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Published: April 5th 2008
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St. John's, Nova Scotia
Our emergency landing site and first night. Adam and I took an almost two week backpacking trip to and through Spain and while I didn't want to take the time while there to "Blog," I LOVE reliving my travel experiences and sharing them, so I've decided to write now about our travels since we've been back. We went to 5 cities and I will most likely make 5 entries, but don't feel obligated to read any of the following. Though as always, I enjoy reading your comments. 😊
On Thursday, March 20th, we left St. Louis for Madrid via Atlanta. We left STL at 2pm and were scheduled to arrive in Madrid around 8am local time, including a 6 hour time change. Not the best flight ever, but very doable. We were several hours into our international flight over the Atlantic ocean, when the captain announces that there is a problem with the engine and we'll need to make an emergency landing in Boston in a few hours. Evidently the engine trouble was even more problematic than originally anticipated as 5 minutes later he announced that we would be landing in St. John, Nova Scotia. Now don't get me wrong, we fly a lot being so far
Elevator
We were trapped in an elevator for over 30 minutes. away from family and friends and have even landed at non-scheduled airports, but there's something different about being across the Atlantic Ocean. Adam turned to me and jokingly said that as long as there aren't any flashing lights when we land, everything is fine. Needless to say, we landed among a midst of ambulances and firetrucks like a scene from Die Hard. Now I'm all for adventure, but going to Europe through Nova Scotia isn't the most direct route especially when you have to spend the first night of your vacation on an airport chair, but since we finally did arrive in Madrid, albeit the trip took more than 27 hours, who am I to complain? I did get my first stamp on my new Elise Jacobs passport.
Once finally getting in Madrid around 10 pm local time, we headed straight to the hotel (the only reservation we had while in Spain) and crashed. We woke up late and finally got ready to head out for the day. Like most normal people staying on the 8th floor of a hotel, we got in the elevator and hit the lobby button. Now you’d think that after 27+ hours enroute to
Plaza Mayor
The Major Plaza. All Spanish cities usually have one. Madrid, that we wouldn’t have any more complications. That would’ve been nice, however, wasn’t in the cards for us. We were stuck in the transparent (luckily) elevator for over 30 minutes. I found this to be fairly hilarious, but Adam’s aggravation kicked in understandably. We were starting to feel like Madrid wanted no part in allowing us to see it. Eventually we were freed, and finally did get to see Spain’s incredible capital, Madrid. (And got a few free meals for our trouble).
Finally…..MADRID- We walked around the city taking in the sights of the Puerto del Sol (a tapas area full of restaurants and shops), Plaza Mayor (major plaza), enjoyed café con leche, discovered the gardens of the Palacio Real, and walked the entire south portion of the city past Reina Sofia (modern art museum) and got caught in the rain. It’s been much colder and rainier than I would’ve thought and we’ve even been hailed on, but nothing can damper the excitement we feel at being over here. We have eaten some very interesting and good food. We ate manchego cheese sandwiches and tuna sandwiches. Adam has enjoyed chorizo sandwiches and I have fallen in love with
tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelette) sandwiches which basically are potato/onion egg sandwiches. Can you feel the bread theme here? We went to the Prado museum where we saw Spain’s famous artist, Goya. I find that I’m more of an Italian renaissance art fan as it’s less dark and dreary. That evening, after our much needed siesta, we returned to el Puerto del Sol for tascas (bar hopping while eating tapas). We had a great time trying new food, though I was surprised at how heavy it was.
On Sunday (3/23), we headed straight for el Palacio Real and the cathedral next to it. It was insanely huge and elaborate, though I’m always amazed at how sparsely furnished these huge palaces seem to be once they’re tourist attractions. We continued on to El Rastro, a weekly market that is the busiest and biggest market I’ve ever been to. I was too overwhelmed even to buy anything despite needing a scarf for the unexpected chill in the air. We returned to Gran Via (street our hotel was on) and found a place for lunch that served traditional paella. It was packed with seafood that neither of us recognized, but had good flavor.
After lunch, we hopped on the Metro (I’m always amazed at how easy it is to get around in European cities) and headed for Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the Real Madrid Soccer Stadium in which a game was scheduled for that evening. Now I think NFL fans can be a tad crazy, but we were at this stadium hours prior to the start of the game and the place was packed with people of all ages dressed to in their team’s colors screaming and blowing these obnoxious horns. It was a sight to see….Eric and Aunt Janeen- you would’ve loved it! After leaving we went out for chocolate con churros, the thickest hot chocolate with these fried dough things to dip into it. It’s an insanely perfect tradition. The only way I can describe the taste of the chocolate was delectably thick like hot chocolate pudding- it was great!
Spain’s culture, as I’ve heard, read and seen on TV, is unbelievably family oriented. I love walking down the streets seeing the children laugh and play with their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It seems like that is integral in their lives and I feel like it’s something we can
Catedral
Cathedral just outside Palacio Real gates. learn from them. I’m a huge fan of afternoon siestas (naps from 2-5pm) and eventually got used to the 7-9pm tascas and then eating dinner around 10pm. I don’t love how much everyone CHAIN smokes as every restaurant/bar was smokier than any bar I’ve ever been to in the states. However, there is an obvious feeling in the air that life is to be enjoyed, not rushed through that I thoroughly admire. Next we head to Sevilla....
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