Sheep!

Today was the annual day when the shepards bring their herds through the city across Calle Mayor. But for some reason other groups of people from around Spain walk behind them making it a weird cultural parade. One group was of African people holding signs saying "Camels are our livelihood". We weren't really sure if they were really from Spain. But check out the shoes on some of the shepards! They're kind of like those lawn irrigation sandals mom found.

Around the City

I was walking around Chueca with some friends and we found two really interesting buildings. The first is boarded up now but the roof is lined with penguins holding what look like beers. It makes you wonder what this used to be. The other building looked like it was sculpted to be part of a garden. It was built in 1902 as the home of a banker and is now the Society of Authors and Editors of Madrid.

Retiro Park

I went back to Retiro Park because supposedly its at its best Sunday mornings. In general, the parks of Madrid are more like gardens than parks in New York. Everything is pristine and manicured and green. I went there to meet up with some friends and we actually ran into two other students from our group along the way. And last night Lucia and I ran into our professor Alex in the street. I guess this is the difference between 3 and 9 million people.