Another Stamp in My Passport

I spent the weekend in Madrid! I actually didn't get a stamp from either Lisbon or Madrid this weekend since the EU is so friendly with each other. It's more of a metaphorical stamp.

After I dropped off some things at my once again private-room hostel, I visited the Reina Sofia museum. It houses Picasso's Guernica, among other works by Picasso, Miro, Dali and others. 

It seemed like all of the heart of Madrid was full of gorgeous buildings like these. 

 Then I took a stroll through the Real Botanical Gardens. They looked like this mostly.

And I went to the Prado, which is Madrid's most well-known museum. It has a really good Goya collection, as well as Titian, Velazquez and others. Las Meninas was one of my favorite paintings there.

This "Museo del Jamon" is a famous restaurant chain of sorts in Madrid. It is full of pig legs hanging from the ceiling, as well as other pig things. I had their most famous product, Jamon Iberico, on a sandwich for my dinner.

Before the end of Saturday night I went to Puerta del Sol, Madrid's main square. They were having a rally against bull fighting, you know, animal cruelty and such.

 Sunday morning was my favorite part of the trip. I went to see where my brother served part of his mission just 2 months ago. Here is the Madrid temple.

This is where Logan lived, right next door to the temple.

Then I went to the Palacio Real, the home of Spanish kings from 1764 to 1931. It was beautiful. 

The view was really great too. 

I stepped in the cathedral across the street for a few minutes of mass. 

 That afternoon I went to El Rastro, a gigantic outdoor market.

As I continued on to Plaza Mayor, I saw this candy shop. It was exciting. Those are filled licorice and giant gummy bears made of small gummy bears. 

When I got to Plaza Mayor, I wondered why it looked familiar. I realized it was because I have a picture of Logan there on my facebook.

I stopped by Plaza de Cibeles, which has a beautiful city hall building. And I had churros and hot chocolate.












And my last stop was the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Besides seeing the temple, this was my favorite spot. It is one of my favorite museums of all time. It has a fantastic impressionist and expressionist collection. Artists like Munch, Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Picasso were all well represented. I loved the Pissarro pieces that were there. He is one of my favorite artists. I also learned of a few new artists I hadn't heard of before, like the impressionist Berueta. I was really enchanted by this museum.