Madrid Meandering Part 3....WITH FAMILY

My last weekend in Spain before classes ended was spent with my Uncle Bill and my Aunt Andria.  They came up for Easter weekend to visit and I got to show them all around Madrid!

The weekend started with an early morning pick up at the Madrid airport and then we went to get settled into the hotel.  From there we grabbed coffee then headed to the train station to take a Renfe train up to Alcalá de  Henares to show them my town.

We walked all the way through town to my home stay which, as I've told many people, we call Siberia since it is a pretty long walk to get there from the center of town.

Andria, Exuperancia, and I!

We had coffee with my home stay Mom and she chatted up the group.  I translated, of course.  Once Uncle Bill looked like he was getting a little too comfortable in the chair (napping), we decided we should get back into Madrid and keep moving.  Beat the jet-lag!

The first bits in Madrid just consisted of walking around the center of the city like Puerta del Sol.  This is where the "strawberry tree" fight came in.  One of the symbols of Spain is the bear and the strawberry tree as shown with Uncle Bill below.

Now Uncle Bill could not get over the fact that "THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A STRAWBERRY TREE!".  This became a constant joke.  Luckily for me when I was back in the states and this conversation came up, my cousin Emily whips out her smart phone and Googles "strawberry tree".  What logic right?  What she found was a wonderful Wikipedia article stating that the strawberry tree is native to northern Europe and BAM: Argument nullified!

The next day we hit up La Reina Sophia to check out Guernica by Picasso and some strange Dali.

That afternoon we toured the palace an stumbled upon Semana Santa processions around the city. They were   strangely quite and oddly unsettling for religious processions.

After some yummy Churros y Chocolate we wandered Plaza Mayor, the oldest Plaza in Madrid.  It was SO full of people that day which was great because it is the best experience when they square is packed with people entertaining, observing, and generally enjoying the weather.

The last day of family weekend was Easter so we attended Easter mass at the Royal Cathedral next to the Palace.  It was the most beautiful mass I couldn't understand!

The cathedral was beautiful and very different from other cathedrals I'd seen.  This was because the cathedral was planned in the 1500s, construction was started in the 1800s, and the cathedral was finished in 1992 so it has a much more modern feel than other cathedrals!

We had some time in the afternoon and my Uncle remembered a statue of a famous Neuroanatomist that he'd found the last time he was in Madrid: Ramon y Cajal, and this gentleman happened to be located in the great Parque del Buen Retiro.

It was a beautiful day and the park was full of people out and about.  Finally we found the man himself.  Can't you see how happy we were?

We're not sure why Cajal was posed like that, but what the hell!  Why can't the scientist look like a Greek god?

The final part of the weekend was the bull fight!  We went to La Plaza de Ventas where the bull fights are held in Madrid.

The experience was...........interesting to say the least.  The way a bull fight works is there are four portions.  In the first portion there are many Toreros (bull fighters) who use their pink capas (capes) to tire the bull out.

The second portion involves Picadors on horseback who stab the bull in the back to slow him down even more.

The third portion involves Toreros sticking banderillas, or little spiked sticks, into the bull.  There are three Toreros each with a set of two and each Torero tries to get both into the bull.

Finally the main Torero with the red cape and a sword comes out to tire the bull and eventually attempt to stab the sword all the way into the bull.  Sadly this meas the bull does die at the end..

Not only does this occur once....but six times.  There are three main Toreros and each one fights 2 bulls.  QUITE a lot.

The horrifying portion came at the beginning.  Our first bull was a difficult experience. It was MUCH more blood than I anticipated AND the bull knocked the Picador and horse over and they could not get the horse up for a long time.  I just sat there with a very shocked look on my face for a looooonnnnnggg time.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Andria made it through two bulls before throwing in the towel and I made it to three.  We  all left there thinking we'd better volunteer at an animal shelter or SOMETHING to improve our karma.....

It may have horrified us, but it is a tradition in Spain.  During La Feria (a holiday in May) there is a bullfight every day.  The bulls are bred for bull fighting and the meat from the bull is not wasted, but put up for sale and used in restaurants.  There are still many people who disapprove of bull fighting and more and more fights are being ended for good in other parts of the world.  I wonder if it will survive in Spain.

After all was said and done, I am glad we went.  I can now say I've been to an official bullfight in the largest bull ring in the world!

It was a wonderful end to a wonderful family filled weekend!  I was so happy to get to show them around Madrid and Alcalá.