What's this? SNOW!?

Greetings everybody! I’m coming to you from the high speed train in Madrid on our way to Sevilla. Yesterday Stef and I had a lot of fun traveling around the city and exploring on our own. We had a tour of Madrid via bus that started at 10am to kick off our morning. We almost missed it because we got up a little late. I set my alarm but fell asleep after turning it off and we woke up with only 20 minutes before we had to leave. We also decided to stop and get breakfast, which consisted of a croissant and a cup of coffee. It’s interesting here because if you order a coffee or “café” they give you just that, a small serving of coffee. However, if you order a coffee with milk, or “coffee with milk,” you get a latte with foam. The couple time’s we ordered it we they made cool little pictures in the foam. Stef got a heart and I got a little tree. After breakfast we had a little over 10 minutes to walk to the office to be picked up for our tour. We got to the office 5 minutes late but thankfully they allowed us to board the bus, which was another couple minute walk away. We boarded the bus and were on our way. They took us all around Madrid and explained the history of the city. The tour lasted two and a half hours and dropped us off at the world famous Prado Museum. We decided since we were there we would take that time to wander about the halls of the museum and appreciate some fine art from around the world. After we toured the museum for a couple hours we decided to search for a statue that Stef had seen on the tour and wanted a picture of. The name of the statue was “Al Maestro,” which was a dedication to the teacher. Well, we didn’t remember where it was and spent probably a good 2 hours looking for it, but to no avail we didn’t find it. We stopped and asked multiple people but apparently there are tons of “Al Maestro” statues around and nobody knew where it was. We settled for taking pictures of everything else and headed back to the hotel after our fingers and toes starting hurting from being so cold. In total, we took almost 300 pictures for the day. Upon returning to the hotel we decided we needed to eat something, so before we went back to the room we went and got a pizza and some churros at a place near the hotel. While our fingers and toes were defrosting we enjoyed some coffee and churros. The churros here are different than back at home. They’re not coated with cinnamon and sugar. They kind of looked like deep fried bananas but tasted delicious. We also saw people dipping them in a cup of chocolate. So, we ordered a cup of chocolate and did as the Spaniards do and it was unbelievably delicious. After our cheese pizza and churros we got back to the hotel and rested our feet and took a shower. We decided to go to this place my friend Alex had recommended called Casa Paco. We left the room around 9:30pm and got there around 9:45. The guy at the restaurant helped us with the menu and we ordered ½ a kilogram of Top Sirloin and ½ a kilogram of Filet Mignon for dinner. We ordered the meat to be cooked medium and also a couple salads and a pitcher of sangria. The sangria was delicious as well as the salad. When our steaks arrived they came SIZZLING on a very hot plate. We cut into the meat and it was as raw as could be. The outside looked cooked perfectly but the inside was definitely not. We sat there debating on whether or not to tell them to cook it more but one of the waiters came to us and showed us that we had to cook it ourselves on the plate, which was an interesting concept. Once cooked properly, the steak was so flavorful and juicy. It was easily the best steak I’ve ever eaten. The sirloin had more flavor but the filet was more tender. Either way it was an incredible dinner. The icing on the cake was our desert. We ordered almond ice cream, which was out of this world. All in all it was a fantastic meal and a great way to end our first stop in Madrid.

Today we are off to Sevilla. Upon waking up, Stef opened the curtains to our surprise, it was SNOWING! I had seen that the forecast had called for late sprinkles of know, but there was nothing by the time we went to bed. It looked like it had been snowing for a while. We headed out to get some food and there was at least ½ inch of snow on the ground with more coming down. It was such a sight to see because I haven’t seen it snow since I was a little boy. We would take family vacations up to Big Bear every winter and there was always snow, but rarely did it ever snow while we were there. It was the perfect ending to our time in Madrid. We’re looking forward to what Sevilla has to offer. We’re renting a car and driving for the next 8 days so that should be exciting. We have a GPS unit so hopefully we won’t get lost. I’m pretty good with directions and I have a pretty good sense of direction. After Sevilla we head down to Marbella, then up to Granada, then to Cordoba, and back to Madrid. We have 3 more days in Madrid when we get back so we’re either going to take a day trip to Barcelona or Toledo. Toledo is a cool 30 minutes on the Train I believe and Barcelona is a little longer in the range of 3 to 4 hours. We’ll play it by ear and see how we feel when we get back. Oh and by the way the trains here are awesome! We’re on the train as I speak and it’s first class luxury all the way. We have our own little table and seats that recline for a comfortable ride. The scenery is also very beautiful. We’re seeing a lot of the countryside and it is very mountainous and beautiful. A little FYI for you: Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe behind Switzerland. Anyways, we’re going to enjoy the rest of the ride. I hope everybody is doing well and I’ll post another blog in a few days or so. Enjoy these pictures in the mean time. Bye!

Its SNOWING!!!

The view from our room

In El Parque de Madrid

At the world famous Prado Museum in Madrid

Breakfast "Cafe con Leche"