1 MONTH LEFT!

  Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands
Thursday, July 24, 2008

Woot Woot! Officially 1 month left until I go hooooome!!! The past few weeks have been crazy hectic and stressful. I've been preparing my business plan, which I will present on Monday 7/28. But it's pretty much done, and aside from working and reading, I've found some spare time to enjoy the city. I realized that I hadn't experienced Madrid as a tourist, camera in hand and all; instead I've been too busy living here. So that's what I did this week. A few pics are on Facebook already, but I figured I'd show them anyway.

Here's the central post office of Madrid. I've been here a few times to mail stuff, but the department store also has a post office and it's closer to my house, but not quite as overstated.


The Plaza Oriente gardens set the stage for the Palacio Real, literally a two minute walk from my house. I like to come here when I'm bored.


Once in a while, I see policemen outside my window... on horses!


A visit to the Thyssen Museum with friends. (I've just about mastered the art of cutting my own hair!)


The Thyssen Museum


I forget what this is called, but there are a few of these all over the city.


Towards the north of Madrid is the financial district. This is the Plaza Castilla, the two buildings are the most recognizable modern icons of Madrid.


As I was sorting through my pictures, I realized that I'm missing a lot of important ones. So I'll post more tomorrow, but here's a preview of what's to come.

Callao, a few blocks from my house. The big red advertisement is for the department store. One reason to come to Spain in July is for the sales, shopping is cheap and great! European clothes fit me a lot better, I guess cause Americans don't cater to normal sized people. Even my mom went nuts at ZARA when she came in March. Anyway, to the left is Gran Via, one of the major streets in Madrid. To the right is Sol, the center of Madrid (see next pic)


This is towards the right of the picture above. A few blocks down is Sol. In the summer, they put up these sails to shade people from the sun.


A view of the Estanque at Retiro Park, basically Madrid's equivalent of Central Park in New York. Up until a month ago, I came here to run, then it got too hot and I was too busy. Haha. I'll show you guys more pictures tomorrow, it's pretty spectacular.


Okay guys, I'll have more pics of Retiro Park up tomorrow, as well as the Plaza Mayor, the ritzy Salamanca district, and Gran Via. Keep in mind that not all of Madrid is like this. I just happen to live in a nice neighborhood. I'll show you guys some pics of the ghetto part of town too. Okay, see you guys in a bit.