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| All of the events in the Plaza Mayor to celebrate San Isidro |
May 15 is San Isidro Day—the feast day of the patron saint
of Madrid. All over town, people dress up as chulapos and chulapas--the traditional dress for celebration. Men
wear a vest with a newsboy cap, and women wear a polka-dot dress with a flounce
on the hem, wrap a scarf around their hair, and adorn it with a red flower. All of the little children dressed up looked
so adorable! Raquel showed me a picture
of her grandson Nico in his chulapo outfit dancing with a little girl in her
chulapa costume at his day care. It was
the cutest thing!
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| Plaza Mayor |
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| A chulapa outfit |
We didn’t have normal classes since the institute was closed due to the holiday. Instead, Professor Ignacio gave us a tour of Madrid. We began in the Plaza Mayor and saw the Puerta del Sol, Paseo del Prado and lots of fountains. Apparently, when the soccer team here wins a game, they swim in these fountains that are in the middle of the street…it sounds crazy! We also got to go to the rooftop of a theater, Circulo de Bellas Artes. It had a beautiful view of the city. We walked down Gran Vía—a street with great shopping—and later passed the Palacio Real and the Catedral de Madrid. It was a lot of information for one tour, and afterwards everyone was very tired and hungry!
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| This isn't actually a museum...it's a restaurant/deli that serves lots and lots of this Spanish specialty! |
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| The Neptune Fountain--when the soccer team wins, people gather here to celebrate, and the soccer players supposedly swim in the fountain! |
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| A view of the city from a rooftop terrace |
When Eva
and I arrived back at the apartment, Raquel prepared our lunch—albondigas,
pasta, and salad. Since we finished the
box of Fannie May chocolates that I brought as her gift yesterday, we opened the box of
Frango mints and looked through the photo book of Chicago that Eva
brought. It was fun telling Raquel all
about Chicago and interesting to hear her opinions of it.
At night,
we went to see La Casa de Bernarda Alba. I really enjoyed seeing this particular play
since I studied it in my Spanish class last semester. I felt very proud of myself for being able to
follow along with all of the dialogue!
Afterwards, a few of us went out for dinner and shared some tapas! We celebrated like true madrileñas!
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