5/23

Today was my first Sunday in Madrid! The weather was perfect-- 80s and sunny! On Sundays, everyone spends the day eating out on the plazas in the sun and enjoying time with family and friends! Mel and I decided to check it out, so we went to Plaza del Sol at around two p.m. First we did a little shopping and then we wandered around the rest of the afternoon. Today was quite different from yesterday as there were not thousands of men in jerseys wandering around being loud! Most of the smaller shops were closed, although major popular chain stores were open because downtown is a big tourist shopping area and there are always tourists around, even on Sundays!

Here are a couple pictures of Mel (my roommate) and me on Plaza del Sol:





After Plaza Del Sol, we headed over to Plaza Mayor, which is incredibly close. On the way we bumped into a guy who was really good at playing music in water-filled glasses!





After passing through Plaza Mayor, we bumped into a cool, glass-enclosed market, Mercado de San Miguel. Inside there were tons of tapas to try (tapas with all sorts of toppings including great seafood and fish options) wine and desserts, fruit, and a whole lot more! Here are some photos of the market:








Looking at all that food was making me hungry! So Mel and I found a really cute and rustic place to eat. We had mojitos and two types of toast. One had apples, bacon and brie on it, and the other had four types of cheeses (Brie, goat's, blue, and something else I don't recognize, but that was quite delicious!)







After the restaurant, Mel and I wandered around some more, something that's really easy to do in this city! Here are some random pictures I took of a dog we found, a Muji store I went into, the bar (Dubliners) that is supposedly a Syracuse University abroad student favorite, some ugly shoes I thought Ian would LOVE (grin), and a really cool ad for coke on the side of a hotel that has a funny slogan! Look at the zoomed-in picture of the ad-- see how the whole background is made of coke bottles?