Our Last day in Madrid

Look at THE LAST DAY'S PICS!

After another long day, we were up and ready by 11 am to spend our last day in Madrid.

Despite our best efforts we weren't ready in time to head to the Mercado on Calle de Los Estudios with Hong and Kao (the other Americans).

We spent some time searching through the market, and I ended up purchasing two really cool prints of Madrid, one for me and the other for my mom from a nice Madridian man Antonio Rios Martin. I also found a really cheap but cute pair of earrings. From there, Angie let my awesome sense of direction give us a tour of Madrid.

Me and the artist of my print

I managed to take us pass the Plaza de la Villa (City Hall) with a hot Spanish statue right in front. Supposedly right here was the Ayuntamiento (town hall) where during elections we could find some protestors against everybody's favorite Spanish King, Juan Carlos the II.


Of course while walking past the Placa Real, we saw a Angel Human Statue in the process of her siesta (apparently even the supposedly non-moving statues take breaks)
After a brief photo shoot at the what I consider the coolest statue ever, Don Quixote with Sancho headed off to fight some windmills at the Plaza de Espana, the two of us headed over to the Cabines to see Madrid from the air.

We were delayed a bit by the sweet smell of Spanish tapas. We had a lovely lunch which included the waiter putting Angie's eye drops in for her.


After a 15 minute ride, where Angie and I attempted to strategically balance ourselves and our cameras, we landed in Casa de Campos an outdoor park.

If there is one thing the Spanish have mastered other than the siesta it would have to be the art of the park. This was seriously 50 acres of landscaping for the Spanish people to just enjoy.

Over the other side of the hill was an amusement park and swimming area. Once you reached the other side of the Cabines back towards the heart of Madrid, you were in the La Rosalida, where Angie and I decided that it would be a nice place to take a nap.

After about 30 mins of siesta time we went to the Templo de Debod, a supposed gift to the Spanish people form the Egyptian government for helping to build a dam that saved a bunch of historic structures. In reality I think the Spanish stole it during the Crusades but I guess to each their own.

Templo de Debod, stolen from Egypt. Picture stolen from cousin.

Luckily we once again made the acquaintance of Americans by ignorantly trying to get someone to take a picture of the two of us by handing a camera and saying "Por Favor", obviously Angie and I are fluent in Spanish.
por favor picture

Our new friend Ian was from Philly also and was actually fluent in Spanish. He took us to get falafel which of course turned into a whole ordeal bc of my vegetarian cousin. Not only did the guy originally try to give her a meat pita but then he just removed the meat and put veggies in it thinking that would be alright.

After a brief Turkish American war, we went back to the Plaza Real and hung out by the fountain until we could go back to Matias and pack.

While walking back to pack at Matias, there just happened to be a good old fashioned Spanish bidet, of course we had to use it.

Sadly, we had to take a 9 hour bus to Barcelona. During the bus, I wanted to vomit because of the gross smelling Spanish man who sat behind me. So let's just say I spent the 9 hours trying to breathe through my mouth....

Luckily we eventually arrived in Barcelona!

Are you saying Mr. Bean is an Elephant??? Madrid Continues

After let's just say a rough night partaking of the Czech specialty, Angie and I didn't wake up til late.... Well I woke up at 10:30 and spent some time with Pablo and Rasta before Pablo left. Let's just say, I think Pablo may have had a crush on me, but he was supremely disappointed that I had a Vince in Germany and wanted me to have a Pablo in Madrid. Lucky for Vince, I decided to control my self and play with Rasta instead.

Once we got going, we spent the day exploring Madrid's lovely streets.

Once Angie was up and we were both ready, we headed to Museo Thyssen Bornemisya, a private art collection owned by a wealthy Spanish woman who was married to a Swiss Baron. Included in the amazing collection was works by Kadinsky, Ernst, Degas, Dali, O'Keefe, Renoir, Money, Manet, Picasso, and Van Gogh. We also bought a ticket to the Modigliani exhibit and some of his incredible art work which was inspired by Masters like Cezanne and Juan Gris. All in all, a pretty incredible exhibit.

Afterwards, Angie and I just walked for a bit and explored the city, nothing too exciting.

Pretty awesome place we should've eaten at...

Grabbed some food at the Spanish version of McDonald's which included nachos with mayonaise (gross), who could've thought the Spanish could ruin something so incredibly?


When we got back to Matias' apartment, everyone was heading out for a carne asada at Johnny and Lily's apartment. We trekked out to God knows where, and discovered that Lily and Johnny had a beautiful apartment.

After the manly Argentinean men handled the meat (which turned out to be diaphragm), the barbecue was started!


Lucky for me my new friend Fernando is from Mexico and he happens to have the super secret recipe known only by Mexicans for delicious guacamole and salsa....

mmm I miss American mexican food, almost more than Mexican mexican food.

After fun and revelry, they broke out the absinthe and I became a drunk mess. Let's just say me and real absinthe are a party in a gulp. Don't worry I tried both red and GREEN absinthe, red is less licoricey. Angie was only brave enough to sip the green gracefully out of a wine glass.



Then we partied like an Argentinean...

Crazy Argentinean Women (and a Spaniard)

Johnny was kind enough to DJ the party and we partied it up again til 5 in the morning...

Let's just say I can never live in Spain as I can't handle the fun!

OH NOOOO Pablooo PLease don't go!

So, of course, after a night snuggled on the couch with Smiegel the snoring monster (Angie), I woke up late. Angie claims her excuse is "jet lag". As we get ready in the morning, Angie loses her shoe after 20 minutes of searching we say something to Matias and Leo from the other end of the apartment goes "Is it purple?". Of course, Rasta, the cutest puppy in the world has stolen it and placed it under Pablo's desk.

So now we are finally off into the beautiful city of Madrid. We head to the Museo Nacioanl Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for a Pablo Picasso Exhibit, which includes Guernica. The Picasso exhibit was absolutely ridiculous.... 4 huge rooms full of everything from his blue period, his works of Pierrot, Guernica, Cubism, Self Portraits, and works inspired by others (including Manet's Dejeuner Sur l'Herbe)

Afterwards we met up with our Spanish friend, Cristina to take some photos. She gave us a mini-tour and we saw the Palacio Real and the Royal Cathedral (Iglesia de le Almudena). Walked pass the Jardines de Sabatina, Spain's version of the Royal Gardens... we really hoped we'd see King Juan Carlos II.

Around 5 pm, Angie and I realized we were absolutely starving. The only thing we didn't know was that between 5 pm to 8 pm, ALL OF SPAIN SIESTAS (including the restaurants).

The only place opened was Haagen Daas, so Angie and we ordered two sundaes to share. Possibly the most ice cream I've ever seen and our most expensive meal in Spain.

We returned back to Matias' house, and passed the Plaza de Espana and the Don Quixote Monument!

Once back, we met up with some more Americans and started to celebrate Pablo's departure for Germany. Sadly, this celebration included REAL absinthe made from wormwood in the woods of the Czech Republic. Of course, Lukas devilishly offered the two of us some. Possibly the worst tasting alcohol in the world, but the rest of the night was extraordinary.

We went dancing at this club called 80's, which I can only assume was a gay club as there were at least 5 male couples making out. After some dancing, Pablo's absinthe started to take effect on him (he had 3 shots) and he gave going away kisses to everyone.... This means he kissed everyone (including men) at least once on the lips. The bar closed around 3 and Matias asked if we wanted to go to another club, Angie and I were of course up for ANYTHING.

We head to the next bar, more traditional, and the two of us begin to feel the Absinthe. Let's just say Absinthe makes me a crazy Spanish dancer (like almost professional) and it makes Angie very "tempting". We danced the rest of the night away!

We finished the night, or I guess, morning and arrived back at Matias' around 7am in the morning... To the say the least we didn't wake up til noon the next day.

Check out pictures from my second day!

And here's some more!

A la Molestas de de pecho a qui?

View the pictures from my First day in Madrid!

Madrid rests in the center of Spain. Situated on top of a hill, it is the Spanish powerhouse of politics, culture and sports. You can find anything and everything you ever thought was close to Spanish there. The city was built like a giant bulls-eye.

Want to go to a bullfight, visit the Placa del Torreaus... but make sure you grab the bullfighter's balls for good luck (at least that's what some Argentinean dude told us). Like tapas? Enter any of the estimated 30,000 cervecerias and stand by the bar and have some delicious pimentos vertes or croquettes. Enjoy staring at really old buildings? Well Madrid has plenty of them. The prettiest include the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and the Cathedrale de le Almunda.

After touchdown in Madrid, Angie and I were exhausted from all of the rushed shopping and packing the previous night. After Cristina was kind enough to take us to Lavapies, we met our host. The two of them took us out for a traditional tapas celebration at a local cerveceria close to our Madrid "home".

Afterwards Matias had some errands to do, so he gave us a couple of options of things to do.

Luckily our host recommended a nice breezy walk to the Parque del Buen Retiro, where I discovered the joy of what the Spansih term a "siesta". I enjoyed it so much I am considering adding it to my repertoire of cultural influences. French bread in the morning, a siesta around 1 and a french goute at 4:30.

Angie and I walked around for about an hour attempting to photograph what I think is a magpie or the Spanish equivalent of. At one point we found a lovely little pond with a bridge going over it. Obviously the best way to view this spot was laying on the bench. Eventually I fell asleep for what I will guess was half an hour. That was the best 30 minutes of my life.

Palacio de Cristal

Once I woke up, I was pumped to see what was actually in this parque.

Just by happenstance, we came along the Palacio de Cristal. A beautiful Metal framed glass palace, that the Spanish were smart enough to situate on another lovely pond filled with swans and ducks. I felt like I just stepped out of my own Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale (except I wasn't wearing my ball gown). After taking probably what was 100 pictures, the cousin and I continued on, to what can only be termed the most beautiful place to watch the sunset.

It was a gorgeous manmade lake called Estanque where on one side there was the Monumento al Alfonso XII, which was like a columned promenade of sorts with Alfonso XII looking down on Madrid from atop his faithful steed. And the other side had a large pathway lined with flowers and lampposts where local musicians played Spanish music.

We followed the Paseo de la Argentina, in honor of our Argentinean host, to the Plaza de la Lealtad, where they had erected (snicker) a obelisk to the fallen Spanish war heroes. As we continued back towards

our Madrid home, we passed the Plaza de Neptuno where a huge fountain commemorates the sea god. After a quick stop at the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente where Angie munched on some not good tasting "Happy Mix" and we both played on the Spanish playground, we made it back to Calle de San Carlos.

At the house, we were able to finally meet all of Matias' roommates and discover their lovely nicknames. There was Leo (who didn't actually live there, but was there all the time) who they called the Rock. And Matias was Mr. Elastic, as he could climb up anything or jump on anything and stretch around it. Then there was Pablo (who actually moved out the Saturday we were there to pursue his career in Germany) who was Hombre Gasman, because his special talent was that of flatulence. And finally, after much prodding, we discovered that Matias' brother, Lucas, was "the Porn Ghost". After they said this, they snickered and refused to tell us what that meant. Obviously we were intrigued, if not scared of this "porn ghost". So many possibilities exist as the meaning behind the name. Eventually we discovered it was because he occasionally walks around naked at night, and once one of the other roomie's girlfriends discovered him in this state. And instead of covering himself, he asked her if she had a light for a cigarette.

Eventually Angie passed out and joined their nickname club, as she became Smiegel (Golem from LOTR) as apparently her snores are the equivalent to his longing for his precious. Also Pablo told her that she sort of looks like Smiegel too, which I of course found to be hysterical!

That's the end of our first day in Madrid!

Please note: the only phrase Angie and I know fully in Spanish, thanks to Lonely planet, is the one listed as the title of the post. I suggest you translate it because it is possibly the least used phrase in ANY language!

A Short Explanation of my Whereabouts...

PREPARE FOR POST OVERLOAD!  

If you haven't realized by now, I haven't posted in over 2 weeks.  While you dudes were trying to read about my exciting adventures, I was off having them.

The last 2 weeks I have spent traveling.  Madrid, Barcelona and Amsterdam plus a fun little layover in Belgium for about 2 hours.  Never-less, I will try, in the next couple of posts, to up date you on the wonder that was my vacation.

From the previous post, you've already heard that my dear OLD cousin Angie arrived in Paris but alas her luggage did not.  SO the whole vacation was spent in MY clothes.  After about 30 minutes of sleep, Angie and I woke up Feb 28 to fly down to Madrid.  Our flight left ridiculously early in the morning and we had to catch a bus to the airport at 5 am, lucky us....

After sleeping through the 2 hour flight, we finally arrived in Madrid.  Through Couchsurfing, we had met a nice girl who would let us store our things in her apartment while we waited for our actual Couchsurfing host to come home from work.

ON A SIDE NOTE: Couchsurfing.com is a website where you can find people to meet up with in different countries.  You can either just have coffee or stay on their couch while you visit that place.  Since Angie and I were traveling together we decided to save a bunch of money and try out the old couchsurfing.

So I am sorry about the lack of posts, but I promise that in the next couple of days I will bombard you with stories of my lovely vacation!