Yoshi is kind of a dick. Look, you end up in room w/ a bunch of people and you need to get up via alarm - only hit the snooze once!!! The dude´s phone kept going off. Finally he killed it and left. Later jerk.
I was able to roll back over until about 9:30 and was feeling good when I got going. Vera and Tanya each gave out hugs goodbye, got my info, and said they´d see us at Oktoberfest. Bueno! Eric wanted to relax and clean up, so Mindy and I grabbed her tour book and headed for a cafe for breakfast. My goal was to see Picasso´s "La Guernica", maybe the Prado (which houses many famous collections), and let the day play out from there.
We also had Joel and Anisha to collect. We found out from them that they´d been delayed in Philly and would probably be arriving around noon. Since it was really late morning we decided to kick it at the hostel for a bit until they arrived. Finally, the gang was all here! We told the Hutchinsons our plan for the day and they said they´d catch up with us once they´d had some time to clean up and decompress.
Eric, Mindy and I headed for the Centre National de Riena Sofia, home of La Guernica. Apparently the location is controversial because Picasso himself had said he wanted it placed at the Prado - Madrid's larger, more famous museum - but for whatever reason it is at the Sofia. There were a number of Picasso's around and all I can say is that he obviously saw the world in a way different than I. La Guernica itself is pretty awe-inspiring. The canvas is about 10 feet high by 30 feet wide. The painting is supposed to show the suffering of a town that has been attacked by German forces. There is supposedly a story that when the Nazi's saw the painting they approached Picasso and asked him, "Are you responsible for this?" Picasso's response was, "No, you are." Take THAT 3rd Reich!
In addition to the Picasso's there were also a number of Salvador Dali's (the guy who does the weird clocks hanging off off trees) and cool exhibit of New York photography (a homage to NYC so close to 9/11.
We heard from Joel and Anisha as we were leaving and found them at a restaurant that they had been wanting to go to. The couple are a pair of foodies, so any time they pick a place it ends up being pretty good. The food was good, esp washed down with Sangria. As we were getting close to leaving though the lights suddenly dimmed and the restaunt pulled out a cauldren of some alcohol drink. They cook lit it on fire and proceeded to make this dancing blue flame. It was pretty cool. We made a note to figure out what the heck it was later (which of course we'll never actually figure out).
After lunch Mindy took off with the Hutchinson's and Eric and I went to grab a drink before deciding where the go next. The Prado was packed, so we didn't feel like sitting in line just to get inside. Instead we checked out some of the local spots.
Upon returning to the hostel the group began to talk about punting from Madrid to go to San Sebastian. I was fine with Madrid, but I had also heard that San Sebastian was amazing, so I was in. For our last night though, we wanted to do a good meal and decided to try to find the "Earliest Restaurant in the World" (as determined by Guiness). I guess this restaurant has been in continuous existence since 1725 and hosted the liked of Hemmingway. Our meal was pretty incredible - sucking pig, lamb, filet, roast chicken and a veal cutlet for me. Everyone sampled each other's plates and no one was disappointed. Earliest Restaurant in the World - FTW!!!
Since it was Sunday night and the team was leaving early the next morning, we retired early.
No comments:
Post a Comment