¡Vive España!

Guten Tag from Madrid! (I told you the jokes don't get better).  Judging from the time, you can obviously see that we are a little slap happy (It is almost midnight…again).  Today we took Madrid by storm, or rather, by bus and Metro (that’s “subway” for you non-Euro types :^).  We got our wake-up call at 7, and sat down for breakfast at 8am.  This morning’s meal consisted of the typical European cuisine of meats and cheeses, yogurt, assorted breads, fresh fruit, and various pastries (like chocolate covered doughnuts!), and juice.  Promptly after breakfast we hit the ground running (riding) for our tour of the city of Madrid.  We had a guest tour guide for this bus excursion, Rosana.  She was very knowledgeable about the city.  It seemed that at every turn she knew information about the buildings, culture, or history surrounding that area of town.  It was truly a learning experience.  Some of our stops along the way included the statue of Cervantes accompanied by his good pals Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, a memorial to the Spaniards who gave their lives in the Spanish Civil War, an ancient Egyptian temple (given to Spain as a gift), and finally the Prado Museum, where we recalled Jackson’s presentation on Diego Velazquez.  Also there were works by El Greco, Goya, and Rubens.  It is the most popular museum in Spain, and 11^th most popular in the world (based on the number of visitors annually).  After we spent a couple of hours learning the significance of several paintings, and the difference between renaissance and neo-classic art, we walked to lunch near the Reina Sofia Museum, where we had our first Spanish lunch of, you guessed it, Pizza!  The students tried to order in Spanish the best they could under the guidance of Ms. Huff and our four Spanish students (Tugg, Josh, Sarah, and Juliana).  Then we spent another two hours walking off all of the goat cheese in the Reina Sofia modern art museum.  We immediately entered and proceeded to Guernica, by Picasso, a painting used to draw attention to the bombing of the city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  Also in this museum were works by Salvador Dali, Jacques Lipchitz, and Francis Bacon.

From there we walked back to our hotel and spent some time shopping for souvenirs and water for tomorrow’s continued adventures to Barcelona.  Then, the students braved Madrid’s Metro to go to our cooking school.  You really should be proud of your children as they worked together to make a fabulous menu of a meal for themselves, peeling, chopping, stirring, cooking, chilling, and caramelizing a wonderful meal with Sangria (non-alcoholic), Pan a la Catalana, tortilla, Paella (both chicken and seafood.  The seafood paella consisted of rice, mussels, clams, shrimp, and calamari), and Crema Catalana for dessert (much like crème brulee or Flan).  By the way, if you need proof that your children can cook, I have it on video.  I guess they can’t make any more excuses.

Then we ate it.  Oh boy was it wonderful!  The students also liked working with each other, and enjoyed a delightful conversation on the day’s events (and their favorite paintings) with each other, while the adults discussed things like the economical state of Spain and Greece (something we didn’t think the kids would be interested in).  This offered them time to leisurely talk with each other over a wonderful meal.  They bonded. :^)  As a matter of fact, they are now feeling so comfortable that on the way back to the Metro station, the students led the way, as they did also returning to the hotel from the metro and then on to a 10pm snack of Churros y chocolate (another Spanish favorite).  They are learning, growing, and maturing in front of our eyes already and it has only been 48ish hours.

Tomorrow we are up at 630 to leave on the AVE to Barcelona.

Buenas Noches!  (Estoy muy consado).