Madrid

I'm here! I've arrived (quite safely, too, I might add)! And the city hasn't changed a bit since I was here last (2008, for those keeping track). It's still hotter 'n snot and the streets a dirty and dust-filled (even though individual people mop the sidewalks outside of their shops/apartment buildings, they never seem to really get clean...probably because someone almost immediately tosses down a cigarette or a used metro card).

I've mostly been recovering from jetlag (hey--it takes me awhile, ok?). But I have managed to visit some of my favorite places (and eat some of my favorite foods)!

For instance, pictured below is the Casa del Pescador (The House of the Fisherman) in the Parque del Retiro (from now on, it's just the Retiro). The Retiro was just one of the many places where former kings of Spain would go to hunt/fish/kill things for fun. Fernando VII was one of these kings, and within the park, he built lots of cute little hunting lodges, such as this one, intended for fishing:

The Retiro is absolutely my favorite place of all of Madrid. It's like Central Park, but better, because there are more even more walking paths and it's quieter.

It's also near a bunch of little shops and restaurants, like La Taberna del Toro, the restaurant in which I ate what is one of my favorite meals in Spain: Gazpacho and Calamari.

Don't they look just absolutely delicious?