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Published: April 23rd 2009
Hola amigos!
So the story continues in Madrid, Spain.
April 10
We arrived all safe and sound to the Madrid airport where we then hopped on the metro towards downtown. Madrid's metro system is the coolest of all the metros I've been on. It's only 2 euros to get to and from the airport and it's only 1 euro for every trip, where as Nantes, Brussels, Paris etc are at least 1 euro 30 cents. The Madrid metro is a lot newer and cleaner too. Anyways, we followed all the directions to our metro stop by the hostel, Plaza de Santo Domingo and the hostel was literally right outside the metro stop. I love it when that happens.
As luck would not have it, we stepped out of the underground into really cold and windy weather conditions. (And it is at this point in the game where I say weather.com cannot successfully predict the weather, it predicted completely different conditions for all my stops.) It was then that I realized why this girl was looking at my sundress and flip flops in a funny way while on the metro...So we went up to the hostel, Bull's Hostel.
It was a very cute apartment that the owners had made into a hostel, very cozy and quaint. We had decided to cancel our third night in the hostel due to an early morning flight to Brussels and resolved to spending the night in the Madrid airport. The idea of "sleeping" in an airport is never a glamorous one, but it was nice to keep the extra sixteen euros from the cancelled night.
So once we got settled into the hostel, we asked for recommendations about a tapas bar and then headed out to explore the city. The city reminds me of New York with a Parisian flavor. There are a lot of big city streets with marquees and lights, but then you'll turn a corner and see a big square reminiscent of those in Paris. It's much busier and there's more hustle and bustle than Barcelona. As we had expected, we received a call from our friend Steph who is also an assistant in Nantes telling us that she had arrived in Madrid and wanted to meet up for a quick bite. We explained where we were and decided to wait in a Starbucks, duh, until she met
up with us. After waiting a long while to hear from her, she called April saying she was lost. So we had to leave the Starbucks and go up the busiest street in Madrid to try and find our lost friend, whom apparently had fallen into a man hole on the road and had been a little busy dealing with that. However we finally found her and headed back to the tapas place near the Starbucks. The bar was a little interesting; all around you are hanging parts of pigs and cows and you stand along the bar where they prepare sausage and cheese treats. We ordered a drink and got some free pieces of sausage and decided that we were looking for something a little more traditional where we could sit and order. So we left the tapas place and walked towards a place that Steph had heard was good from an American. Bingo, that's our place. Along the way we went down the road where the lonely men go to search for a lonely amiga in the street. Being a prostitute in France had to be better, they at least had little saloons and what not to hang
Street Artist
He made a sound after this picture, which I was scared of as you can see, and it made me yelp out loud!out in, where as the prostitutes in Spain are younger and alone in dark alleyways. Very big contrast between the two countries. Anyways, we found the place we were looking for, it was very cute with the best service I had ever receieved in Europe. It was there that we discovered the patatas bravas, a popular tapas of cooked potato wedges with a spicy sauce. Delicious. So after we had successfully eaten our tapas that we had craved, we called it a night and headed back to the hostel.
That night, it wasn't a shakey Belgian that woke me, but the strange German (it was the occasional ya ya that gave it away) like language coming from a group of middle aged Dutch men, 10 to be exact, that had come in around 3 in the morning.... April and I realized how outnumbered we actually were...
April 11
The next morning we met the lively Dutch men that had arrived about 6 hours prior, but in amusing circumstances. They were walking around in their tight little European underwear. Here April and I are, the only two girls in the room, and 10 Dutch men in their 30s
just chatting it up all Dutch like in their underwear, completely unaffected by our presence. It was really funny. However, we struck up good conversation with them (they spoke perfect English) and learned that they were part of a bachelor party partying it up in Madrid. They also asked us some funny questions about America. They asked if Americans ever cook at home, if it's only McDonald's that we eat, and other things like that. They were kidding, but it just gives you an idea of the stereotypes held in Europe about Americans....Well, I do use my microwave a lot at home... but hey... that's home cooking right?
We continued chatting with them and some British folks during the free breakfast where I was kinda yelled at by the owner of the hostel. They had this gross pot of soapy water sitting next to the sink with some sponges floating in it and you're supposed to use these to wash the dishes... I kinda loudly exclaimed how disgusting it was and I look to my left and there he is... Oops....he told me he was doing the dishes and to leave... Well fine, I didn't want to use those
gross sponges anyway... Luckily he left that afternoon and I didn't see him the rest of the weekend. I was a little scared of finding bull's blood or something in my bed....
We met up with Steph again that morning after breakfast and headed towards the royal palace and cathedral. Luckily the weather was pleasant and the sun was shining. We made it to the palace, which is beautiful, but I was disappointed to see a line that would have taken a lightyear to get through and the cathedral wasn't open. Yet, we did get some great pictures, the sky looked like a painting, and listened to a couple of street musicians play. After that, we took a nice scenic route towards the Prado Museum where we would pass an Arc de Triophe type thing and then stop for some lunch. We set out once again after eating and passed the beautiful central train station and a surprisingly beautiful ministry of agriculture building. These two buildings are some of my favorites in Europe, no doubt. We were under the impression that the Prado was free after 2:30, however when we got there we learned it wasn't, so like good
Train Station
One of my favorite buildings. little budget travellers, April and I left to do something else and return the next day when it really was free. Dan and Steph decided to go ahead and pay and went into the museum. April and I went to the botanical gardens next to the Prado where we had fun playing photographer and America's Next Top Model amongst the rare and exotic flowers. It smelled a little like urine and I remember telling April as we entered, "You know you're in a park in Europe if you can actually smell the pee in the ground." And it is so true, it's just part of the European packaged deal.
After the gardens, April and I wandered around some more and we turned 13 again and giggled when we saw a restaurant called PHUCKET THAI RESTAURANT....really? I took a picture nonetheless. After that, we went to the big Plaza Mayor to try some Churros con chocolate. They're basically churros that come with really thick hot chocolate... I'm not sure if we got the best kind but they were a nice little treat anyhow. After our snack we walked around the plaza to watch the street artists, and dog gone it
would you know, Jesus was there! Yup! All painted white with cross and disciples and all. Right there in the plaza 😉. I have a feeling it being the day before Easter had something to do with it. April then explored the tourist shops around looking for her traditional shot glass and postcards that she buys in every city. I meandered into the tourist office to ask about any cultural events that we could go to, Spanish guitar or flamenco or something other than buildings. We were recommended to a little lounge club that had nightly flamenco shows, so we made plans to go that evening. I was craving some arts, I wanted to see something produced by the country other than architecture and food. This would be the perfect idea.
Well, we met up with the others eventually in another plaza and told them of the news, everyone was game. And here's how the night turned out: Like in every trip, someone comes down with kidney stones, can't go out (April), flamenco clubs end up being too full and expensive, and Cara orders delicious calamari and Sangria at a local place before going home to the Bull's Hostel....
Top Model in the Park
Well, that's what I was going for at least. I heard this is a pretty basic Madrid vacation....oh yeah, and I have dreams again of Dutch men coming into the room where I'm sleeping at late hours of the night....
April 12
After our daily Dutch underwear and breakfast, we headed out once again, this time to go to the Reina Sofia Museum. However along the way, it became very clear that April was in a lot a pain so we found a hospital that was open and took her. Luckily Steph can get by in Spanish or else we would have been totally screwed. We eneded staying there for several hours because apparently Easter Sunday is a popular day in Spanish emergency rooms. After a while, Steph and Dan left to go to a soccer game and I stayed with April until all her tests and everything were done. It was quite interesting to see how the socialist emergency room works. There's not really much organization and I felt like there were all these different nurses and doctors doing random things all over the place. I have to say that as an American I've grown up spoiled always having nice new waiting rooms with nice nurses
No Title Needed
Did they really think that name was ok? to hold my hand to do anything and the feeling in the Spanish hospital was a little uneasy, but April walked out without paying a dime. It turns out that she probably had small kidney stones and they gave a punch of pain meds.
She and I had time to make it back to the Prado, this time for free. It was crowded no doubt and we kinda went through quickly, but I really enjoyed myself. I've never been a slow museum browser. If I see one painting that I like I'll look at it for a while, but in general I want to pull my hair out if I'm with someone that stops at everything on display and looks at it for a while. Thank God April is like me or it would have never worked. The Prado is a lot bigger than what one thinks, paintings everywhere. I love the portraits of royals, looking at their dress, their expressions and how it changes from generation to generation. I feel like I'm looking at an entire century with every portrait... it's strange, hard to explain. I was pleased to see the same portrait of Mairie Thereze, wife of
Street Artist
It was the weekend of Easter, I'm assuming that's the reason. Louis XIV, that is in the Louvre and the same portrait used for my costume for the play Versailles. (I feel really smart when I can explain royal lines etc to my friends at museums...)The collection is very impressive and I love how the Spanish state wants its people to come out and enjoy the arts by providing cheap prices and free days. Way to go Spain!
We finished the Pradoand walked down the most beautiful street. It reminded me of the 1st arrondisement of Paris (the center of the city with the Louvre etc), gorgeous old buildings all around. I was shocked to see so many big theatres. One doesn't really think of Madrid when thinking of theatre. After that pleasant stroll we met back up with our two amigos, ate some dinner and went back to the area around the royal palace. There was a gorgeous sunset and the parks around the palace were alive with lovers, tourists, and little Spanish women with their adorable basset hounds named Pancho. (well he was my favorite dog at least and I heard his owner call him Pancho, so cute) We had a really good time goofing around the gardens,
taking pictures, and admiring the beautiful buildings and apartments next to the palace. We headed back to the hostel, stopping at a park with heart shaped swing things that we had to play on for about 15 minutes, and then said bye to Steph. Then on to the Madrid airport for a fun little sleepover. However, some brilliant person decided to not put benches in the airport except the one that has a bronze statue taking up all the space. We checked all the terminals: NO BENCHES. I think the same genius thought having a loud announcement about stupid people leaving their baggage around go off every 10 minutes was necessary, ALL NIGHT. Yeah.... didn't really sleep. It was funny to watch Dan attempt to sleep by wearing an eye mask and putting in ear plugs. We checked in for our flight around 4 am and I was really surprised at the strictness of the Madrid airport! They took away my shampoo bottle that had made it through my frist two flights, though somehow Dan got in with his swiss army knife for a third time, and made Dan and April pay thirty euros each to check their carry ons.
(I was lucky, I sneaked away with my carry on, I should of had to check it too) Note of caution, Madrid airport is hardcore! Don't mess with them! As for our flight, we played dead on the 2 hour flight towards Brussels.
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