Madrid Trip #1

So yesterday(the 15th) we went into Madrid for the first time. It was FREAKING awesome. Here we are at the Plaza del Sol. It was pretty cool. We all met in alcala at the train station but when we got to Madrid we decided to split up so the rest of the group left the subway at a different exit and we decided to head away from the plaza and then come back when all the rest of the people were gone.

-Side note: It is really weird to think that I'm not a missionary. The four of us are really weired out by it because for some reason we are all associating this experience with the mission. Yesterday for the first time in the morning my roommate had class and I didn't so i stayed at home alone. It was crazy. When we entered Madrid, Andrew once again split off from me and I think it finally sunk in that I'm allowed to split off from my companion. So, Garrett, I, Amy, Erin, and Callie decided to explore.

The first couple of minutes we were so amazed by all the cool architecture and and the cool looking alleys that we stoped at each one to take a picture.

Here is a cool looking hat that i would have bought but it was so small that even my ears were showing through.

Anyways...we went to the opera...
Some people are better at timed "Zoolander Jumps" than others.

We knew that we wanted to see the Plaza but we really didnt want to just go back the way we came so we checked out a map and decided that we'd loop around a bit and head towards the Plaza from a different direction. There were a couple of streets that looked pretty cool and we saw some gateway that caught my interest. Out of nowhere, we turned a corner and realized we were in Fanghorn forest and being attacked by an Ent.

It was pretty much the awesomest part of the day. All the other groups tried to say that they had had a "funner" time but we cited our ent sighting and trumped them all. As it turns out, Fanghorn is actually part of the Plaza mayor.

Its the big plaza i guess. I don't remember anything super about it now. I'm excited to come back and sight see when i actually know all about these places.

From there we were walking and i noticed some beggars outside of a really ornate door. Everyone was rushing past but I paused to look up and saw a really amazing church. The cathedral of Santa Lucia. It was really awesome inside in the literal ancient sense of the word. However, Garrett made a good comment that even though you would walk in and be in awe from the beautiful architecture and stain glass and wood carvings, the feel is nothing compared to that of the temple. Once again i realized how true our church was and how much these people need it.

So...from there we decided it was about time to find the Plaza del Sol. We had a small idea of where we were going but not much of one. After asking a few people we realized that we had really been really close when we started but we thought that because we got out of a different subway exit that we were futher away. We all tried to remember something we had read about the Plaza and the cafes but no one could remember much until we saw a really busy street and remembered them talking about it. We went down and saw a mariacha band. I have no idea if that is spelled at all correctly.

We all really wanted hot chocolate because we were all pretty cold and tired and wanted to sit in a cafe and have a "spanish experience". After 45 minutes of trying to find one and failing we almost decided on a starbucks until we saw a small coffee shop next door. I decided I'd get a cocoa drink and some cookies but after an hour of serious serching for a "quaint cafe" Amy and Callie decided to go into the starbucks afterall. I laughed on the inside. We all came back into the coffee shop and did have that experience afterall. We sat and talked for another 45 minutes or so and then headed back to Alcala. It was SO much fun.