasn't terrible. We saw a sword making demo station. 

 

And almost bought Sting. 

 

We had the evening to ourselves and so we ate a dinner of churros and chocolate. We then walked it off when we went to find this temple--a gift from the Egyptians. 

We just concluded our evening. Amy, Scott and I successfully navigated ourselves back across Madrid. We were proud. 

Madrid!

Hello all! I made it to Madrid this morning around 8AM. They immediately loaded us into a bus and took us to our hotel. We only were there for an hour to drop off our luggage. Then all 50 jet lagged participates slugged our way to the center of Madrid. 

We had 3 hours to walk around Puerta de Sol. I took some pictures, shopped, and of course had to try out a Spanish McDonalds. 

We continued to walk a few more miles to the Prado Museum. Here are some pics I snapped along the way. 

This is what their street signs look like. 

There are still Christmas decorations everywhere. 

These creepos stalk you all over. 

The Prado Museum. I am currently taking a break in the cafe. After our museum visit, we are having a welcome dinner and then off to bed!