Coffee, Museums and Bull fights

Here´s what I love about Madrid: the way it makes you feel perfectly okay to move at a perfectly slow pace. Nothing here needs to be done quickly and so therefore everything we do takes twice as long as it has to.

Yesterday we spent the day at the Museum Prado. There we observed the works of fabulously renoun artists that struck me as only vaguely familiar and wandered through halls of great paintings that I did nort recognize. All the same it was fun, although my mom had a little bit too much enthusiaum for the place and was still full speed when everyone else was burned out. After the museum we headed to the park and then out to dinner. Between it all we milled around vendors and sat at cafes. I spent an excess of money and drank far too much coffee- no regrets!

Today our style of action was no different, we wandered to a market in the morning cold sodas and pastries always in hand. I bought silly trinkets (who says trinkets?) for my girls at home and liam got a pair of fake Ray Bans that he now refuses to wear because my dad has real ones and he thinks that would be tacky? whatever.

Tonight we headed to the bull fight. The consensus leaving was that we were all glad we went (except for my mom who bailed early) but were not sure if we would do it again... Its a little much, a little too gory.

Generally a bull fight goes as such: it begins with 6 matadors each taking turns to rile the bull up. They wave pink capes in his face getting close as they dare, then run away fast to take refuge behind the edge of the stadium. The show then progresses to men on horses with spears whom provoke the bull to charge and then they stab it repeatedly until hebacks away. There´s blood everywhere and it proceeds to spurt generously out of the bulls back for the duration of the fight. After the men on horses leave, 2 more bull fighters come out. They have shorter more decorative spears. They take turns running at the bull then throwing the spears. By the end of this act the bull has 6 or seven spears hanging from his back and is losing steam. The show ends with the final madador again provoking the bull, getting inches away then dodging it at the last second. Then finally he sticks a sword in the back of the bulls neck. If the bull still isnt dead, it is stabbed repeatedly with shorter daggers until it ceases movement. If it all isnt enough for you: they do it over again- 6 times! mmmm, seems alittle excessive. All the same we had a good time watching, eating candy, cheering, jeering and joking on the matadors in the pink suits.

So now this is good-bye to Madrid! It has been very good to us and no one is ready to leave. All the same, I`m exciting for the next chapter in Barcelona. Beaches for dayssss coming up on my side of our spinning world:)