Last day in Madrid

Oh, and Happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there. I forgot to wish the Canadians a Happy Canada day on the 1st. Sorry: Happy Canada Day.
We went to the Reina Sofia this morning, which is the modern art museum. It has Guernica, which I've previously mentioned. I knew it was a large painting, but I didn't realize just hwo large it was. It was huge: 11ft tall and 23ft wide. And it is very powerful. The pain that Picasso transmitted is palpable. I'm reading a book now by Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, which I'm not very far into, but enough. It's interesting, but I'll have to finish it before I give it a thumbs-up or not. Anyway, the narrator, Billy Pilgrim, tells his son to never take joy in a massacre, to never laugh at it. Today, looking at Guernica and all of Picasso's studies that he did painting the finish work (which the museum has a lot of) made me repulsed. On left side of the painting is a woman crying over her dead baby. I almost started to cry. I fought back the lump in my throat. It was much more moving than I expected it to be.

We spent the afternoon walking around the city's center. We went to the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, the city's cathedral--which is new and very cool and you can go on a guided tour if you call a phone number and listen to the tour guide via a ¡phone message!--and various other things.
Perhaps the niftiest thing of the day was when we bought the treats from the nuns. Now you may think, "Why on earth is that so nifty?" Easy, we never saw the nuns. We went to the door and pushed a button that was for "dulces" and patiently waited for the nuns to respond. Once she did, Clark said that he wanted to buy some dulces and she gave us directions (¡Torno! ¡y otra torno!) and opened the door. We walked in and made our way to the place where the candies and cookies are sold. There's a list by a Lazy Susan. You say hello and the nun talks from behind the wall. You'll never see her because part of their oath is to stay hidden or not show their faces or something. Anyway, Dad put the money on the Lazy Susan and the nun sent around the cookies and the change. It was great fun. Who knew that buying cookies could be such a trip. The nun was so cute, too. Very nice. Such a happy voice. I think that this could be a great thing for Gretchen. She could cook and study all day and she wouldn't have to see people. She'd have to become Catholic though...
All told, today was another great day.

Andy and foxyj: ahhh, the peruvian music. I'm glad that it brought back such great memories. it's really crazy. I hear the some stuff everywhere. It kills me when they dress like Sioux, though. And, yes, Emily, I'm hearing the same stuff that you heard in Peru, I'm sure. There's nothing like catering to Americans.

Thx for the heads-up about the yogurt, Sarah. I'll be leaving Europe in a couple of days, though, so if I become lactose intolerant, it'll be for my first bit in the States, so who cares? And, yes, the Azucarado is the best. But I really have an affinity for strawberry and straweberry-banana. Yum.

BYE!!