Today in class, we went to an art museum (Fundacion Lazaro Galdiano Museum) that was filled with hundreds of old artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and other forms of art. It was over-whelming how much this place had. I couldn't take photos inside this museum, but here is a photo of the cool little garden they had outside.
After class, I went skating around the city for awhile. At one point, close to Puerte del Sol, I saw a group of Africans all with their huge bags of discount sunglasses, soccer jerseys, and fake name brand purses. I don't know first-hand that the purses are fake, but that is just what I have heard. The whole group was walking across the street and I felt like I was in the filming of a movie scene. After the group had crossed the street, a number of cops began chasing after them, as they all split off into the crowds. It was an intense moment to say the least. It lasted only a few seconds, but I couldn't walk away after it happened. I just stood there for awhile trying to contemplate all that had just occurred. Afterwords, I did some shopping, some exploring, and even started on an assigned scavenger hunt. This is a photo of me with the lions outside of the Spanish Congress building.
I went a bit farther than I had gone in previous excursions, and found the Parque de Madrid.
This park is huge. From all that I saw (which wasn't even half of the park), it has a lot of walking trails, historical statues, places to relax, and even some famous and picturesque locations. This walkway was lined with statues each depicting historical Spaniards. I was kind of in a hurry to get home and this was my last stop before returning to my apartment, so I didn't do much more than walk through the park.
In the back of the park, there was this small lake with this cool structure that has been plastered on postcards to be sold in every souvenir shop within Madrid. I wasn't there long enough to make it over to the other side, but I did manage to take my own postcard photo.
Within the park, there was this incredible structure called the Palacio de Crystal. It was almost made entirely of glass.
After taking this photo, I began to make my way home. I had plans to hang out with my friend, Matteo, and go skateboarding. I met up with him and his friend Samuel (pronounced Samwell and not like the American name, Sam) at the Atocha Train station, and we headed towards a park outside of the city. This was the first time I had gotten on a train other than the metro and I became excited when we got inside this cool train station.
The skatepark was called Parque de Leganes. I never would have made it all the way out here without help from Matteo and I told him gracias probably 10 times or more. The locals were super good and I was definitely the only American there.
This kid had some exceptional talent. This back smith was pretty smooth.
It was incredibly hot and sunny, but thankfully I still had my 1 euro water bottle that I had purchased in a tienda de china, which translates to Chinese store. In the states, a water like this would cost 2 dollars or more, and surely, there would be some soda pop offered for less. Thankfully, Spain isn't as idiotic with their water prices.
Samuel doesn't speak that much English, but Matteo is basically fluent because of his time that he spent in Tennessee. The whole time we were skating, Samuel and I would try to use our second languages. It was basically a skate session and an inter-cambio at the same time. What a great opportunity to practice my Spanish, right?
We were there for quite awhile. By the time we left, the lights came on and the park cleared out. We all put in a few last tricks and then headed back towards the train station. I was tired, hungry, and sore, but the skate park was more than worth all of this. This park reminded me a little bit of Potrero Skatepark in San Francisco (mostly because of the graffiti). In total, we were at the skate park for over 4 hours.
Sitting in my bed tonight has been rough. It has been hard not to shut off this computer, quit reading my homework, and fall asleep, but I have to finish my homework and I felt like this day was worth sharing with you all.
I was extremely grateful for my new friends (Matteo and Samuel) for showing me a local skate park. I never would have had the confidence to try and find this skate park if it wasn't for them.
Thanks for reading,
RCE
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