Madrid - Part II

Yeah. This is really late, eh? My bad.

Anyhow, done with the first day and a half, on to the next!

Madrid

So the next day was New Years Eve, and we had planned to go the Reina Sofia to see Picasso's Guernica (among other things), but somehow we both got the open hours mixed up with the Prado's, so when we got the Reina Sofia, it was closed. We mulled around for a few minutes, plotting to break in if they didn't open up, but in the end we couldn't find a good entry point, so we moved on. Luckily for us, almost right across the street was Madrid's central train station, so we headed over to check it out.

I must say, compared to Munich's central station, Madrid's was really cool. You walk in, and it's an indoor jungle. Plus, there's a turtle habitat! How awesome is that? Sarah and I walked around snapping pictures for a while, before hitting the street again.

We stopped by el Retiro again on the way home, to get some better pictures of the Crystal Palace. When we got back to Jorge and Lola's, we were just in time for lunch! I won't do justice to what Lola cooked up for us, but it was delicious. It was some kind of vegetable pie, I think, topped with homemade mayonnaise. I thought that was all, so I ate a fair amount of that, but then there was another dish! I think it was a kind of paella, but it's been so long now I can't remember. But after that there was even dessert! I was so full, I was surprised I wasn't bursting at the seams. Lola kept saying it was nice having me around, so I could eat up all her leftovers.

So what to do now? We thought about heading out again to see a couple more sights before nighttime rolled around, but in the end we decided it would be best to enjoy another Spanish tradition: the siesta! We were so beat from running around the city, and so full from lunch, that we were out for almost four hours. It was awesome! We even saw a couple episodes of Avatar (not the blue people, the cartoon). Then it was time for the New Years countdown!

In Spain, they have a New Years tradition of eating grapes at each of the strokes of the clock. They even sell little cans of 12 pre-skinned grapes so you can have just the right amount of grapes for the big day. You would be surprised how hard it is to grab a slippery grape and eat it, twelve times in a row between the bells. I managed to get all mine down, but poor Sarah couldn't finish hers, so she won't be lucky all year. Damn shame.

After the grapes, Sarah led me up to the roof of her building where we had an incredible panoramic view of the entire city. I took my tripod with me (special thanks to the parents :P) and I got some pretty spectacular photos of the skyline.

The next day was my last full day in Madrid, but again everything was closed, so Sarah and I took to the streets, walking around and taking pictures of anything that looked awesome enough to warrant it. We ended up in the Plaza de Toros, running from imaginary bulls.

My final day was also the day that I finally tried tapas! We got some mojitos at a cool little bar near my hostel, and the deal with tapas, is you buy a drink and you get the tapas free! Normally, you just get a little appetizer, but the place we went gave us a full bloody meal with out drinks! Paella and chicken and muscles (I think, it's been a while now...) it was a pretty good spread.

Alas, it was already my final night in Madrid. Tired from all the running around, Sarah and I relaxed in a park with some beer and potato chips. We waxed philosophical, joked that we were more than just friends of Facebook now, and I dunked my camera in the drink (it survived, thank God). It was an awesome trip in an awesome city, and I really look forward to repaying Sarah the favor of being my tour guide when she comes to Munich for some real beer!

Madrid!

Madrid Skyline at Midnight - New Years Day

Hola everyone! I just got back from an amazing New Year's trip to Madrid! I spent about 4 days there (Tuesday night through Saturday morning) and just had a blast seeing the city and hanging out with my friend, Sarah J, and her host parents, Jorge and Lola.

I arrived on Tuesday night, a little late, and met Sarah at the airport. I only had half an hour to check into my hostel so we immediately jumped on a bus and headed into town. Once we arrived and got my things in the room, I wanted to start seeing the city, so Sarah took me out to see the neighborhood. We walked around Chueca, then went towards Gran Via and Sol, before stopping for some Sangria at a little place near Puerta del Sol. Delicious, and the first of many tasty experiences with Spanish food. By now it was getting late, close to 1:30 when the metro stopped running, so we hopped on the metro and parted ways until Wednesday.

Unfortunately, being eager to see as much of Madrid as I could, I had suggested to meet up early the next day, around 9. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but at 8:30 when I woke up I was having second thoughts. Somehow I was able to get downstairs and meet Sarah on time, but we immediately agreed to never meet so early again. I hadn't had any breakfast yet, so we began our day by heading to a bakery in Sol. I got a Neopolitan, I think it was called, and a danish. Next we went to El Corte Ingles in order to get some necessities, then we went for a walk. We saw a lot the first day. We went to La Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, and the Palacia Real de Madrid.

El Palacio Real de Madrid

I took a bunch of pictures and used a program to stitch them together, getting the wide, panorama shots above. They're a little rough around the edges, but still pretty neat!

After the Cathedral, we had two more Spanish treats ahead of us. First, Chocolate con Churros! We stopped by a small place and got a plate of churros with a big cup of thick, syrupy chocolate sauce. Tasty... and delicious. You simply take a churros and dip it in the chocolate, and once you're finished with the churros, it's like a very thick cup of hot chocolate! After churros, we stopped by Sarah's host parents place for a Spanish lunch of paella.

From Madrid

It was really tasty. I can't remember everything that was in it, but I'll have to get Sarah to get me a recipe. The best part was that Lola kept insisting that I eat more. I was so stuffed by the end, I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk... I had to though, because Sarah wasn't done showing me the city yet!

After our late lunch (in Spain, lunch is usually around 2:00 - 2:30) we set out again to check out some more sights. We wanted to see el Museo Nacional del Prado before it closed, and el Parque del Retiro was on the way, so we browsed through the park first. A pamphlet Sarah had given me with all sorts of sights to see in Madrid had el Palacio de Cristal on the cover, and that was in el Retiro, so we made our way through the park looking for it. We most certainly did NOT get lost looking for it. And we also certainly did NOT mistake another building for it, even when it was right in front of us. Neither of those things happened.

Anyway, it was already getting rather dark and cold, and I couldn't get very good pictures without my tripod, so we decided to leave the park for the museum and come back later; not a moment too soon, but rather a few moments too late. We were about halfway to the Prado when we were caught in a downpour. By the time we found the museum we were soaked. On the bright side, entry was free and the museum was WARM! So by the time they kicked us out we were nice and dry again.

We left the museum with the plan to meet one of Sarah's friends for dinner. We arrived a bit early and browsed some shops while we waited, then went to a really interesting place for dinner. It reminded me of a 50's style diner. On either side was a bar to sit at; behind one bar was the chef and a kitchen, and behind the other was a bartender and, well, the bar. We all shared some shrimp and a spanish tortilla, which is kind of like an omelet. I also tried Spanish beer Sarah kept mentioning. It was... ok. I think I might be spoiled here in Germany, but the Spanish beer tasted a little watery to me.

When dinner was over, Sarah's friend and her boyfriend wanted to try Sangria, so we made our way back to the little bar near Sol. Apparently, they were setting up the square for the big New Years party the following day, because there were police and pedestrians everywhere. The police were hilarious, though. We would walk down a street, only to find the way to Sol blocked off. So, we would walk to the next street and keep going, unobstructed. One time, we saw a policeman stop a guy as he was trying to go around a barrier, then we went through the exact same barrier, not a foot away from the cop who was chewing someone out, and none of the other cops stopped us. Then, a minute later, the barrier was gone! Anyway, we got our sangria and hung out a bit longer before calling it a night. Sarah helped me find my way back to my hostel, and we pledged to meet up again the next day... just several hour later than 9 am.

To Be Continued...