Blogs from Madrid, District of Madrid, Spain, Europe - page 116

Chocolate Y Churros ROCKS! Well I must say that Madrid is one of my fave places so far! The people, the food, the shopping...awesome! AND they have siesta time in the afternoon - how civilised! Flew into Madrid and found the train system really easy to negotiate. Checked into our hostel the POP Hostel...recommended by Susy (who is Spanish) and it was a great recommendation! They were really nice people and we got a free úpgradé' from a 4 bed dorm to 2 beds with private ensuite...fabulous I could finally was my hair properly! he he. (Although the ceiling did fall in on Deans bed one evening but no injuries so all good and funny!) Over the next few days we saw The Plaza Mayor, Plaza Del Sol, Retiro Park, Real Madrid Stadium, The Bull Fighting ... read more

Alex’s host mom was expecting 2 more exchange students at 10am, so I had to pack up and get lost! It was back to The Book to find somewhere to sleep for my final night in Madrid. I got over to my (first) new place but no one answered the door or heard the bell or anything. So then I went to another hostel, but they had a 2 night minimum and I only needed one night - I was not about to spend €40 for a night I didn’t need. By then, I had dragged my bag all that way, in the rain, and was just plain frustrated. I tried the first place again and realized there was another hostal in the building; in fact, right across the hall and was only €18 a night. ... read more

Feliz navidad, feliz navidad...tralala lala.. Denmark vs Spain at christmas Many things are different around the world and also in comparing Spain and Denmark, but one thing seems to be the same everywhere - Christmas shopping and, moreover, christmas stress. A Spanish Christmas is in many ways unlike a Danish. Where I am used to a december month full of christmas all culminating in the big 24th of december where children unrap their presents and families dance around the christmas tree, the Spaniards are so fortunate to have two days of celebration. The nochebuena, christmas eve, is, as in Denmark a time for families. But it is also a time for mayor disco parties and weeks before the day, fliers can be found lying around Puerta del Sol proclaiming this or that extreme party with drinks ... read more

Hola todos! Ayer visitió la plaza de los toros (pienso que esta como se llama?) Fue un poco disgusto, pero todo fue interesante! It was definately something that everyone should see once when in Spain---but I don't think I could ever sit through that again! I tried writing in spanish, but my brain is completly burnt out from a full day of classes en español!!! This morning I felt really horrible, I had a sore throat and my nose was being all crazy---THEN I turned off my phone because I didn't want it to go off in class on the first day and I couldn't remember how to put it on silent. When I went to turn it back on after class it wouldn't work because it needed the pin. I needed my phone because I ... read more

The last day of the tour began with an early morning trip to the Spanish Royal Palace. For the past few days, Madrid had been abuzz with the excitement from the royal wedding of Prince Felipe. The wedding took place at the Catedral de la Almudena, adjacent to the Spanish Royal Palace. Now over a week since that historic wedding, here we were standing in the courtyard of where it all took place. Our tour of the Spanish Royal Palace was guided and with all guided tours, I quickly lost interest in what our guide was telling us. Inside, the palace was very much how I had envisioned. It was quite vast, lavish, and definitely built to impress. We wandered through the many rooms of the palace while admiring all it's intricate details and beautiful ... read more