Madrid: our last stop of the Mediterranean tour. Madrid was beautiful and we stayed in an amazing hotel right next to the main square. Our room even had its own laptop and a great view of a pedestrain street. But even though the city was amazing, it finally hit me. I. was. so. tired. Nic was still feeling adventurous, but honestly, I wanted the internet and the bed. (And McDonalds. So naughty!) We didn’t get much sleep in Barcelona. (It seems the partying doesn’t stop ever there. Drunks singing outside our hostel every night.) And we had traveled around half the world, so I suppose it made sense that I was exhausted.
I was most embarrased when we went to the Prado, one of the great art museums of the world. I was so tired, I don’t think we even made it through 1/20. (Granted, the Prado is massive and it would take you days to do everything, but still.) And I was also grumpy. Nic was trying to find all the famous paintings, and all I could think was:
Jesus, Jesus, Mary, Saint, Jesus.
Renaissance art loved its religious icons. Every room seemed the same: painting of Jesus on the cross, Jesus in the manger, pregnant Mary, some saint dude, Jesus on the cross again. My negativity was getting too much so Nic bought me cheesecake and I was better.
In Madrid, we met up with two old friends, Ronnie and Erica, who live in Madrid. Erica is getting her master’s in Spanish literature at the University in Madrid. They took us out for dinner and drinks and we had fun listening to all the “ex-pat” experience stories. Ronnie also showed us a place that had huge beers for a euro. Of course an Old Mello would find out fast where the euro beers were.
Spanish cities are so pretty, even more so than (dare I say it?) France. I will definitely have to go back to Madrid and give it my open-eyed attention. (I’ll even go for a second round in the “I love Jesus” painting section of the Prado.)
