bloody day in madrid

was all set to follow the lonely planet´s walking tour when click click. my digital slr decided to flake on me. ERR ERR ERR flashed on the LCD. bloody hell. but it wasnt that bad. the photos i took over the first three days were still stored. it´s just that my camera´s punked. rushed back to the hostel to get my back-up camera instead. my not that reliably almost a toy camera lomo.

it was a great day and i nice walk around the city. it was quite nice walking around the beautiful quaint old cobbled streets brimming with character. it was a bit quiet coz most shops were closed because of a religious holiday but nevertheless you could sense the history and energy of the calles.

deciding to not go to the prado because im not one for waiting in long lines, i chanced upon a feria de libros along the street. book vendors were lined up and it was nice skimming through the books eventhough 99% of them i couldnt understand. didnt buy anything there but i ended up spending most of my alloted cash for the day buying souvenirs nearby. oh the joys of having 6 siblings.

after my shopping spree, i headed to the thyssen museum to see all sorts of big names in european art. picasso, pissarro, cezzane, degas, van gogh, miro, el greco, etc, etc. there were to much of them that it started to be a bit tiring. at least now, i can check off seeing works of great artists from my lifetime things to do.

the afternoon saw me awe-struck at the parque del buen retiro, the city´s main park. as i had walked by the main pond filled with people on rented boats, it was almost central park was all of a sudden a lame excuse for a city park. even the scorching heat was somewhat pleasurable as i lay on the grass next to sunbathing locals, or maybe tourists. prima. prima.

once i was done writing my postcards at the park, walked back home to grab a late afternoon lunch at a cerveceria at the plaza mayor. i was quite proud of myself as finally i was able to order food and ask for the check. note to self: bocadillo calameres is pronounced bocadiyo calamar, and cuenta cuesta is for asking for the check.

i headed to the plaza de las ventas to watch my first ever bull-fighting. it was an amazing colliseum. it was as though you´d expect some gladiators being put to the death. none of that happened though. but a total of 6 bulls did see their end. there were three toreros but one stood out. he had the cleanest kills as he was able to ram his sword straight into the 2 bulls he went against. and he was quite the showman as well as he swished his assistants away almost saying, i got this one, amigos. it was a bit odd of a sport or art as they consider it here i guess.

bueno, that´s it for an update for now. it´s son las once y medya now. and i still have a few hours here in the city to go around with before i fly to amsterdam. i can´t wait. hasta luego (although i still dont know how to pronounce that properly).