"Let's just get gelato for dinner"

Day 33
Sunday was our last full day in Spain and I fully intended to squeeze in every last thing that I needed to do. In the morning, we went to the Rastro, the huge, open air market downtown to buy some last minute souvenirs and see one more facet of Madrid. The Rastro was packed with both people and interesting things to be bought. I had already bought all of my souvenirs at this point so it was challenging to control myself and not buy anything. But I avoided the temptation and made it out of the Rastro with my wallet happy. After the Rastro we headed to Sol to grab lunch at a place called Cien Montaditos, a chain restaurant that offers one hundred varieties of small sandwiches. It's kind of like the Spanish equivalent of Jimmy John's but the sandwiches are three inches long and they're filled with Spanish tortillas (egg+potatoes) or chorizo (Spanish sausage in thin slices). One of my friends accidentally ordered the wrong sandwich and got stuck with an anchovy sandwich. I tried it, since apparently anchovies are a delicacy in Spain and because my dad told me to try anchovies while I was here, and it was interesting but I felt like I could have had a similar experience if I had taken the anchovies off and just poured straight salt on the bread. But now I can say that I have tried Spanish anchovies!

After lunch we stopped to buy some flowers for our señora as a thank you gift and headed back home to pack. I was hopping to pack quickly and leave the house to go visit the major park in Madrid one more time, Parque del Retiro, but it ended up taking me about an hour and a half to pack. So after packing I had a little time to take a breather in our apartment before we had to leave for the bullfight. The bullfight started at 7:00, which in America would be the point in the day when it starts to cool down and become comfortable. Not in Spain. So it was a little toasty at the bullfight but it didn't hamper the excitement of the show. At the fight, we saw six bulls, each lasting about 20 minutes. It was rather gruesome since every time, the bullfighter - el torero - kills the bull by stabbing him through the heart with his sword. But before the torero comes out, several others provoke the bull by placing smaller sharp objects in his back between his shoulder blades. It was very interesting to see this antiquated part of Spanish culture but it was shocking as well; it would never be publicly accepted in the States to brutally kill animals for entertainment. It's a testament to the duality of culture: some parts are beautiful and some parts are ugly and are hard to understand.

After the bullfight, we headed to Sol for the very last time to grab some dinner and our last gelato. It was a beautiful evening and I was grateful that the last bit of Spain I got to see was the very heart of the Madrid, a city that sits in the heart of Spain.

Day 34
Time to say goodbye. On Monday we all parted ways with Spain. After twenty or so hours of traveling, I made it back to Katy, finally back at home after an amazing month abroad. Now I'll make a new post for my overall thoughts!

Carrie