Day SEVEN: Madrid

Contributors: Alexander Veselkov, Ryan Kaufman, Brady Montesino, Aryan Verma, Hunter Meigs, Noah Arnold, and Lucas Arjona.


Today was day 2 in Madrid, Spain, and we had a great time. We visited the Royal Palace where we toured the interior and saw the king's crown, his dining room, the ball room, Stradivarius violins; we were impressed by the grandeur of the rooms and extravagant decorations. Interestingly, a large quantity of rooms in the Royal Palace contained lions in some form as a symbol. We found out that this is the largest palace in Western Europe with 3418 rooms total. We found it interesting that the king and queen do not actually wear the crown or sit on the throne because officially, it is the people of Spain who hold the power.



Subsequently, we visited the Sol plaza where we had lunch. Some of us elected to enjoy the classic Madrid delicacy, squid sandwich. It was good but a bit plain.  While some enjoyed Spanish foods, others opted for a safer and more home-felt dishes. Since the primary language in Spain is Spanish, those who take Espanol in our school were able to utilize our skills to communicate effectively with our waiters/waitresses. Some of the involved ways included asking the waiter if they had any vegetarian items on the menu, requesting to split the check in multiple ways, and making small talk throughout the meal. Each interaction boosted our understanding of the language and helped to bridge the gap between us American students and Spanish natives.



After this, we visited the Prado museum, one of the most anticipated destinations of our journey. There, we saw some of the most impactful paintings of Spanish history, including Las Meninas by Velazquez and 2 de Mayo and 3 de Mayo by Goya, as well as multitudinous other works by famous painters and sculptors.



"Las meninas por Diego Velázquez es una de sus obras mas famosas y una de las obras mas famosas de la historia de Espana. En la pintura, Velazquez muestra la niña del rey de Espana, Felipe IV, en una manera muy extravegante. Es interesante que la pintura sea del punto de vista del rey y la reina, quienes se puede ver en la relfexion en el espejo en el fondo. Ademas, hay un detalle muy diminuto a la derecha que muestra la profundidad del sitio donde pinto la pintura. El movimiento de esta pintura es arte barroco. Tambien es un autorretrato porque Velzquez esta a la izquierda de la obra."

- Alex, Lucas

Next, we ate dinner, which consisted of tapas -- many small dishes, usually eaten with alcohol. We sang the national anthem for some reason on our walk back to the bus.

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