Not only have I been to Madrid before, but I consider it a second home. My dad worked there when I was younger, so my family and I spent a lot of time there in the past, and I also took a trip there with my friends after our High School graduation. So in all, I know the sights to be seen and because I am currently enrolled in Spanish Beginners here in England (even though I did take Spanish in High School -- it's a long story), I was able to form little phrases in order to communicate with the locals.
And not only was I traveling with a friend from High School who joined in my last trip to Madrid after graduation, but I also met up with a friend from Kenyon who is studying abroad in Florence.
Upon arrival, we checked into our Hostel which was actually really cute and very European, equipped with a two person balcony overlooking the city. Once showered and changed, we decided to splurge a little on our first meal in Spain and made a reservation at Casa Botin, the world's oldest running restaurant EVER! Although it was a bit pricey, we had to go there because not only was the food delicious, but also because this restaurant was a question on Jeopardy about a week before our arrival!
Alex Trabek: "The oldest running restaurant in the ENTIRE world."
Answer: Casa Botin.
And it was amazing. Without even asking, we were seated downstairs which is the coolest part of the restaurant. It is old and cave-like, and the surrounding certainly added to the amazingness of the meal. A pitcher of sangria, a soup full of egg and delicious fat (I am never one to just eat fat, but this soup made my taste buds the happiest I had ever seen them), and a filet mignon later, my friends and I were stuffed. So stuffed that all we wanted to do was jump into bed and go to sleep.
Now I know what you're thinking. I am only in Spain for the weekend and why not go out and party in the country with the best nightlife while I'm still young? But because I am no longer in my teens, I tire easily after a full meal (I am scared of what my thirties are to bring if I am already an old granny in my early twenties). And since we were in Madrid, we didn't even leave for dinner until 11:45. So it's not like we even wasted a night sleeping. It was around 1:45 am by the time we got back from dinner, and after a plane ride earlier that day, we needed our sleep in order to go sightseeing the next day.
Here are some pictures from the oldest restaurant in the entire world:
There were guys playing guitar and singing Spanish songs while we ate.
After I ate, I visited the restaurant's wine cellar. If you didn't believe me about this being the oldest restaurant in the world, I'm sure you do now...
Well rested, the next morning we went straight to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. The art, the Picasso's, they were all so amazing. Take a look:
I noticed that a lot of Picasso's work are portraits of people. Of course I know how amazing his paintings are and that they are truly magnificent pieces of artwork, but I couldn't help but wonder what these people thought of the portraits Picasso painted of them. Don't get me wrong, I would love for Picasso to paint me with eyes coming out of the wrong part of my head, but at the same time, I might be a little offended if he titled it: Portrait of Logan Kinsey. If someone were to paint a portrait of me, I would want it to be pretty, and somewhat enhance my natural, real life look. But three arms, and an eye where my mouth is supposed to be, I don't know how truly excited I would be to have that as outcome of my portrait. But I guess, if Picasso were to paint me, I wouldn't be offended by the third eye, because after all, it is Picasso. But if anyone else tries to put an ear on top of my head, then yes, I would get a little cranky. All in all, I decided that the picture above most resembled me from all his other portraits, even with the the nose above one of the eyes.
After the Riena Sofia, my friends and I walked over to the Jardin Botanico, aka the Botanical Gardens. Although it was a bit misty outside, the gardens were beautiful. All the times that I have been to Madrid, I do not remember stepping foot in the gardens so it was nice to do something new.
Trying to explore the city of Madrid in just three days, we left the Botanical Gardens and made our way to Plaza de San Miguel where luckily, there was the Mercado de San Miguel. And let me tell you, after walking all day, I had worked up an appetite so I was pleased to be told that the Mercado de San Miguel was a Market filled with tapas. And now feeling more confident in my Spanish than ever, I thought I would be able to order my tapas in Spanish...but little did I know what was to come...
Now, I know that the Spanish word for paella is in fact, paella, and I know that the Spanish word for fish is pescado, but I did not know and to this day, still do not know what the Spanish words are for other kinds of seafood. So even though there was a little sign (written in Spanish) identifying what was in the bowl, I had no idea what it meant, and to me it looked like some kind of fish thing mixed in with paella sauce. And what could be better than that? Well, certainly not what I ordered.
When ordering my dish, the woman at the tapas bar took the plate, stuck it in the microwave, and told me that it would be ready within tres minutos. Satisfied with myself that I was able to order in Spanish and understand what tres minutos meant, I waited patiently for what I thought was to be my seafood tapa plate. After three minutes, she handed over the steaming dish and as I reached out to grab what I had ordered, I noticed that the "seafood" was growing little bits of hair.
Now, for those of you who don't know, hair is one of my biggest fears. Don't get me wrong, I love hair when it is attached to a head, but when hair is loose or in your food, it scares me. And not only was there hair in the dish that I had ordered, but whatever it was that I asked for, was growing the hair and I was expected to eat it. Poking around at it for a while with my fork and knife, I finally came to terms with the fact that I had wasted seven euros on a tapa dish I would never eat, EVER. Finally, my friends and I found someone who could speak English, and with this hairy dish staring back at us, we asked him what in the world I had ordered. "Stomach. Cow stomach. And the parts with hair is the skin of the cow."
Spitting up a little in my mouth, I pretended that all was good in order to not seem rude, although it was hard to hide the fact that what he had said made me gag a little.
Great. There I was, seven euros short with cow stomach glaring back at me. But it's not like I could be mad...it's not like they taught us what cow stomach or cow skin was in Spanish. As I sat there looking down on the hairy cow skin smothered in orange sauce, all I kept thinking was, it happens to the best of us.
WARNING: Do not click on the picture below to enhance its size if you have just eaten. This picture contains contents may make one gag and by stating these facts, I can not be held responsible.
...But, if you do click on this picture to make it bigger, make sure you focus on the big piece that is being held up on the fork and note that it is growing many little hairs.
After the Mercado de San Miguel, we walked over to the famous Plaza Mayor. After some "ohhing" and "ahhhing", we took note that there was a fat spiderman in the center of the square and decided what better than to take some touristy pictures with a large italian man dressed up as spiderman? So we did.
I know this seems pretty random and kind of strange, but to be perfectly honest, this fat spiderman could not have been any more entertaining. Although we got a lot of stops and stares from Spaniards going among their business and other tourists trying to get a feel for Plaza Mayor, I am glad that we had a spiderman photo-shoot.
But then of course, we took normal pictures in order to capture the essence of Plaza Mayor.
After a full day of sightseeing, we were exhausted and needed some time to rest before dinner. But when we were walking back to our hostel, we stumbled upon some very cute, Spanish boutiques. After going from store to store, I was able to do some damage. But my all time favorite purchase from the trip is a green, sparkly shirt that not only did I get, but my friend Kate got as well. And this is no ordinary shirt...this is one of the flashiest, most ridiculous shirts I have ever seen, let alone the flashiest shirt that I own. And that says a lot coming from me because I happen to love clothes (hence I have a lot of shirts), and I happen to have a sense of style (hence I have a lot of flashy shirts). But this shirt takes the cake. And what makes it all the better is that if by chance Kate and I wear it at Kenyon on the same day, people would think we are not only insane, but also truly strange. Or maybe it would come off as more obnoxious than anything.
Now, I have been told about twenty times by the Brits that I sound like Cher from Clueless. At first I used to get upset by this, thinking that somehow I didn't sound intelligent when I talked, but now I take it as a compliment because if you remember correctly, Cher has the best wardrobe ever. And let me confirm that the shirt that I bought in Madrid is definitely a Cher shirt, and I cannot wait to bring it back to America with me. All I need now is a revolving closet like Cher and I will be set.
So after shopping and eating, we decided that we couldn't leave Madrid without experiencing the nightlife and since the night before we had gone to bed after dinner, we knew there was no excuse to stay in.
From grannies to "sorry for partying" college students, we hit the town. I guess you could say that it made up for going to bed the night before, because we stayed out until 9 am! I know that seems crazy, even for me, but to tell you the truth it didn't even fell like we were out that long. And the entire time (from 1 am until 9 am), we stayed in the same discoteca dancing and watching the amazing acrobatic stunts put on by the club.
Kapital, the discoteca that we went to was packed from the time we went there until the time we left (at 9 am!)
They even had dancers all night long. This place was truly amazing, and although I have never been to a Vegas club, I can only imagine that this was one hundred times better.
Once we got back to the hostel, we went straight to bed. I felt bad for Kate though because she had to leave for the airport at 11 am, so she only napped for a short time, while Diana and I slept in until 1:30 pm. Lucky for us, we were spending a third night in Madrid because neither of us have classes on Mondays. So with another full day on our hands, we got up and walked to Plaza de Villa. My dad wrote down all the sights to go see, and by far, I think Plaza de Villa was one of the prettiest squares I have ever seen.
We then decided to walk to Palacio Real, the home of the Spanish Royal family. Having seen this many times before, I was still shocked by the size and beauty of it and once again, felt as though the palace would make a good living arrangement for me.
And we also visited the Catedral de la Almudena, which is the Cathedral across the street from the Royal Palace.
We then walked through Plaza de Oriente in order to get to the metro station to visit some other historic places. But I was dazzled by the the beauty of Plaza de Oriente so we decided to sit for a little and soak in the sun rays.
We were then off to Parque del Retiro, which in my opinion is the most beautiful park in the entire world (and after playing softball for over 10 years, I have been to a lot of parks in my day). As soon as I stepped foot in the park, I had flashes of memories hit me from my childhood. When I was younger I remember going to Retiro Park with my family and taking the paddle boats out across the lake.
And after eating lunch and spending time at the park, I knew that I couldn't leave Madrid without going to the Museo del Prado. And although I have been there many times, Goya's art always mesmerizes me. I love how he is able to turn creepiness into art, and do so in a tasteful and unnerving manner.
We took this picture in front of the Prado the day before, but didn't actually have time to go in and look around until a day after. That is why Kate is in this photo -- it was taken before she left back to Florence.
Leaving the Prado after dark, Diana and I decided to shower, get some dinner, and then go to sleep in order to be fully rested for our flights home. Diana's home = Paris. My home = Exeter, England.
After visiting everything on my dad's checklist, Monday was filled with walking around Plaza del Sol and window shopping around there. But as it was getting closer and closer to our flights, we hopped on the metro and took it straight to the airport. However, I didn't actually get back to Exeter until 3 am on Tuesday morning because even though I landed into Gatwick at 8:45 pm, it took an hour to get into London, and of course, the next train leaving for Exeter wasn't until 1 am. But good thing I brought homework and lots of reading to do.
Upon arriving into Exeter, I decided that since it was 3:06 in the morning I better splurge and get a Taxi to drive me back to my flat from the train station. Money well spent.
All in all, I had a fantastic time in Madrid! If you are going to Spain anytime soon, I definitely recommend it over Barcelona (I went to Barcelona two summers ago, and Madrid is way more fun!) So although I am late on this blog post, I am glad to say that Madrid was one of my favorite weekends abroad! I spent this past weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland, so expect another blog post later this week on my adventures there!
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