On Saturday, I went to PARQUE DEL RETIRO. It´s a huge park kind of close to my apartment. It´s known as ¨el pulmon de la ciudad.¨ People go there to relax and escape within the city, sort of like Central Park. It´s really beautiful and we only saw about a quarter of it, so I definitely plan on going back.
My only warning about the park, like always, is to hold onto your purse and beware of gypsies. One woman was handing out ¨flowers,¨ that looked like weeds, like they were presents. However, when we tried to give them back, she wouldn´t take them and demanded money instead. It was a pretty sad looking plant... Good thing, I was lucky enough to walk away before she handed me. Others in my program, not so lucky.
Our adventures are always tiring, so we either take naps and go out later.. or don´t go out at all. Saturday night, we made it out to a cave bar called LAS CUEVAS DE SESAMO. Basically, we waited for 30 minutes to sit at a really small table and stools to drink a pitcher of sangria. The room was filled with smoke and it was clear that you can only squeeze a certain amount of people per table. Nevertheless, the bar was underground and featured a live piano player, so it was one of the cool places to be. We went home ¨early,¨ which means i ended up sleeping at around 3am, which is why you find me on-line around 6pm sometimes.
On Sunday, I went to the flea market called EL RASTRO. It gets super crowded, but for some things it´s worth the fight. Small souvenirs and stuff. Apparently, it´s an even more common place for pick-pockets. Locals have gotten their purses/phones/wallets stolen.. After I took a shopped my heart out and went home to rest, I headed back out to EL MUSEO DEL PRADO. Art is definitely not my specialty, but I did get a chance to see some famous Goya paintings and also my favorite Velasquez, Las Meninas. I probably need to go back and see a little more, but I will say Las Meninas was hugeeeeeee. For some reason, I always looked at the little girl in awe, but when I saw it up close, the first thing I noticed were the two.. uh.. not-so-cute girls in the front.
do you recognize these?
GOYA - SATURNO (scary... but famous, of course...)
GOYA - EL TRES DE MAYO
BOSCH - GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS (ap euro, anyone?)
VELASQUEZ - LAS MENINAS (see them in the corner? lol)
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