First Official Visitors!

This past weekend, my friends in Florence came and visited me after I visited them the previous weekend. I gave them the typical walking route tour of basically all the famous hotspots in Madrid for example, Retiro Park (rowed boats), Banco de España, Puerta de Sol, Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel, Palacio Real, Catedral, Templo Debod and other places as well. One surprise for me was the wall of flowers in honor of the Virgin Mary. I'm not quite sure of the full meaning but it was quite the site. There is always something new going on in Madrid which is one of things I love most about living here. You never know what you're going to find around the corner! We made extremely good timing considering we did all of this plus lunch in the middle in just a little over half a day.  We ate lunch at 100 Montanditos which is easily the cheapest place to eat any meal in Madrid. These franchises are located EVERYWHERE and their 100 variety small sandwiches do not exceed 3 euros in price. That night my señora cooked a HUGE delicious dinner for everyone and set up the table in a fancy manner with her crystal wine glasses and china plates. My friends were all extremely impressed with her performance and the food. Once again it was a meal that I had never had before since she never repeats a meal twice (unless my roommate and I really like a meal and ask her to do so!).  As far as nightlife goes, Zach and I tried to take them all to Teatro Kapital (7 stories high club in Madrid) but we got there too late. The line was so long and if you get in before 1am you do not have to pay. Since we clearly were not making it in by 1am we left and went and did some other fun spontaneous activities! They had chocolate and churros for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed them. The next day was shopping day for them!! In Italy the clothing is apparently so much more expensive so Mary, Alex and Lucia went crazy shopping because Spain clothing is the cheapest I’ve actually seen in all of Europe so far. I bought one shirt and a few little gifts but nothing like they did. My favorite store is Lefties. Frankly, I could buy the entire store. Good thing my parents are coming this weekend which will enable me to deposit a lot of my clothes in their suitcases instead of mine! But actually I do not have that many clothes. Rather, I have very little compared to almost everyone else abroad. If you want me to get you something from Spain let me know!!! I do not mind it at all!