My sister and Madrid

I'm so happy that I got to see my sister last weekend. Every time I am with her, I am always lifted up. We had our differences when we were younger, but every minute of those differences was worth it to get us to our relationship today. I love you, Michelle!

The trip was so enjoyable. I couldn't beat the airfare (~€80 roundtrip), and I was able to stay with Michelle since she had a relatively big room. That was nice because it gave us more time together! I also got to meet some great young people and a lovely pianist from China who is now studying in the U.S. That was so much fun.

Madrid was good. It was very sunny. I walked a lot, and got to see many sights in my 2.5 days there. With Michelle's help, I fairly easily figured out the metro, which is definitely the way to travel. It was nice to see Madrid because they definitely decorate differently than the Germans do. And Michelle's tour guide, Bill, gave me an excellent recommendation for a museum (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum) to visit after they left for Toledo. Not only was it free the day I went, but you could also take pictures and their collection was very diverse. I'm so glad I went! I got to see a lot of art, between Museo Nacional del Prado, the Thyssen Museum, and the various exhibitions we ran into here and there. It was easy to enjoy that art since the kids weren't with me!

Thank you, Michelle, for letting me join you for a weekend! And thank you, David, for taking care of everything while I was away!

I took a picture of a lamp post.

Inside Palacio Real

Extremely ornate

Shh! Random art exhibition

Sangria and chorizo!  The sangria was very sweet

These pork pieces were hanging up everywhere

Cervantes monument with Don Quixote. I'm happy the man is in the bottom right hand corner for scale. I liked seeing the modern construction and advertising behind the monument, too.

A small park on a random walk. They were everywhere.

At Plaza Mayor. I paid over one Euro for this selfie, but he was "trying to get back to his homeland" (Bulgaria), so it was totally worth it to help him out. Honestly, he was a cutie.

At Plaza Mayor. The decorated facade is entirely different from the facades in Germany. I enjoyed seeing the difference.

Also at Plaza Mayor

From the Thyssen Museum. I loved this painting by Clouet.

It was a little weird, though, considering she is naked in between her mom (??) and her suitor (??)

Walking around Madrid. This is a good depiction of how the city looks.

The Bear and the Strawberry Tree, from the Madrid Coat of Arms.