Madrid: Day 4 and day 5 in pictures

Day 4 was the busiest day in our schedule with 6 hours of lecture and followed by a farewell dinner in the evening. We did have some time in the evening when we hopped onto the subways and went walking on the streets of Madrid, well the modern part of Madrid.

Those leaning towers are the symbol of modern Madrid!

But my favorite part was walking on the streets near by the place were we lived, the historical Madrid. The evening was kind of musical with a lot of street shows. It was fun listening to them especially with them playing quality music. Like this group that was playing Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. I never expected a street show would produce such nice music.

 

And this group, I didn’t know what they were singing but the crowd pretty much enjoyed it.

Then that night we had a farewell dinner, hosted by our coordinators. It was a typical Spanish dinner which starts with wine and starters like Tapas. Then for main course we had authentic Spanish dish called Paella. It is like a Spanish version of Biryani, with rice and lots of sea food (Prawns, squid, crab, octopus etc.) in it. It is served with the ‘kadai’ in which it is cooked and while eating we are supposed to start eating with those parts that are like stuck to the ‘kadai’, that is at the bottom.

It seems like without serving hot chocolate, it is never a Spanish dinner. Our desert was fruits with hot chocolate. We have to dip the fruits in chocolate and eat them.

And yesterday was St. Patrick's day, an Irish festival known as drinking holiday. The story goes that, on this day St. Patrick (father of Jesus) drove away all the snakes from Ireland. So, we went to Irish bar again.

On day 5, we went to the old capital of Spain, a town called Toledo. It was a beautiful place to visit and one can cover this place in like a day by walk. Although this town is like a museum of museums, our trip was more of a discovery. Alex and I, walked our way through the old city and discovered some Jewish connection, Arabic or Islamic connection and the Christianity’s influence on this town. The best thing about this town is that the government did not allow this town to be destroyed or any new constructions in this town. It seems like walking in a different era when we stroll through the streets.

It was very scenic as well.

Lastly, we travelled to this place by high speed train.

I think that picture with the train that is popular across Europe with lush green grass on one side captures pretty much of being in Europe! And with this I’m concluding my trip.