Madrid

Toledo

Segovia

Aquarium at the zoo in Madrid

The Royal Palace

Real Madrid soccer stadium

Bull Fighting Stadium

From Wednesday to Sunday, I was in Madrid, Spain with my group learning about it's history and seeing the sights. Madrid is a gorgeous city with a population of about 5 million people. I call it the New York City of Spain because it is very fashion forward and it has a lot of corporate buildings. We stayed in a hotel called, El Regente, in the heart of the city right off Gran Via, which is a main street. Along with the stores and offices, they have many historical sights like museums and palaces that all tell stories about the culture of Madrid. On the first day, we went to Escorial to see the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo del Escorial where kings of Spain lived in the 15th century. Now it is a monastery, school, museum, and royal palace. The next day we took a bus tour that showed us around the city. We saw the Real Madrid fútbol stadium and the bull fighting stadium. After the bus tour we took a tour of another Royal Palace where a king of Spain lived. Each room was decorated to represent another country and serve a different purpose. On Friday, we were on our own to do what we wanted, and a group of us went to the zoo. It cost 19 euros to get enter, which I was shocked about and almost changed my mind about going. However, it had a lot to offer. There were many animals and an aquarium that was very beautiful. Friday night we went to a Spanish musical called "40 Musical," and they played top 40 Spanish hits throughout the story. Although I didn't understand a lot of what they were saying, I got the gist of what the plot was about. The musical was very entraining and the audience was mostly of teenagers and young adults. The following day, we took the bus to Segovia, Spain, which was an hour and a half away, and saw their historical sights and museum. Finally, on the last day, we visited Toledo, Spain to take pictures of the view of the city. After, we went into the city to see a few cathedrals and ate at McDonald's. I am not a huge McDonald's fan, but it was good. The hamburger meat was bigger than the bun and the french fries tasted like fresh cut potatoes. It was the best experience I ever had at McDonald's.

Since the paragraph described what we did during the day, I will now tell what we did at night. What we did at night is a completely different story. Madrid loves to party. They have, what are called, discotecas, which are like clubs but with live dance performances. These discotecas do not begin until after 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. We went three nights in a row, and yes, I was tired, but they were a lot of fun. We didn't get back to our hotel until 5 or 6 in the morning just in time for breakfast at 8 a.m. I was dragging through our afternoon adventures, but I was only going to be there once. Plus, I got a chance to meet people from different countries. If you decide to visit Spain, you must visit Madrid. The cost to stay there is expensive, but it is definitely worth it.