Almost a full week in Madrid!

Joan (my roommate) and me on the bus ride to Segovia

Highlights from this week include:

Amazing food from Elena (tortilla española...who knew eggs and potatoes could be so delicious?, homemade carrot soup...no words, and I also found out that I do like muscles...or at least the way these were prepared)

Plaza Mayor (a great place to walk around, although I must warn it is a bit touristy)

Reina Sofía (Seeing Guernica was a moving experience. The massiveness of the painting itself parallels the gravity of the moment so well that colors are not necessary--it allows the black, white, and grey of the painting to show the destruction without needing a bit of red blood. Before a person decides to declare war he or she should be required to take a look at this painting, I think it could prevent a heck of a lot of bloodshed)

Segovia (No words can describe the cathedral and castle. It's no wonder the Disneyland castle is based off of this castle. It truly looks like a movie set. I thought it would be more of a tourist hot-spot because of this, and yes of course there were tourists. However, the town itself seemed so unassuming, as if saying, "Sure, we have this beautiful castle and cathedral, and sure you can take a look if you'd like." But I didn't feel like it was exploiting these structures at all--I wish I could say the same about the Empire State Building.)

Segovia!

Tonight, I'm off to a jazz club. It's so funny, I live in New York and have never been to the Blue Note Jazz Club and I come all the way to Madrid and where do I go? A jazz club!