food and restaurants - Spain

Mmmmmm tapas in Spain! Although - I don't know how I would cope with tapas all the time. The tapas I ate while in Spain were mostly fried goodness.

I love the decorated front to this restaurant:

Mmmmmm my delicious gyro from an international fair going on in a park:

Fish in a garlic sauce!

Best tapa I ate while in Spain - fried goat cheese "with tomatoes," which hilariously showed up as ketchup...

This sign made me laugh... which one isn't like the others?

 pizza, pasta, ...burritos??

In the land of fancy Starbucks...

...and fancy fast food    : P

it's a small world sometimes...

It really is a small world sometimes... and this showed a number of times while I was recently in Spain.

The Librarian working at the American School of Madrid, whom I met with last week to learn about a resource... she moved from Denver, Colorado when she moved abroad (me too!).

She also went to the University of Denver for her Masters in Library and Information Science (me too!).

A high school science teacher that taught at the same school as I did in Vietnam (we began together and both left after our two year contract was completed)... now works at the American School of Madrid. I grabbed a ride to school with her in the morning and we were able to catch up a bit.

A teacher from my current school called me early Monday morning to see if I could cover his after school club, as he was not able to make it to school at the last-minute... I told him that I would have but was in Madrid... he then said that he knows someone there...

...turns out the guy he knows used to work at our school in Milan ...and has now been teaching at the American School of Madrid for a number of years ...he put the two of us in touch and I met up with him and some of his friends that evening in the city!

Finally... during my visit at the American School of Madrid, I was having lunch with some of the teachers. Turns out that the guy sitting next to me grew up just north of the city of Denver... having gone to elementary school where I began my teaching career!!!! He went to Leroy Drive Elementary in Northglenn, Colorado. No way!

Crazy, small world sometimes. Wow.   : )

Madrid's city buildings

Madrid's city buildings are gorgeous. I really enjoyed the architecture of this city.

Look at those entrances!!

The next three photos were all taken on Gran Via - the main road of the city... and where my hotel was located!

Well, I've never seen THREE palaces within on plaza... but this is the case in Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid. Amazing. The palace shown in the photo below is the most impressive of the three (in my opinion)... and, funny enough, this building apparently started out as the postal service's headquarters! This palace is Cybele Palace but used to be known as The Palace of Communications (Comunicaciones) until 2011.

A view back towards Gran Via (as I am heading to Retiro Park)... and Linares Palace can be seen on the left (...this plaza's second palace of three... crazy).

walking around Madrid, Spain

More photos from lovely Madrid... I was lucky (again!) with the weather. The next day rained the entiiiiire day... but it didn't really matter since I was visiting the American School of Madrid all day anyway. When it was nice outside and I had free time, I really enjoyed walking around the city...

"All you need is coffee."

The cutest hopscotching twins I've ever seen   : )

This is the Alcala Gate... or... Puerta de Alcala...

This monument is in Independence Square and just in front of Retiro Park.

I walked around Parque del Retiro - a HUGE park within the city.

Many people were walking, running, skating, and even rowing... it really was a gorgeous day to enjoy a city park. In the background of the photo below is the Monument to Alfonso XII, who was King of Spain for over a decade in the late 1800's.

This man was making beautiful music in the park. Very talented!

I gladly gave him some coins and he allowed me to take his photo:

EVERY library should have an entrance this beautifully grand!

Biblioteca Nacional de Espana - the National Library of Spain:

(and Yes, I went out of my way to find the national library)    : ) 

Soaking up the sunshine...

A painted building in Plaza Mayor...

Another view of Plaza Mayor...

Family of skeletons on the street...

arriving in MADRID, SPAIN

After the MAIS Conference in Seville, I took the lovely Ave train to Madrid. (Seriously, the train was beautiful and I wish there could be that much room and cleanliness on planes!)

The trip to Madrid was actually the main reason I even went to the conference in Seville. I was going to meet with the Librarian at the American School of Madrid and spend a day with her at school, learning about a new (well, for me - new) resource: LibGuides.

I arrived to the hostel early afternoon and was happy to find that, like the website said, it was right on the main street of the city - Gran Via. After dropping my things in the room, I went for a walk... my goal was to find the palace and the cathedral - thankfully, the walk was successful!

The Plaza de Espana was the first major 'site' I saw beyond Gran Via's shops and restaurants.

The main monument within the plaza is of Miguel de Cervantes - a novelist, poet, and playwright, alive during the mid-1500's to early 1600's. 

I walked through the Sabotini Gardens on my way to the palace and cathedral.

Below is the view of the palace from these gardens (...probably considered the 'back' of the palace):

Sunday Palace Posing:

The front of the Royal Palace / Il Palacio Real de Madrid

The cathedral is just to the left when looking at the photo below. I was there on a Sunday and it was a city holiday... something big was going on with the flower donations ahead...

The top of the Almudena Cathedral (which sits facing the royal palace):