Madrid, Spain

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Three weary travelers went from Stockholm, through Barcelona and down to Madrid.

150430_0001 Where we met up with Hanna (Tamar's teammate, roommate and friend) and Beata aka BiBi (Hanna and Pär's friend from high school currently living and playing basketball in Spain.

After dropping off our things at BiBi's apartment which she and her roommates kindly opened up to FOUR travelers, we headed to BAZAAR. Apparently a restaurant where five star chefs train, so costs are low but food is delicious!

In the morning, we had a lovely breakfast of the standard Swedish, bread, bell peppers and cucumber (I need to have this more back home!)

Forgetting that I'm traveling with three professional basketball players, apparently a gym session was next on the agenda. Needless to say, I had brought ZERO gym clothes, though BiBi let me borrow some.

Then our day could get started!

And generally being gansta

Before siesta, when these American and Swedish people, took advantage of an empty park to read and sunbathe

And take silly panoramas Once everyone woke up we put in some more tourism, walking down to Plaza Mayor, where I of course had to try some churros

We went through and in some incredible churches and saw a bunch of cool doors, those got their own blog post here)

While Pär, Hanna, and BiBi looked for a place to rest, Tamar and I found this incredible spot overlooking part of the city, and soaked up some of that golden hour light.

We caught up with Pär, Hanna and Bibi for Santa María la Real de La Almudena

And the Palacio Real de Madrid

As the sun set, we walked over to Taberna Maciera to meet up with BiBi's friend Nathan.

Taberna Maciera serves traditional Galician food, including octopus. But it was all DELICIOUS

The next morning, I found a chocolate filled twinkie-esque treat and intimissimi bras (which are no longer available in the US) for my sister.

Before heading to Plaza de España, and Pär thinking that my "nailed it!" phrase after taking their picture was truly complimentary and not based on the Pinterest fail, nailed it.

We stopped by Templo de Debod, before having a picnic which proved that Spaniards are certainly more into PDA than Americans... or at least this American.

Next we headed to the Sabatini Gardens and then the inside view of Almudena Catedral we had missed the night before

Next we walked over to La Museo Reina Sofia, the museum which houses Pablo Picasso's Guernica and is conveniently free after 7pm. Though you couldn't take photos inside, it was incredible and so powerful to see in person. Made more powerful by his then lover, Dora Maar's photographs of his process. To see the subtle changes that were made through every step of the way is a beautiful use of photography.

One piece I found moving at La Reina Sofia was a work by Jose Renau, 1937 a photograph of two women and the text which translates to "Shedding her outer layer of superstition and Misery from the immemorial slave there emerged THE WOMAN capable of Active Participation in the making of the future" AMEN!

We ended the evening strolling by the Plaza de Dibeles, Madrid Post Office, then to dinner, to finally embrace the overly pork based cuisine and eat it up in a hole in the wall basement area served by a guy who looked just like Nathaniel (actor Timothy Spell) from enchanted... am I wrong?