Wow. Madrid. What a truly interesting place. In my honest opinion. I truly believe, that Madrid is copy and past New York City, but in Spanish. I would have never thought that I could go to a city across the world, and literally feel like I was in NYC. From the huge billboards and the large amount of foot traffic, Madrid really made me feel like I was in New York City. However, when you go outside of the downtown area, then you start to feel a little different. I’ll be honest again, I didn’t like the downtown area all that much. However, once I got out and about I really did like it. Something I’ll never forget is our tour guide. He had such amazing energy and he made the tour so much fun. Getting to see the palace was marvelous. Let me just say… it. is. HUUUGGEEEE! I have never seen a building like it. I felt so lucky to be able to be there and see such an influential place.
I also want to say that Madrid allowed me to have, as I’ve been saying, an artistic awakening. We went to the Prado museum. I’ve never been a big art guy, I never understood it. But going to the Prado museum really changed that. I could stand in front of one of those paintings for hours and never get bored. It was so incredibly interesting. Something our guide said that has stuck with me is that “Art doesn’t exist without an audience, without a viewer”. This one sentence blew me away. Because it’s true, it doesn’t exist if there’s no one to see it. And since my entire career is centered around having other people see me, it really hit home for me. I really did love the Prado museum and I’m really hoping I’ll get to go back someday.