Madrid

Today we walked around Madrid on a tour lead by little rick (aka D). On the way we saw all sorts of monuments and churches from the outside including a monument that honored many people who died in an assassination attempt on the royals. We also stopped in for churros at San Gines which was a site that inspired Valle Inclan whose plays T and H read in their second summer term. They were really good and not too expensive considering how famous they were. After this along the way down to the palace we also got some sweets from the nuns at a nearby church which involved walking down a hidden hallway and placing an order then paying 10 euros through a turnstyle. It was a new experience for everyone. We stopped our walk around 10:30 and went into the Palacio Real which was the biggest gray and working neoclassical palace in Spain. We enjoyed the rooms and embraced its beauty (even though Rick's book was inaccurate).
After a short rest, we went to lunch at VIPS (because we knew M could have a salad, and D tried their ribs at the recommendation of the waitress). We toured the Thyssen and enjoyed seeing such a massive collection of famous artists including Monet and Rothko among others. When finished we had a short rest at Parque de Buen Retiro and then went to the Prado. Over the course of the day, H and T were excited that they got reduced prices because of their student IDs and because Haley started a line for the Prado right before it became free. So all in all it was a great day that ended in a picnic dinner in the hotel room.