snow in spain

I met up with Katie and Lexy in Madrid this weekend. Usually (the previous two times I'd been to Spain!) a lot of the point of going to Spain in the winter is that it's warmer that Germany. This was not so much the case in Madrid! There was snow. Snow! And lots of it!

Madrid, however, was excellent. I geeked out intensely at the Prado (every. Spanish. painting. I. had. ever. studied! except for Guernica! but then we went to the Reina Sofia and I saw it, too.) and met up with my coworker's son's friend's sister for coffee and ate my way through half of Madrid before Katie and Lexy arrived and we tapa-hopped our way through the other half. Particular highlights of the tapa tour included Basque cuisine, in particular the bomba. This is a bomba, on the right.



Basically it is a huge fried delicious version of shepherd's pie, with gravy. We decided that Basque food is an all-around winner. We also liked El Brillante, near the Atocha train station.




El Brillante might not look like much from the outside, and it violates every single bit of Katie and Lexy's rule about not going to places that advertise using pictures of their food, but it came highly recommended by my German guidebook, and with good reason. The calamari sandwich (bocadillo de calamares) was completely delicious enough to be deserving of the restaurant's self-bestowed title "best in Madrid."

Being in Spain again made it very evident just how bad my Spanish has gotten (not that it was ever particularly great), and also made me really want to improve it. So! New Year's Resolution número uno: better Spanish.