Day 48-Madrid=Mul-hocks, Adultery, Dancing flamenco, Ridiculous hair, Ice cream, Dinero

From the train station, we took the metro, and one of the first things we noticed was the awful hair. The suck-cut from Wayne´s World definitely comes to mind. They add stands of faded pink or electric blue in random places, most likely to complement the outfits that the fashion police must have given up on trying to outlaw.
We arrived to our hostel and had our free breakfast, and were joined by Asli a short time later. We decided to head out and have really learned that traveling in the early morning/arriving in the daytime is the best way to go.
Our hostel was right by the Puerto del Sol, and we walked there within minutes, from there we headed to the large Plaza Mayor, which was partially built by the Habsburgs of Vienna. It´s funny how often you hear certain families´ names in Europe, the Habsburgs and the Medici being two that I´ve heard the most. Hannah wanted to go her own way and shop, so Asli and I spent the day exploring the Real Palacio (Royal Palace) and several coffee shops, where I opted for tea, though they definitely haven´t mastered it in Spain. We kind of let ourselves get lost, eating ice cream twice during the day and wandering the people and street performer cluttered streets. One of the street performers, dressed as an all-silver cowboy, caught a large crowd´s attention and was able to hold it with his chirping and whistling. When Asli gave him some change (basically so that she could walk to the front of the crowd...oh my little attention loving Turk!), he twirled her around and asked for a kiss on the cheek, at which point he turned his head and caught her-silver lips and all- on the lips. The crowd loved it and we had a good laugh for the next few minutes as we continued on.
We met up with Hannah at the Plaza again around 6 and had dinner (quesadillas) at a really cool bar-restaurant with swings at the bar instead of bar stools...that´s my kind of place! We wandered around and found a park where there was a drum circle thing going on, but left shortly after. We found a coffee shop, then headed back to the hostel.
The next day, we had more of an itinerary, and saw the Plaza de Espana, and the Egyptian temple in a nice park that overlooked the whole city. As Hannah put it later that night: "If I were to analyze Madrid as a painting, I´d say it has no focal point," which is about as accuarate a statement as could be made about the city, both from the view and walking around during our explorations. In the park, Hannah painted while Asli and I played in the "3-12 anos" area on the swings and other fun contraptions, then we parted ways while Hannah continued her work and Asli and I went back for round two of "bakery" for her (Belgin´s not going to like hearing about all this sugar intake!). Madrid is significantly cheaper than other cities we´ve been to recently (ie. Paris), so it´s hard not to get too excited about it.
The two of us wandered through a boutique-y district and eventually back to the hostel. I was in a weird state all day, just kind of out of it, and ended up passing out for a few hours there. I awoke to the guitar and stomping of Flamenco, and ran downstairs to find myself an hour late for the lesson in which Asli was participating in along with two other girls. I joined in, having not practiced a single step, and still completed my solo performance with the attitude that is so fully Flamenco. It was a ton of fun, and we were cheered on by a rowdy group of Danish high school kids, there for studies.
Before we headed to bed, I asked Asli to accompany me outside so that I could get a picture of the prostitutes that lined the streets. I took it as subtly as possible before scurrying inside the refuge of the hostel. We went to bed with plans of getting up early enough for the start of breakfast and a morning train to Sevilla.