Day 24 - Not much!

Last night Hector brought home a new cat and he spent the night howling because he was in a strange place.  So, needless to say, I had about 2 hours of sleep and slept past the time to get up for school.  Also, Philip has caught a bug that gave him a 101° temperature yesterday.  It seems that these Americans haven't been exposed to the same bugs as the Spaniards have, as we both keep getting a bug here and there.

Being tired all day, I eventually got myself out of the apartment at noon to have "tortilla de patata".  Which, is not the same at all as what we, in America, think of tortillas.  As we've been influenced by Mexico and their definition of a tortilla is simply a flat corn bread used to encase some sort of beans or meat inside of (think Taco Bell!).  In España, tortilla is a basically an omelet.  "De patata" - which is the most common - is with potatoes and onions.  Since there is no real breakfast in Madrid, this has become my favorite breakfast meal (albeit at noon).  Hector says he's going to show me how to make it.  Apparently, the key has to do with the temperature of the oil.  I'll post a pic of my first attempt!

After eating tortilla, I came back home and played Facebook games as both Philip and I are both not feeling our best.  After a couple hours, however, I decided to get out and do some homework.  So, back to the English Pub I went and did 3 chapters of homework (along with some Cuban rum!).

On my way back home I strolled through Plaza de Mayor, which was the originally formed by two crossroads which evolved into a plaza/market unto itself.  It is a very historic site and a popular tourist stop.  Today, it's primarily a place where one can sit outside and have a drink and/or eat.

 There are many unique characters that parade around the plaza attempting to solicit some money from the tourists.  They are more odd than the "Naked Cowboy" in Times Square.  Here's one such oddity.









Here's a nice panoramic view of the entire plaza.

Tonight I'm going to make a Julia Child's recipe for dinner and introduce Hector to something different.  More later!