Vivian in Europe: Vivian Goes to Madrid

On Tuesday, I flew to Barcelona and took a train to Madrid and spent a day here. When I landed in Barcelona, it was 60-70 degrees and it felt amazing. The best part was that I could see the sun. I hadn’t seen the sun for at least two weeks in Norway and the weather has been crap there. Needless to say, the weather was very refreshing… So I didn’t have that much time in Madrid since I had a catch a train back to Barcelona at 6:00 PM so I didn’t go to the Museo del Prado or Museo del Reina Sofia, which Madrid is very famous for. Instead, I just walked around the city and looked at the sites. Madrid is a beautiful city and has a lot of plazas and of course, churches. I would unknowingly go to Madrid on a holiday. They were celebrating some virgin so half of the city was closed, including the Royal Palace, which sucks because it’s free admission. The Madrid Cathedral is right next door to the Royal Palace and that’s where the festivities started. The cathedral is pretty nice but it’s not as spectacular as the ones in Italy. Interesting tidbit: despite the fact that Spain is a very Catholic country, they have one of the largest gay scenes in all of Europe. Unlike in America though, they just leave each other alone. Another interesting thing is that Madrid has a very high population of older people. In all of the places that I’ve been to, I’ve never seen so many. It was like being in a senior center. Overall, I think Madrid is a nice city but its location is not so great. If it wasn’t the capital, I doubt it would get as much tourism as it does. And six years spent learning Spanish got me no where in Madrid. I couldn't understand anyone or really communicate with other people since they hardly speak English. The only thing I was able to do was order french fries...