Madrid, Spain (video)

Our next stop was Madrid, Spain. Rather than doing one of the standard tours, we just got a transit pass and wandered through the city at our own pace. We were nervous because the weather forecast called for rain the whole weekend, but we ended up having clear skies most the time. Although Madrid does have its share of history and culture, it felt much more like a city focused on business and government than tourism. I guess that's to be expected, being the capital.

The video below includes some highlights from the Royal Palace, the disappointing radio tower, and a relaxing day in the park. We also got to pop in at a sacrament meeting on Sunday, though we didn't stay for the whole thing as everything was in Spanish. I took a few years of Spanish in high school, but I only remember bits and pieces. It was enough to ask for directions or order food, but there was usually enough people close by that spoke English, too.

One of the most exciting things we saw in Madrid was a Flamenco show. I gained a great appreciation for choreographed dance performances while I was at BYU, including the International Folk Dance Team. This kind of took it to another level actually being there in Spain, watching performers that have studied and practiced that style of dance their whole lives. Brittany was so excited as we were leaving she said she was going to take a Flamenco class when we get back home. Whether or not she goes for it, at least we got her some castanets that she can practice with.

Brittany has always talked about how she wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil show, and I finally got the right opportunity to take her to one in Madrid. I had seen three different Cirque du Soleil shows before--all associated with KPMG events. I have always been fascinated with their shows since we did a case study on their strategic business model in one of my BYU classes. The Madrid show we saw--Corteo--was probably the most traditional circus I've seen them put on. It was still very entertaining and had some pretty exciting acts. We had a minor ordeal trying to find it in the first place, because we kept asking for Cirque du Soleil, and people just gave us confused looks. Later on, we discovered that they call it Circo del Sol in Spain. I still have a hard time understanding why people wouldn't have been able to pick up on that, but whatever. The show was worth the search!