Gran Via

Gran Via is one of the most important streets in the city. Here you can find most of the city's theaters, cinemas and other cultural venues. At Gran Via you can also find lots of high-end stores, restaurants and Starbucks (of course).

McDonald's, Burger King and KFC are the other American notables. Gran Via is always busy...according to some Madrilenos Gran Via is like a small version of NYC's Fifth Avenue. Never been to NYC but Gran Via is a very cool place. Not to mention the impressive architecture of most buildings along the street.

Royal Palace

Welcome to The Royal Palace!!!

The Royal Palace or Palacio Real was built to replace Alcazar, the old palace, which was burned down in 1734.

The palace is the largest in all of Western Europe, with a total of 135,000 m². The shell took 26 years to build and the decoration of its 2000 rooms with a vast collection of porcelain, tapestries, furniture and art dragged on for over a century. King Juan Carlos and his family do not live in this palace, they live in the Palacio de la Zarzuela, on the outskirts of Madrid. However, the Royal Palace is used for state occasions.

First day in Madrid

These are pictures from our first day in Madrid. I forgot to post them earlier. Here I am with Carlos Briz, our friend who picked us up at Barajas airport. He showed part of the city and then we went to his home and a shopping mall close to his home.

Here we at an American-style shopping mall at Las Rozas.

And then, we had dinner with Carlos' parents, Julian and Isabel who happen to be our advisors at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM). In the picture from left to right; Carlos, me, Julian and Paul.

GAMEDAY Europe Style II: Gators vs LSU

Since Dubliner's satellite provider wouldn't broadcast the Gator game this week (NASN decided to show MLB playoffs instead), we decided to watch the game at home in-demand pay per view through www.CSTV.com . We watched the entire first half, but then the router overheated and the connection went down.

Paul was trying to work some Harry Potter magic to reestablish the connection. And he did! But it is top secret; if you ever have a router not responding call us, we won't charge much ;) !

Anyways, the connection was reestablished few minutes into the fourth quarter. The Gators were AWESOME. Sometimes I want to go back to Gainesville, to watch our GATORS WIN! GO GATORS!!! KEEP WINNING!!! We'll keep watching any way possible!

Watching Real Madrid at the SB

At the Santiago Bernabeu. We went to The Stadium to watch Real Madrid play against Dynamo Kiev from Ukraine, for the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid won 5-1 in a great game for Raul. "Ronaldo, you're fat but we love you" read a banner at the stadium!

The game was at 8:45 pm local time. But we bought the tickets early afternoon. 20 Euros was the cheapest ticket to the game. We bought them and we walked around the stadium.

GAMEDAY Europe Style I: Gators vs Alabama

Gator GameDay Europe Style! Dubliner's Pub. We watched the Alabama game at this Irish pub! Go GATORS!!!

On our way back home after watching the Gators beat Alabama!

Urban Meyer during the Alabama game!

Sabatini Gardens at the Royal Palace

Francisco Sabatini was an Italian architect and advisor to King Carlos III of Spain. Sabatini is credited with (amongst other projects) the Puerta de Alcala and finishing the construction of the Royal Palace. As the favorite architect of King Carlos III (the Spanish king who was most active in making Madrid a monumental city), he was also assigned the task of restoring and beautifying much of the city.

These gardens were not designed by Sabatini himself (obviously not since they were constructed in 1933 and Sabatini lived in the mid 18th century) but instead were laid out in the exact location of the now disappeared Royal Stables designed by Sabatini in the late 18th century. A symetrical geometric shape gives the gardens an ever so tranquil aspect and they seem to be almost a natural extension of the Palace itself.

The gardens of the Royal Palace (Jardines de Sabatin & Campo del Moro) were open to the general public by King Juna Carlos I in 1978 and today the Sabatini Gardens are a mellow place adorned with statues, fountains and shrubs.

Info courtesy: www.multimadrid.com