Blogs from Madrid, District of Madrid, Spain, Europe - page 87

Dicen que un viaje en realidad comienza mucho antes de que salgas de tu territorio...bien, me he propuesto seguir una especie de diario de viaje, esta vez en formato electrónico, sé que echaré de menos el escribir en mi libreta y llevarla a todas partes, pegar en ella mapas, fotos y entradas a lugares... Pero la tecnología me prometió una existencia más fácil y feliz, así que será mejor que pruebe que esto puede ser cierto...y sino siempre me quedará el pegamento, las tijeras y el celo... De momento, queda menos de una semana para la cuenta atrás y pierdo el tiempo sin decidir qué hacer y adónde ir exactamente, no podría tenerlo todo planeado y decidido (soy libra), pero necesitaría orientarme algo y saber qué cosas son imprescindibles.... Una duda que me asalta por la ... read more

Yesterday was a long day. Good... but long! After my last blog, I met up with that professor guy for dinner. We found a neat & authentic Spain restaurant near one of the main plazas in Madrid. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, full of good bread and excellent pasta. At the end of the meal, the server brought us a dessert (on the house) that was a mandarin orange frozen drink with some kind of liquor in it. It was delicious! After dinner, we roamed the town a bit. Then, back at the hostel, I made friends with a girl from Chile. It was awesome to be immersed in Spanish and learn about a different culture at the same time. I guess it defined the entire purpose of me being here. We managed to make it ... read more

I made it here in one piece! On the flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam I had a tough time settling in. While I was emotionally exhausted after having to leave my family & Zoie... a large part of me was restless with thoughts of the adventure ahead. Overall, the flight went well. Then, there was a bit of a delay in Amsterdam because three people didn´t show up for the flight and they had to take all of the luggage off the plane to find their suitcases and then load everything back on. Seemed pretty silly to me! However, in the process, I met a professor from Washington State who will be in Madrid for the week. We are planning to meet up for dinner in a while. I managed to carry all of my luggage ... read more

Jill, Lorin, Katy, and I took a whirlwind three-day trip to the capital of Spain...Madrid! We visited the Prado Museum of Art (pre-nineteenth century art), Reina de Sofia (modern art.....hmm), the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the Royal Palace. We actually weren't allowed to take pictures at either museum or the palace. (amazingly, I still had over 150 pictures....wow.) The Prado was massive. We spent several hours walking around, and I know we still didn't see even close to everything. As for the modern art museum, the Reina de Sofia...I must say. My favorite painting was a white canvas with black dots...or maybe the brown blob...or perhaps the single line...I mean, seriously. I'm not sure I understand modern art. ;) Despite that, we had an interesting time! The botanical gardens were beautiful, even though many things were ... read more

Woke up this morning a little tired. I had a really odd dream about my dad’s health that really tripped me out. I basically woke up two hours after I went to bed and couldn’t go back to sleep. Mental note: call home and make sure pops is ok. When my friend woke up, she said I looked pretty damn worried, so I KNOW I must’ve looked pretty damn nervous. I can’t even verbalize the feelings I went through that morning worrying about my pops. Anyways, on to happier things haha. Woke up this morning with my sights set on seeing the rest of the things I wanted to see in Madrid. Our first order of business was to go to the Prado Museum. Apparently, it had one of the greatest collections of art in the ... read more