I fell in LoVe with Madrid

HOLA!  I will give you fair warning that this entry is quite long.  You may have to take a couple sessions in reading it, haha.  :)  I was going to split it up, but I didn't want to find a breaking point, so I'm just including it all... Enjoy!
I left Ghent by train to Brussels. I flew from Brussels into Madrid. Annie had sent me directions on which Metro to take. It was 2 euros compared to 30. I was really hesitant to take the Metro. I would have probably preferred to take the taxi because of the security and knowing I could get directly to where I needed to be, but I decided to be courageous and take the Metro. I had a big suitcase, a backpack, and purse of decent size. I wasn’t looking forward to lugging it all around, but I chose to conquer a fear head-on. Annie’s directions through the Metro were fantastic! Once out of the Metro, though, it was a different story, haha. I excited in this open plaza area called ‘Puerta del Sol.’ I pulled my suitcase around this plaza filled with people twice looking for a bakery that Annie told me to look for. I couldn’t find it, so I finally just took off in one direction and started asking questions. After questioning 3 or 4 people in 3 or 4 different directions, I found my hostel. It was not an obvious find on my street. The sign was tiny and on the 3^rd story of the building. I went into the door and found a massive flight of stairs that I had to take all of my things up. I am forever grateful to the woman who helped me with the last ¾ of it. It was a sweaty journey up the stairs. HaHa! It was a hostel with a bunch of rooms on one floor of a building. Some rooms had their own bathrooms. Some had to use one in the hallway. My room had its own bathroom. It was a very small room, but sufficient for me and the amount of time I’d be spending in it. After finishing the reservation details, I went to Annie’s room and knocked. She wasn’t in, so I relaxed in my room for a bit. It wasn’t long before she was knocking on my door with Ian, a new friend from Canada that had just moved to Madrid that day. It was his first day there and they ran into each other somewhere along the way. Anyway, they so kindly brought me a 40 oz and told me to drink. HaHa--I am not in college anymore. I took a few drinks, but did no chugging of the sort. J We took a few minutes to freshen up and then went to Ian’s apartment to listen to some music and have a couple drinks before going out on the town. We met up with Luna and Albert. They are locals. They are friends of Annie’s friend Molly (confusing, I know… I am not going to go into those details, haha).

Upon Ian’s insistence, we went to ME by Melia. It is a bar on top of a hotel in the center of Madrid. The place had an amazing view and was very cool (so posh, haha!). After ME, we decided to go get some food, so Luna and Albert took us to this little place that had everything on the menu for 1 Euro. They were mini, but quite sufficient for our level of hunger and quite tasty! We sat outside in the plaza area and chatted until they made us leave, haha. We agreed on a time to meet up the next day for lunch and took our separate ways.

Thursday, we had some coffee and did a little walking around. We met up with Luna, Maria, and Albert and had lunch at the Ham Museum, haha. After lunch, we went took a walk. We had some frozen yogurt and saw the royal palace and some cathedrals. The buildings are all so gorgeous! I never realized how much of a fan of architecture that I am, haha. I love just looking at buildings and seeing such intricate work and detailing and imagining the history that must have occurred through those hallways, etc. Some of them just ooze history. I love it. Anyway, we snapped some photos and continued our walk. We made some plans for the evening and had some coffee before separating for an hour or so.

Annie & I outside the fences of the Royal Palace

Our evening plans consisted of catching a theatrical production… Grease! J In Spanish! J Super excited! After Annie & I freshened up, we made the walk back to the theatre. On our walk, we saw one of the other cinemas really lit up with a bunch of people surrounding the entry. These people had cameras and were surrounding a red carpet. It was a movie premiere! The movie was Red Lights starring Robert De Niro, among others. (I think that’s the English translation of the title) Anyway, Annie and I said to each other, “Surely there’d be more people if Robert De Niro was really going to be there?” We agreed and continued our walk to our theatre. We waited for Albert to join us, as he was running late. He ran up to us apologizing for being late, but that Robert De Niro was down the street. ???!!!! I was super bummed, haha! We made our way into our theatre and took our seats for Grease. The whole thing, including all the songs, was in Spanish. It was very interesting to see the interpretation. They did it in such a way that it was all mixed up from the actual movie. But it was all there! Just in a different order. The costumes were fantastic! They definitely looked the part! All of them. The audience was that of adults and children alike and the enthusiasm is showed at any part of the performance. Dancing while performing, etc. On 3 occasions, we saw bare butt on the stage, haha. The mooning part of the movie was authentically portrayed in the Spanish stage production, haha! J It was a lot of fun. I really liked seeing it. Grease, in any language, is fantastic! You cannot go wrong. J Little side note: I did my research online and found out that Robert De Niro was not able to be at the Madrid premiere, so we did not miss seeing Mr. De Niro in person! Whew!!

Outside the theatre... you know, being tourists, haha

The beginning of the show! Grease is the word!!

After the show, we took the Metro to another part of town. A couple of Albert’s friends were at a bar, so we joined them. Here, we became acquainted with Fran and Paco. We met Fran earlier in the day, very briefly. We were sitting there enjoying the company and having a beer when we hear some yelling down the street and see a couple people running. Apparently, across the way, some kid had robbed a Chinese store and the owner was chasing him down the street. He got away. The owner made his way back to the shop defeated. Not 20 minutes later, we hear something again. The thief (smart one, apparently), had came back to the scene of the crime for round 2, but the owner was waiting with a massive steal bar in his hand. He chased the thief across the street with his wife chasing him screaming at him. HaHa, it was quite funny for spectators. Again, the thief got away. The owner was quite angry and screaming obscenities at anyone watching or anyone around. He was very heated, haha. Eventually, five police cars showed up to the scene. From our angle, it looked as if the owner was claiming to have been injured. He had pulled up a leg of his pants to his knees and was showing the police his ‘injuries.’ Eventually, they all took off with their lights going. The Chinese shop shut down and that was the end of our second production of the evening. J We had to make the final Metro, so we ladies left at 1:15. We had to say goodbye to Luna since she was going out of town for the weekend. It was a sad goodbye! L
Friday in Madrid… We had chocolate and churros to start our final day in the city. We had a reservation at 1:30 at Botí n, the world’s oldest restaurant according to the Guinness Book of Records. The place was very small and very cozy. The atmosphere was awesome. I really, really liked it. Aside from the atmosphere, the food was fantastic! I ordered a chicken dish in an almond sauce that was amazing. The chicken fell off the bone and the sauce was SO good! And for what it was, the price sure could have been a lot worse. It was not expensive at all.



Outside of the oldest restaurant in the world!

Annie & I at Botin... The food was delicious!!

After we ate, we met up with Albertito and Paco. Albert made cake for Annie & me, so we went to a park for a picnic. We got some coffee and enjoyed our cake at the park. Here, we met two more of Albert’s friends, Oscar and Carlos. We hung out there for awhile before heading to a bar in another part of the city for some towers of beer. I had to use the restroom extremely bad, so we picked the closest place and went in. As soon as we opened the door, it was as if the world stopped. The 6 old men that were in there stopped everything they were doing and just stared at us. It was as if time stood still for a moment before Annie asked for a bottle of water and to allow me to use the bathroom. The bar was clean and all, but it felt like we were intruding in on legit Mafia business or something. Turns out, they were playing ‘Moose.’ No idea. HaHa, little side story for you. J

After a bit more walking and sightseeing, we set a time to meet up and then separated to ‘freshen up’ for the evening. Our new friend, Fran, worked in public relations for a club in Madrid. He invited us to ‘Cats’ for the evening. We met up with baller Ian from Thursday evening at the entrance. There was a lot of talk and eventually, we were guided into the bar. I’m not sure everything that was said, haha, but they led us through the door and to a private, reserved area with cushioned seats along the wall. There was even a red velvet rope, haha, in front of it stopping people from going into the reserved area. I had NO idea we were going to have star treatment! HaHa! I just thought we might get in free or cheaper to the club having the connection with Fran. We sat there as a couple different waiters set us up. They banded us and gave us an ice bin and our mixies. I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was going on, but I sat back and enjoyed people watching and the music. Next thing I know, ‘The Eye of the Tiger’ came on and this ball of fire (quite literally) started making its way through the crowd on the dance floor. Albert made us watch because, apparently, that ball of fire was our bottle of alcohol. They make a spectacle of anyone who buys a bottle for more than 100 euros. Ian had apparently purchased a bottle of Grey Goose for the table. It made its way through everyone and to us in the corner. It was very cool. We stayed at the club enjoying the music, the company, and the atmosphere until 4:30. We decided to go home for a little nap before having to leave the hostel at 8 a.m. We chatted with Albert and Paco for awhile. It was definitely a sad scene saying goodbye; worse for Annie since she was going to be flying back to Seattle. We made some very good friends who I hope are a part of my life for always. I napped from 5:30 to 7:30. We were out the door by 8:00 and on our way to the Metro station. Annie & I said our goodbyes at the station as she was heading one direction and I the other. It was really, really good to see her.

No big deal, it's just our bottle of Goose.

Fran, Albert, Annie, myself, Paco, & Ian at "Cats" in Madrid

Let’s talk hostels for a moment… I’m sure you’ve seen the movies or heard or read horror stories. So have I, haha, but in my experience, that is exactly what they are… stories. We had prime location in Madrid. We were right in the center of the city & had access to anything we needed. If not, the Metro is so efficient and you could get anywhere you needed in a very short amount of time. Anyway, my room was cozy enough. However, the nights were awful! It was SO LOUD! The walls were paper thin and I could hear everything going on outside. Sometimes, it was music playing from the plaza. Mostly, it was the sound of a jackhammer on the road outside where they worked through ALL hours of the night. Unbelievable. For someone who already has a difficult enough time sleeping, this was quite unpleasant. I eventually turned the TV on to a music channel and just left it on all night hoping my mind would focus on it and just fall asleep. It worked well enough. Annie’s room was kind of off down a hallway shoved into a corner. There wasn’t much noise in there. While I personally didn’t catch any, Annie had a mini-cockroach problem in her room. Whatever. We survived! And had a blast regardless, haha. 

I must say, I’m becoming quite the traveler! In addition, I am allowing myself to be much more relaxed about things like tickets and schedules, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t book any of my train or bus tickets in advance for this trip. I just flew by the seat of my pants and hoped it would all work out. I love that I am more relaxed and becoming less fearful of traveling alone and all those ‘big city scary things.’ I couldn’t think of a different way to put that. Metros, buses, trains, etc… I’m embracing it all & I think I’m doing pretty good at it. J I actually love it quite a lot!! HaHa!  And Madrid made me fall in love with her.  I don't know if I'd love it to live in every day, but this trip made me really love that city.  I can't wait to go back!

Anyway, it was so good to have a vacation & see old faces, new faces, and new places! Getting back, I felt a little sad that it was all over, but at the same time, I felt like I had been gone for much longer than 10 days. Now, I have to do the part I hate… unpacking, laundry, and reorganizing my life, haha. But, not too much longer before Clint Massey makes his trip across the ocean!!