Argumosa : One Last Hurrah

Since it's our last week in Madrid (whaaaaat) we have been checking a lot of last minute things of our list of things we have been wanting to do. On Monday night we went to Botín, which is the oldest restaurant in the world. It was Ernest Hemingway's favorite restaurant so that's pretty cool! They are known for their suckling pig, and enough people at our table ordered it so they brought out an entire pig to our table. I'm talking snout, hooves, and all! It was delicious, but Caroline and I definitely made the right decision by ordering the filet! Oh man it was good, we missed that kind of meat! Manuela only really cooks chicken, grilled turkey, or fish which we love, but a big steak was a nice change of pace. We loved everything about Botín.

Benjamin and Juan's host mother, Lupe, has been dying for Benjamin's "novia" to come over for dinner so we went on Tuesday night! We have heard all about Lupe this trip: about her sass and her spunk, her funny stories, and her awesome cooking. She cooked paella for us, which a a typical Spanish dish with rice and seafood. It was incredible. Lupe was proud of it too because she made us take pictures of it when she brought it out. Lupe was so hospitable and talked a mile a minute. We laughed A LOT and barely ever got a word in with her. She was exactly how they had described her, we absolutely loved her! We tried to think of someone to compare her to, but she is just one of a kind.

Wednesday we finally rowed the boats in the lake at Retiro. We see people rowing every day when we walk to class and thought it would be a piece of cake. Let me tell you, it is not as easy as it looks. We were like Lucy and Ethel when we first started, but we eventually got the hang of it! Last night we finally got to see our first Madrid Sunset. We are usually eating dinner when the sun sets aka 9:30. We went to an Egyptian Temple that looks out over the whole city to watch it. It was beautiful.

Today we went to Palacio Real or the Royal Palace. The best word to describe it is extravagant. It was unbelievable Every room was so elegant and had the most beautiful chandeliers. Caroline and I decided we want to live there. We explored this hip neighborhood later this afternoon and went to the cutest little vintage cafe called Lolina. We did a little bit of studying for our final tomorrow there. Caroline and I have been craving Mexican food (and lots of other things from America). We finally got our fix and had some guacamole and chips today, PTL! We only have 2 more full days in Madrid then it's back to the US of A for these chicas.

See ya Sunday America!!

F & C