Madrid 1: El Prado, Parque de Retiro, Botanical Gardens

To refresh your memory, I went to Madrid this weekend, but only for the day!  It was a whirlwind trip: we left Oviedo at midnight and got into Madrid at about 6am on Saturday.  Then we spent the whole day there and left at 11pm to return to Oviedo at 6:30am on Sunday!  As you can only imagine, we were exhausted by the end, but it was well worth it.

Our first stop was Atocha train station.  These pictures do not do it justice, but it is a gorgeous space.  As you may remember, it was recently bombed in 2005 in a terrorist attack, but it was beautifully redone.  The top is all glass, and there is this huge "park" in the middle, with a pond and everything.  Really neat!

Next we headed over to El Prado, one of the most important museums of Spanish Art.  I got to see important pieces by Velázquez, Goya, and many others.   It was really impressive to see everything we have been learning about in Art History class here.  

Me in front of El Prado. 

Such a beautiful building!

Me and Shani in front of the museum.  Of course we were not allowed to take pictures inside...typical Spain.

After El Prado, it was still really early, so we went to El Parque del Retiro.  It is what one of the things I personally think of when I picture Spain.  It is a huge park, with playing fields, tons of walks and paths, a huge lake in the middle, and gorgeous palaces and buildings.  

This is pretty much where I want to live.  It is the Crystal Palace of my dreams :)

Seriously, can I live here?  Please?

Next we trudged onto the Botanical Gardens.  I was not expecting to be that impressed by gardens, but it was really extensive and fantastic.  

Alrighty, this is too long now...so I am going to cut it off now!  More Madrid coming up!