Madrid!
Day 1- Well, after successfully navigating Madrid’s metro,
we successfully made it to our hostel and they were even nice enough to put us
in the same room. It was a very early morning and traveling was wearing on us,
we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and catching up in our room. We
headed out in the early evening to find some food and took a walk along the
Gran Via- one of the main streets. We stopped for pizza, had some frozen yogurt
and did a little window shopping. But soon enough the cold wind and the
exhaustion sent us back to our hostel and to our warm beds.
Day 2- The sun was shining today and the sky was nice and
clear. After a breakfast in our hostel we headed out to discover Madrid. We
began our adventure at the Reina Sofia museum and saw many works by Picasso,
Dali and several other famous artists. After a couple of hours of wandering
around there, we made our way to the Realto Park. It was beautiful. The
temperature was perfect, you could smell the flowers, there was green grass.
Along one of the main paths, there were venders set up selling old books,
around one of the statues people were showing off their rollerblading. Within
the park there were various statues, building and memorials we stopped at. My
favorite by far was the glass castle situated right off of a pond the middle of
the park. It is a building consisting basically of only windows, with the goal
to interconnect the natural and the artificial as much as possible. Outside of
another one of the memorials there was a large pond, with tons people riding
around in blue rowboats- completely picturesque.
After we made our way out of the park, we stopped for
something quick to eat then made our way to the Prada museum. Being a student
is great, especially when it means free entry to most of the attractions. We
spent time looking around the museum, got a lost a few times, but eventually
found our way out. We were exhausted by this point and decided to head back to
our hostel for a late siesta time. Later we headed out for a nice supper, and
we ended up stopping at a 50’s style dinner. Abbie and I were both really craving
some good hamburgers and couldn’t pass up the chance to have a shake. We were
seated and ordered and ate all our heart’s desire. About half way through the
meal, our waiter came up to our table, bring us some more drinks and then asked
me if I had ever been told I look like Hillary Duff. I laughed and said I never
had, but thanks. About ten minutes later he came back and asked if I knew any
of Hillary Duff’s songs. Again, I laughed and said I didn’t think I did. He
started singing some different ones of her songs to me and I just kept
laughing. I said I might know something from “The Lizze Mcquire Movie” and he
begged me to sing a song with him, saying “I know I’m never going to meet
Hillary Duff, so this is the closest I’ll ever come.” So although I am lacking
all musical talent, I sung a few stanzas of ‘This is What Dreams Are Made Off’
with him. Later as he was bringing our bill over, he again had another song for
us to sing together. But again I had no idea what the song was. Mainly I was
amazed at how many songs he knew from Hillary Duff! I left the restaurant
feeling like a star J
Day 3- Unfortunately today was a very wet, cold and rainy
day, but fortunately, as it’s been a few months since we’ve seen the rain
instead of snow, both Abbie and I welcomed the rain. After breakfast we made
our way to the opposite side of the city today. We first stopped at the Temple
of Debod, which is an old Egyptian temple, given to Spain in the 60’s as a
thank-you for help they provided Egypt. The building inside was covered with
many hieroglyphics which was really interesting to see in the middle of Madrid,
Spain.
We then made our way through a park to the Palace. The line
to get inside was horrendous and we didn’t feel like waiting a couple of hours
in the rain. So instead we made our way next door to a couple of the Cathedrals
and walked inside them. Absolutely beautiful. I have never seen a church with
so many bright colors compared to the two we went into.
We gradually made our way back to the hostel and took a
quick shower. We didn’t want to spend the rest of the afternoon hidden away in
our hostel, so instead we decided to go café hopping. At around 6 o’clock we
made our way back to the hostel and I got information about the Semana Santa
(Holy Week) processions that would be happening tonight in honor of Good
Friday. Starting at 7 p.m. and then a few more at 7.30, about 6 different
processions would be going around the city. About 4 of them were going to be
headed straight through the Plaza Mayor. I was beyond excited for this! I
learned about these celebrations during high school and I was dying to see
them! We made our way to the Plaza, found a great spot, and waited. And
waited….and waited….We sat in the rain for about an hour waiting for the
processions, which never came. I was so upset and sad that I somehow missed
them. It was so disappointing. Abbie was a trooper though and sat through the
rain with me waiting for something that she knew nothing about and tried to
cheer me up. So we stopped back at the hotel, I did a little research and I am
hoping to see one of the processions tomorrow.
We then made our way back out on the streets and stopped at
a restaurant not too far off from our hostel called La Tía Cebolla or ‘Aunt
Onion’. It was probably the greatest and cheapest restaurant we’ve been to yet.
The waiters were hilarious and our food was delicious. We had paella and
sangrias, and the waiters even threw in a couple of free drinks too which made
it even better. Right as we were getting our check I quick ran downstairs to
use the bathroom. Everything was going fine and dandy, I took care of my
business, flushed and was headed out to wash my hands so we could be on our
way…But how wrong I was. I turned the lock on the handle, twisted the knob, and
pulled, but the door wouldn’t open… Ladies and gentlemen, I was literally stuck
in the bathroom. I pulled on the door, pushed the door, pounded on the door,
but it was not opening. For about 10 minutes I sat there using my whole effort
trying to get out of this tiny, gross, bathroom under a noisy Spanish pub. I
felt like I was in the beginning of some horror film or I was about to get
‘taken’ or left to die or something like that. I had just about given up when I
heard a woman on the other side, speaking to me in Spanish. Having absolutely
no idea what she was saying I just kept repeating ‘Ayúdame! I’m stuck!’ (Help
me! I’m stuck!). She said something else in Spanish and I sat there praying she
had said something about getting me help. Another 30 seconds later, one of our
servers came crashing through the door and freed me! I was so happy and
embarrassed and relieved, I’ll I kept saying was gracias over and over. I made
my way back up to a very concerned Abbie and had to explain what happened. At
that point in time, I was laughing so hard, I could barely explain it all.
After we paid and laughed a little more, we made our way to
a restaurant called Villa Rosa, where we were going to see a late night flamenco
show. For about 22 euro, we got a drink and ended up with front row seats to an
hour long live flamenco show. It was amazing. The way they could sing and move
their feet was unbelievable. I snuck a video of it (I think you can hear me
getting yelled at the end of the video), so enjoy J
That lasted pretty late so we made our way back to the
hostel and slept well.
Day 4- Today was a very lazy and relaxing day. After
breakfast, we went back up to our room to relax for most part of the morning.
In the afternoon, we made our way out and wandered around the streets, stopping
in a bakery for lunch and a grocery store to pick up breakfast for tomorrow,
among many other stores as well. Later, we made our way to a park and spent a
good portion of time sitting in the grass soaking up as much sunshine we could
get.
We then wandered towards the main plaza and unsuccessfully
waited for another Semana Santa procession that again never came. So we found
our way to Puerta del Sol and got some gelato and did a little people watching.
The square is full of people dressed in costumes trying to take your picture with
them and then ask for money for it. Mostly they pick on little kids and then
make their parents fork up the cash.
We headed back to the hostel to pack up and finishing
organizing everything for our early departure tomorrow and then found a really delicious
restaurant for supper. Soon enough though it was time for bed and adios Spain
and hello Portugal!
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