February 9th Saturday

Our plan was to try to get breakfast in the morning at one of the street cafés. We ended up waking up around 11:00 though. We got dressed and quickly went out to see if we could find breakfast still. First we had little pains au chocolat to hold us over until we found food. Our goal was to find churros. We stopped at one café that had tables on the street. It was so nice outside that we wanted to profit from the sun and warmth. We asked for churros but they didn’t have any. We ended up having chocolate con tostada. The hot chocolate was the thickest I’ve ever seen. We think they make it with yogurt. The toast was just a large piece of bread that had been fried in butter. We ate it with more butter and apricot jam.

After breakfast we started walking back toward the apartment but stopped in a clothing store. It was so nice to see such smaller prices than in Paris. We tried on a few things. I ended up purchasing a shirt and a jacket. The jacket is mint green with embroidery and beads on the sleeves and lapels. I also got a very nice shirt that is longer and has flowing sleeves. It’s the style that reminds me of a kimono. It’s black with white and brown flowers on it.

With our new purchases we made our way up the little hill to Karuna’s apartment. We took shifts in the bathroom to shower. We were eventually ready to go and made a quick lunch before heading out. We used a nice lettuce that we’d bought at the store to make a salad. Karuna cut up some chicken. I made some toast. She cut some beets and made them in a mixture of salt, cream, and vinegar. When it was put all together we had a light salad. It was very good.

While eating lunch, the TV was on and I got to see part of Family Guy and Futurama in Spanish. It made it extra funny of course. We finished lunch and made our way out to explore Madrid. We headed toward the botanical garden and on the way we saw tables full of books. I wanted to stop and buy something silly for Tom in Spanish. I passed up on the Cocinar para Embarazadas book for something equally silly but hopefully more entertaining.

We took the long walk around the gardens trying to find the entrance. When we finally found the entrance we discovered that there was an entry fee and it was an hour until they closed. We ended up deciding to go the next day and hit up some museums now. Karuna and Maria went to find Karuna a dress for the next weekend. She’s coming to Paris for a gala.

Adrienne and I stopped by some tourist carts to buy postcards. We also stopped in a store to look at what they had. I kind of wanted to buy a tiny bull for Tyler but wasn’t sure how to get it back with me. We ended up just continuing onward toward the Museo Reina Sofia. It was Saturday afternoon and the museums were free. We walked up and saw a huge line to get in. We were confused for a minute because it had big banners saying “Picasso.” We thought this might be the Picasso museum that Karuna was talking about. It looked like it would take forever. We walked around the back of the museum to try to find Museo Reina Sofia. We ended up finding another entrance. We grabbed some free tickets from the window and went in. Apparently the museum was having a temporary Picasso exhibit with items from the museum in Paris. How ironic. We passed through there and then decided to try to find the more permanent exhibits. We managed to do that and saw some interesting artwork in all different mediums. One thing that touched me was in video form. It was of a dozen or so women dressed in wedding dresses that walked into a busy square and sat down in a circle. They all had transparent gloves on their hands. They embroidered their life lines to symbolize the pain they had all experienced in their lives. Then they pulled off the gloves and cast them aside. It was very interesting.

We also found another temporary exhibit about flamenco dancers and the night. That area had paintings, sculptures, and even some dresses on display. We finished our trip off with a stop in the surrealist section where we watched a little of Un Chien Andalou. Then they chased us out because it was about 8:30pm and the museum was going to close soon. We needed to go anyway to meet up with Karuna at her apartment.

As we were walking there, though, she called us to say that she wasn’t near the apartment yet. Adrienne and I were extremely thirsty so we decided to find a café or bar to get some drinks in while we waited. We stopped into a bar. I realized that I’d been pampered by France’s no-smoking bars and the smoke here threw me off. I ordered us an orange juice and a coke. The total only came to around €4 and came with a bowl of potato chips. In Paris you can pay up to €5 just for a coke. I like how they come in bottles though. It’s cute.

We ended up drinking our beverages and ordering a second round as we watched a Spanish basketball game on the large television. Properly hydrated, we headed out of the bar to escape the smoke. We managed to find a tiny grocery store that was open. We bought some mini croissants with chocolate on them to replace the ones we’d eaten from Karuna’s roommates’ store. I also bought a Japanese snack called pocky. They’re like tiny breadsticks dipped in chocolate. Adrienne and I were hungry so we tried to lightly snack while still leaving room for the Spanish dinner that we’d be having.

We got the call from Karuna that she was back and we met up with her and Maria. We went to drop off our little groceries and then headed out to eat. Our receipt from the place says it is Cañas y Tapas Mediteraneo Iguanocuatro S.L. Maria likes this restaurant and showed it to us. The menu had a collection of many different dishes that you could just order for the table. They gave us a little chalkboard so that we could write the numbers of the dishes we wanted. I wanted paella so we ordered paella con mariscos (seafood). It had shrimp, mussels, squid and small clams mixed in the rice. We also got a dish that had over-easy eggs, green pepper, fries, and chorizo. Then another dish was called quesos ibericos. It was a collection of cheeses and meats like dried ham. There was also salmorejo. It is a soup served cold that’s made from tomatoes, bread, oil, garlic, and vinegar. It was garnished with chopped ham and hardboiled egg. We could either eat it with a spoon or with the bread on the table. The meal was quite delicious and we accompanied it with a bottle of rosé wine.

The entire meal including the wine came to €40. Adrienne and I treated Karuna and Maria to say thank you for letting us stay there. It was interesting trying to speak in Spanish to Maria. I found myself trying to imitate the Spanish accent instead of the Latin American accents I learned in. I realized also that I have forgotten a lot of it, but I’m amazed with how much I did remember. I think if I spent more time in Spain it would come back pretty fast.

We had started dinner at 10:30pm and then left the place at midnight. I kept looking at my watch in disbelief. It was an authentic Spanish dinner in more ways than one.

We walked back to the apartment and fell into bed around 1:40am.