First, a disclaimer: I do NOT condone bullfighting. It's cruel and more than a little gruesome. Looking over these photographs, I cannot help but remember how beautiful and magnificent those bulls were in life, and how sad that all of them were in fact killed during the course of these photos. It was painful to watch, but a cultural experience none-the-less. The tickets were a gift from a wonderful student of mine who is an enthusiast about not only bullfighting but everything Spanish and my flatmate accompanied me and gave wonderfully detailed commentaries.

The best part of the whole event for me was the old man next to me who kept yelling creative profanities (in Spanish).

Thank you, Fernando for giving me this experience, which is an integral part of Madrid, which you love.