Madrid, te amo.

Backtracking a day...last night I was too tired to post Day 2 so i'm doing it tonight.  Day 2 = fantastic.  I'm falling in love with Madrid more and more each day I'm here.  Left the hostel at 10 am and didn't have much of an itinerary for the day except to go to the Prado at some point.  Figured I'd just wander the streets and see what happened.  After stopping for a croissant and fresh squeezed orange juice (¡delicioso!) I ended up at the bullfighting arena/museum.  Didn't go in, since I'm pretty sure it wasn't open and because I didn't care that much, but it's really stunning from the outside:

From there, walked along la Calle de Alcalá (One of the main streets running through Madrid) until I was close to the Prado.  On the way I saw:

La Puerta de Alcalá

and....

El Palacio de Comunicaciones

y por fin...

El Museo del Prado

What.a.beautiful.museum.  Definitely got lost like 10 times while I was in there, but it was great.  I'm not one of those people who stops and reads the information about every single painting in a museum but there was definitely a lot of stuff worth stopping to see.  Spent a good two hours in this place, most of it lost and coming up a staircase to see that I just went down a staircase to that same room.  Loco, absolutely loco. 

After that I was pooped.  But I had nearly three hours to kill before I met Anne and Sarah and it wasn't going to be spent napping at my hostel.  Although a nap sounded great.  So I went to El Parque Retiro and walked around for a good 40 minutes soaking in the sights before finding a nice shady secluded spot to take a nap.  After that nap, I have to say that I totally understand the need for a siesta.  It was beautiful.  

Parque Retiro, where I took my nap!

Rejuvenated, I went to the Atocha station and bought a ticket to TOLEDO for the next day.  Ordered it entirely in Spanish.  When the guy asked where I was from and I told him the U.S. and more specifically Nueva Jersey he looked at the guy next to him ready to laugh.  Thanks, Jersey Shore...I'm almost certain that's the reason for that.

Finally found Anne and Sarah!  What a great reunion.  After trying to go to what seemed like a million different places for tapas, we ended up at this random one that they had heard about but didn't go to.  It.was.DELICIOUS.  I'm most definitely going back there again (I later learned that it's a chain of places...there's one right by my hostel and I came across another one in my travels today.  I just don't remember the name of it, oops).  Got a mug of the tinto de verano which was a really tasty wine, kind of like sangria.  I practically chugged it, it was so good.  Got two tapas--one was like a potato thing on a roll and the other was salmon.  Heavenly.  I am eating so well in Madrid, I'm going to miss the food so much.  Then we went to the churro place that so many people recommended to me, San Gines (but that wasn't their first choice--so I have to try and get to their churro place before I leave).  Either way, they were delicious and I have a picture to prove it:

Chocolate con churros...¡delicioso!

Parted ways after that...they had to have dinner and pack, and I had to rest up for Toledo.  IT WAS A WONDERFUL NIGHT.  Toledo next...!