My Adventures in Spain: La Fidelidad de mi Dios

God is so good. One of the worries that I had about this whole adventure of being in Spain was having friends. I didn't think I would have friends to do something special for my birthday since it is so soon after my arrival in Spain. But on September 14, 2019, I was reminded of God's great faithfulness.

Before we all went to sleep at the hostel, I took a shower. When I left the shower, all of the other girls were sitting on the couch and they started to sing, "Cumpleaños Feliz" to me. It startled me a bit at first and I was a little confused too because I thought it wasn't my birthday yet. When I had left the shower, it was 12:05 am on the 14th, so it actually was my birthday! I joked that I wasn't actually born until 6:00 pm. We laughed and I said thank you and told them how amazing they are.

We headed to the metro station to take the metro to a place where Maggie, one of our friends in our group, was going to meet one of her friends from Minnesota so that they could hang out. We also needed to find somewhere good to get breakfast.

We ended up eating breakfast at the metro station because it was like a mall! There were lots of stores and restaurants inside. I got a pork empanada and a strawberry banana smoothie at Juan Valdez Café. I loved that they had Latinamerican food because it's my favorite! It also reminds me of a time I went to a Colombian café in Orlando with my cousins, aunt, and uncle, and all the customers were watching soccer and cheering.

After Maggie left to hang out with her friend, we walked around and found a beautiful trail that led to a lookout point of Madrid. We could see the Royal Palace from there!

I love that hint of fall showing in the color of that tree in the center.

I sneaked a picture of this cute French Bulldog! I miss my Auggie Doggie...

The Royal Palace!

After being at the lookout point, we walked around at the Plaza Mayor but then decided to try to go to the Prado Museum because it was way too rainy to walk around and go in stores. My friends have to go to the museum for one of their classes. If you've been reading my blog, you know that I've already been there. I said I'd love to go with them because I love it! I think I could go again and again and again and it wouldn't get old. Even though it's already old... Get it? Because they're really old paintings?

I just need one of these fans and I'd be ready for our Flamenco class that starts this Tuesday. I can't dance... this is going to be... interesting.

We took the bus to the museum.

Then, we stood in a long line in the rain just to get our tickets. That's how popular and awesome the museum is. People wait even in the rain to see Spanish art of the 15th-18th century.

I love that there are different pictures on the tickets!

Then, I went to get a birthday treat at Starbucks. I expected that it would be free, but found that the Starbucks app doesn't work in Spain. A little disappointed, but I was also excited to have hot chocolate and a tasty ham and tomato sandwich in the chilly rain on my birthday and in Madrid.

We got tapas at Café y Tapas. I got a slice of Tortilla de Patatas on top of a piece of warm bread. It was a bit expensive, but it tasted amazing. My friends got a burger and patatas bravas. This is also where I cried because my sweet mama sent me a kind birthday message with a picture of little Sydney smiling. Plus, I had been thinking about how great today was and reading all the sweet birthday messages and it all overwhelmed me, how amazing my God is.

Once we got back to the hostel, I took a nap and FaceTimed my family. Meanwhile, my friends went out and got some fruit, chicken, and wine from some nearby markets.