Day 1 3/6

Our first day in Spain! We landed in Madrid around 9:00am and left with our tour guide around 10:30am. Our guide Paloma was very kind and informative, telling us about the first president and local soccer traditions. She also showed us Parque el de retiro before dropping us off at our hotel. After getting lunch at a top floor cafeteria, we were ready for the rest of the afternoon. Through the rain, we went on a walking tour of the city with our guide Tito. Since our group is large, we had headsets designed so our guide could talk and we could hear him further away. Off we went on our two hour tour, seeing multiple historic sights throughout our district. We found out there are 21 districts in Madrid, and we are centered in Sol. We were shown one of the cities statues where Real Madrid celebrates their victories. We also saw the cities Palace, which is owned by the city and not the royals. We walked around the outside of the Prado museum which holds over 8,000 paintings and over 700 sculptures. We walked around Plaza Mayor, which holds significant history for the city. After we finished our walking tour of the city, most of us ate together at an Italian restaurant. After dinner, we were on our own!! Some of us went right to bed, and some of us explored the nightlife! 

Avery & Bella