Epic Spain Trip, part deux! No wait, dos!

So, just as an aside-last week when I started trying to get caught up on my blog here-the internet went down mid-blog. So most of the week went by and we had no or very spotty internet. Hopefully that will not be the case and I can get caught up on the fun. :)

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Curtis got back from trying to find his wallet, after finding my cousin and we went to the Prado. Actually we were starving and got tapas first. If you're not in the know, tapas are sort of 'group snack' food that you can eat in various pubs/bars/restaurants all around Spain. It's sometimes plain sandwiches or other times just meat plates etc. They are usually quick and easy preparation and kind of lend themselves to sharing.

First place we went to, it was mid-afternoon and we had chorizo (which is not the same as Mexican chorizo), mushrooms, jamon (ham that is preserved by salting), calamari, and bread. We were then very full.

Curtis getting into the chorizo, delish! The calamari is under his hand, and also you see examples of 'water'-which comes in bottles instead of from the tap for some reason. Usually glass bottles too, not sure why.

Brynna enjoying her first tapas!

We headed to the Prado, this ridiculous art museum complex that would take days to properly enjoy and we had a few hours. This was really the only time I was feeling bad that we lost a day because of the blizzard in Denver. Good thing we discovered is that there's some pretty sweet discounts for students. Brynna got in free just by having a high school ID.

Streets of Madrid

Curtis really wanted to go see 'Guernica' by Picasso, which is a huge and very famous painting. It wasn't in the Prado, but at the nearby Reina Sofia museum. Another cool note, apparently if you go 'late' to a museum as we did for the Reina Sofia, there was a line but we all got in free! 

Waiting in line for the Reina Sofia museum, in front of the Royal Academy of Music in Madrid! :) Good vibes there for our musical girl!

Tired but having enjoyed gobs of art, we hustled back to the hotel, tried to make ourselves look less worn out and like we hadn't been awake forever, we then took a cab to a Flamenco dinner place. Our reservation was at 10:30 pm! Yes, in Spain they run on different hours!

And it rained while we were waiting, so we hid in a doorway. Apparently Spain received a lot of rain and snow this winter/spring, far more than normal. Which made for pretty greenery, but kind of a chilly night.

We went to the Corral De La Moreria, apparently a rather famous place (and expensive) where you first of all, pay just to get in (like Disney!), and then you're required to pay a minimum amount per plate/person-reminds me of comedy clubs.  So it ends up being pricey but it's really quite amazing and rather 'once in a lifetime' so we just enjoyed. And the food was FANTASTIC! and the dancing, AMAZING!

Prawns of some kind that were SUPER yummy! You can see Curtis' jamon-and amazing bread! This was while we were watching Flaminco dancers. Just super cool.

Jamon!! This stuff is everywhere and tastes a lot like prosciutto, but not quite. Yummier I'd say.

And something amazing we discovered at several places in Spain: Chocolate Coulant. I'm not sure where this comes from but it's like a mini chocolate cake/brownie/lava cake type deal and it's SO, so good!

I'm currently having technical difficulties putting up video-hopefully soon I will figure it out and I'll edit this blog so you can see this video I took at the Flamenco place. First off, the dancing on all levels was just beautiful, but the guy was absolutely a DIVA when it came to performance! I don't want to be all weird and politically correct/incorrect but just fyi, while the dancing is flamboyant and he was super diva, Flamenco is a decidedly "NOT gay" profession. It ranks up there with bullfighter in Spain. Ultimate in manliness as far as a career choice. And the guy we saw was so good! (He's also thin-I was thinking he has to burn like 8,000 calories a night!) Here's a picture:

The lead Flamenco woman and man who was just amazing! They were both incredible.

The bit I am hoping to have uploaded is a boy/girl dance and only about a minute of it, and it was incredibly romantic and shall we say...physically charged, but in this weird romantic, non physically touching way. Seriously, it left me (someone who is obviously long-winded) lost for words! Loved it! It was a great night and then we went back to the hotel and ZONKED!