"El Guernica" (And how Madrid makes dreams come true...)

Today was pretty much the opposite of yesterday. It was the best day I've had in Spain so far! My roommate, Kaitlin, and I spent the the day in Madrid (or about 7 hours at least). We started out with a group of American students attending Alcalá this summer as well, but we soon discovered that it would be more efficient (and less frustrating) to do our own thing. It was a good choice, because we got to do what we wanted to do, and it was relaxing and easy to make decisions with just two people's opinions. We started out at the train station called "Atocha."

Outside of Atocha. Nalgene and messenger bag ready.

The first thing I recognized (while the group was looking for a hotel room) was the "Reina Sofía"--aka: the place I wanted to go to the most! Because the famous work "El Guernica" by Picasso is there, and I did a presentation on it in one of my classes last year (if you're interested, I can e-mail you the powerpoint. And I know you will be...). So I knew I wanted to visit there! But, since we were still with the group at the time, we passed it and continued up a random street still looking for a hotel (but only about 5 people in the group were actually planning to spend the night in a hotel. The rest, like Kaitlin and I, had no interest in wasting time/finding a hotel room). A few blocks away from the train station, we realized we weren't getting anywhere, so we told the group we were going to split off from them.
First, we needed a map (I have one, but left it at the apartment. silly me. I get it from my Mom. :) We went into a hotel and got one. Then had to go back in to ask her where on the map we were. haha
Then we were off! We decided to head towards the "Plaza Mayor," one of Madrid's most famous/touristy landmarks.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was as good as I could get
without a panoramic/360-degree camera.

Next, we headed to the nearby "Palacio Real" (royal palace), and planned to get tickets to go inside, but the line was pretty long. So, instead we went to the "Museo de la Cetedral de la Almudena" (basically, a museum/cathedral), right next to the Palacio Real. We couldn't take pictures inside, but who needs pictures when I can tall you what was in there?! [In a nutshell: lots of Catholic paraphernalia, mosaics of Bible stories, a beautiful dome (that we got to go all the way up to!), Jesus, and a panoramic view of Madrid.] Luckily, we DID take pictures of the view at the top (and also got pictures of the Cathedral itself, because apparently the "No Photography" rule only applied to the museum part).

The Palacio Real, from the balcony of the Cathedral.

Chillin' with the Saints, at the very top of the Cathedral.

View of Madrid from the top. Again, I was wishing I had a panoramic camera.
(notice the mountains in the distance, too!) Beautiful.

After that, we ate our lunches that Madre Carmen packed for us. (3 different types of sandwiches, and an orange). It was no big deal. Just a picnic in the "Plaza del Oriente" (eastern plaza, that is. Not Chinese plaza) of the Palacio Real... We also fed a multitude of birds (since we had sandwiches to spare...). It felt very Mary Poppins-esque. However, there was a little Spanish boy eating lunch with his family nearby, and he would run over to our birds and scare them off saying "Shoo!" But since he was cute, and spoke Spanish, we let him off the hook.

The view from our picnic spot. The east side of the Palacio Real. No big deal.

On the way to our next "stop", we saw several more cathedrals, convents, street performers, shops, cafés, etc. And....... STARBUCKS. (fun fact about Starbucks: I had to type in the "código del baño"--bathroom code--on my receipt to use the restroom... Another observation: there are no public restrooms around here.)

They even spelled my name right! I was impressed.
And very happy to be drinking some Starbucks.

Then we found it. The "Puerta del Sol". (I called it a "stop" because it was more of a walk-by shooting--with our cameras, obviously--because the entire area was occupied by the tents of protesters, and we were told not to linger there.) I'm sure the Puerta del Sol is incredible on a normal day, without protesters, but it was pretty incredible today, too. I took a picture of the statue in the middle, surrounded by the tents:

From what I understand, these people are protesting against the economic/social/political instability.
Something like that.

We kept walking, and saw the Town Hall (a huge, gorgeous building), and the "Puerta de Alcalá" (historically, the gateway between Madrid and Alcalá, when all the cities were fortified by stone walls. Madrid also has a "Puerta de Toledo," that leads to Toledo--with several kilometers between the 3 cities.). It is incredible to me how history is so well-preserved here, yet the city is modernized. A good example of this is the Puerta de Alcalá--where a modern, high-traffic street literally surrounds a perfectly sound structure of history:

Surprisingly, I was able to get a pic with very few cars in the way!

After walking the wrong direction for a little while (as tourists often do), we found the Prado Museum and took a break on the lawn, as apparently many Spaniards do. Then we walked towards the nearby Reina Sofia--the destination I had been waiting for--stopping at a few souvenir shops on the way to browse the selection (again, as tourists tend to do).
Although pictures were allowed in the Reina Sofia (basically, Museum of Modern Art), they were NOT allowed around "Guernica," which was the one I was soooo excited to see. Instead, I got my picture taken with the sign outside:

I was sooo happy here, because I finally got to see "El Guernica"!! Dream come true...
(call me a nerd, it's fine.)

And that was the grand finale of our day in Madrid! After enjoying the Reina Sofia, and basking in the presence of Picasso's most controversial and incredible work, we caught the train back to our apartment and Madre in Alcalá and ate french fries and sausages for dinner.
And that's all I have to say about that. Adios.