As many of you know I spent last week in Madrid, Spain with my camp friend, Nelly. That week was so jam packed I hardly had time to keep anyone up to date. We were quite busy whilst in Madrid. This is how the adventures began:
Wednesday, August 17th
After a mere two hours of sleep I woke up at 4 am to hop across the pond. The airport was a zoo! I couldn't believe how long the lines were, and my luggage tags wouldn't print out properly because apparently there was another Kristen Fleming on the same flight as me. What are the chances of that? I got to the gate just in time for boarding and took off at 8:55 am Eastern Standard Time.
I arrived in London Heathrow at 8:40 pm Greenwich Mean Time, and made my way to meet the lovely Miss Nicola Skipper aka Nelly. She drove me back to her house in Arlesey. We ate dinner, and I forced myself to go to sleep despite the time difference.
Thursday, August 18th
Nelly woke me up at 3:30 am so we could catch our flight to Madrid. Her dad, Jim, drove us to London Luton, and once again the airport was packed. We did make it on board our plane in time, but we couldn't stop and buy something to eat. EasyJet didn't feel like serving us any food either. So when we landed at the Aeropuerto Internacional de Madrid-Barajas I was starving.
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| Our Hotel Room |
We took a shuttle to the Best Western Atlantico which was in a beautiful old building and right in the center of Madrid, on Gran Via. Nelly and I admired our room for a minute and headed off in search of food. On a side street near our hotel we found some delicious paella, which I quickly devoured. Although we did run into some translation issues at the restaurant I still considered it a successful mission. However, it did make me nervous about getting around in Madrid with my weak Spanish skills.
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| Paella Yummm! |
A long seista was definitely needed after lunch. Then Màiri McCormack, or Drochit, met us at our hotel and introduced us to Madrid. I was ecstatic to find a Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop minutes away from our hotel. We stopped for a Coke Light near the Palacio Real and caught up on the past year since we had seen each other.
Later, we walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. One of the first differences I noticed about Spanish culture was how late they eat. They usually have a small breakfast in the morning and a snack later on, but they don't eat lunch until 2 or 3. Lunch is also their biggest meal of the day. We soon learned that many don't begin serving dinner until 9! Luckily for me, my internal clock was screwed up from the time change so it didn't make much or a difference.
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| Tapas with Nelly and Drochit |
Friday, August 19th
This was one of my favorite days in Madrid. Drochit meet us to catch a train to Cercedilla, a small village an hour outside of Madrid. From the train station we took a taxi to the piscinas naturales. Now I was expecting to see a little natural forming pond or lake. Instead we arrived to the most beautiful field of grass, surrounded by lush green mountains, leading to an in-ground pool filled with river water. It was just a gorgeous day to soak up the 30 °C sunlight. I took the most glorious nap in the shade, ate a delicious picnic lunch amongst wonderful company, and took a dip the pool. Perfection!
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| Piscinas Naturales |
Once we were back in the city we got ready for dinner in Plaza Mayor, a cobblestone in-closed square, full of street performers. We sat outside and got a little bit more of a show than we expected. The Pope came to Madrid for World Youth Day, which took place while we were there. Thousands of Catholics from all over the world flooded the streets of Madrid. However, the Pope's visit upset many Spanish citizens, who staged a protest and marched through the square chanting "We are not the Pope's youth." It was very shocking to see that out of no where, but it did make for an interesting evening.
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| Freaky street performers |
Saturday, August 20th
¡feliz cumpleaños, Nelly!
Nelly and I decided that today was the day that we were going to sleep in for once. After breakfast we headed off to the Palacio Real, but unfortunately the Palace was closed. So we went to the Museo Reina Sofia instead, an art museum that's free on Saturday afternoons. Bonus!! There was a lot of variety in the art displayed, but there weren't many descriptions and the audio tour wasn't very good either. Despite that it was still an enjoyable afternoon.
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| View from inside the elevator at the Reina Sofia |
Later we took a seista (that's quite a common theme), and prepared for dinner at Drochit's apartment. She cooked scrumptious vegetable risotto, baked 24 beautiful cup cakes, and we washed it down with sangria. Then Drochit took us on a night out in Madrid. I experienced my first time in an Irish Bar, which was more fun than I imagined. Afterwards we went Joy, a nightclub where we danced the rest of the night away.
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| Night out! |
Sunday, August 21st
Once again we started the day of quite late, but we were still able to make the most of it. It was our first day without Drochit to guide us around the city. Nelly and I went to Casa Labra for lunch where we had the best croquettes I've ever eaten. Then we navigated on the metro to the Parque del Retiro. We saw every site in the Park on our Top Ten list from the Guidebook. Highlights including the Rose Garden, Palacio de Cristal (which was empty except for a giant slide), and the boat pond. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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| Cave in La Parque del Reitro |
Later we were just wandering around looking for a place to eat. That was when we discovered the best restaurant in the whole entire world. La Bodega Bohemia. We chowed down on shrimp, patatas bravas, and my fave Spanish omelet. Delicioso...
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| Dinner time |
Monday, August 22nd
We purchased tickets for a "hop-on, hop-off" tourist bus that I was wicked excited for because I'd never been on a Double Decker bus before. Nelly suggested that we get off of the bus near our hotel and do some shopping before lunch, but the World Youth Day events interfered with our plans. Part of the route got cut off from the tour including the area where our hotel was. We ended up going around on the bus two and a half times.
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| Nelly in San Miguel |
Fortunately we could get off the at the Puerta de Sol where I bought a few souvenirs and wondered around the streets of Madrid. One of the best spots that we discovered was the Mercado de San Miguel, which offered many delightful treats. Nelly and I picnicked at the Plaza de España next to an amazing fountain. Then we frolicked in the playground at Parque del Oeste.
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| View from Parque del Oeste |
After dinner Nelly had made reservations for us to see a Flamenco show at Las Carboneras. I honestly had no idea what to expect from Flamenco dancing, but it was an amazing way to end the night.
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| Waiting for the Flamenco to start |
Tuesday, August 23rd
The tourist bus that we took on Monday offered two routes, Historic Madrid and Modern Madrid. We took the Historic Madrid one to the Mueso del Prado, hoping to see some sights that we had missed out from the detour the day before. In the Prado, I made it my mission to see all of the masterpieces listed in their leaflet. At first Nelly and I were quite interested in the paintings, but after a while our attention waned. However, I did successfully finish my goal.
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| Hop-on Hop-off bus |
I also managed to mostly stay awake on the Modern Madrid tour. We wanted to have an early night because we were exhausted from the days adventures, but it was almost impossible to find a restaurant open at 7 pm! Luckily the tourist-y areas were already open for dinner. We were entertained by some street performers in the Plaza Mayor while we feasted on dinner and walked back towards our hotel for a drink on the terrace and peaceful slumber.
Wednesday, August 24th
We saved the Palacio del Real for this day because Nelly is in love with all things royal. I was less than enthusiastic about the Spanish Royal Family. I just don't see the point of royalty. Tradition? It just seems like a silly excuse to me. The palace was still quite impressive because of its sheer massiveness and historical influences. Afterwards we entered the Cathedral next to the Palace, which was exquisite. Although I was a little bit bothered by the amount of tourists who did not seem to honor the religious significance of the building.
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| Me inside of the Templo de Debod |
Next we walked to the Parque del Oeste to check out the Templo de Debod, which was closed when we went to the park on Monday. This is an ancient Egyptian Temple in honor of the Goddess Isis, which was gifted to Madrid. Later Drochit took us to a vegetarian restaurant in the La Latina district of Madrid, for our last dinner in the city. We had a mini photo shoot, which continued on in the hotel until it was time for bed.
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| Outside of the vegetarian restaurant |
Thursday, August 25th
Back to Reality. We woke up in order to catch the 8 o'clock shuttle back to the airport. Nelly's mom, Sue, picked us up at the airport and drove us back to Arlesey. I'll be staying here until Monday when I take the train to Bath.
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| The End. |
Congratulations for making it through this entire post! I promise that from now on if I have a week as busy as this I will update the blog more frequently.
Adios mis amigos.
