Living the Life in Espana

Spain Day 1.5

The trip started off with us leaving insanely early to get to the airport fearing that we would be late, instead we were in the airport for 2+hours before we could board. I just couldn’t leave any later; Papa was haunting me with the whole 2 hour before rule. Just love him for that. I got really excited when we headed out to our plane and got to climb up the stairs! That never happens!

After a not too long flight talking non-stop with my roomie Katie and listening to wicked we arrived in spain! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh We had to get a taxi to the center of town, luckily there was a very attractive young Spanish taxi driver to start our trip off right.  It was great, he didn’t speak barely any English, the windows were rolled down, and Spanish music playing on the radio mixed in with a little Shikira and Beyonce.  I felt like I had arrived. 

We were driven to the SKETCHIEST part of town ever! Seriously, I was scared but never fear our hostel was on Maria y Jesus street so I knew we would be okay. We had an interesting time getting things figured out at the front desk seeing as the majority of us spoke ZERO Spanish but we figured it out.  I thought our room was adorable. We had this little balcony that looked out onto the cute Spanish street.  

The hostel worker was there ready to show us the best places to go and the best ways to get there.  I was fascinated by the hostel culture.  It was great to have a group of people trying to help young teenagers get the best out of seeing the world.  It was so comforting. We set off to conquer Madrid in one day, so doable! First stop was the Royal Palace, and it just so happened that the Cathedral was next door. Here is a picture of the cathedral...

And then the Palace. I loved that plus we got in for free! Camille my travel mate and old floor mate from my Heleman days got some  pictures. 

 Next stop on our Madrid marathon was an Indian temple at the top of the city. I wish I could tell you how old this temple is but...I can't remember. Let's just say it is REALLY REALLY old! The best part however was the view of the city.  Breathtaking. I wish pictures could capture it in the very least but, it can't. 

Silly Girls!

After that little adventure we went to get Paella. I thought I liked Paella, but...I don't. At least not authentic Paella. The meat was very bony, and the rice was very greasy. I was worried that I was going to throw up later. After that adventure we headed to the Prado Museum.  We also got in free! Yay for coming to Madrid on the right day.  The museum was great filled with some wonderful art including Goya and Vasquez. It was pretty amazing. We did the museum pretty quick because we were all warn out. However I would like to share a common theme I noticed in the art at the Prado and that was breastfeeding...interesting huh? :)

Really close to the Prado is the big train station complete with a rainforest on the inside.  There are also turtles. "Too many turtles," as Katie would say. 

Plaza Mayor was next on the list of places to go but...we got lost. Getting lost in an unknown city is scary, getting lost in an unknown city in a sketchy part of town is scar, but getting lost in an unknown city in a sketchy part of town where no one speaks English is REALLY scary. Luckily this little old lady saw us struggling with our map and offered to help. It was a challenge to understand each other but she pointed us to the bus (a word that ellie was able to recognize in Spanish) and warned us of the bad neighborhood and we were headed on our way.  

The Plaza Mayor is a plaza surrounded by stores and resturants and a lot of strange performers.  We walked around a bit and then decided to head back to our hostel to take a nap before our night time activities.  Luckily there was a candy store on our way home and because we all have sweet tooth problems we got some. Yay!

The nap was SO needed, I was OUT! But halfway through my nap a young man walked into our room with his bags.  I was in a half dazed stupor but luckily Ellie jumped right into action and took care of it. "No boys allowed!" So we ended up switching rooms back to the one we were in the night before. 

Next came our little adventure with Javiere. ;) He was the hostel worker that led us to our underground flamenco performance.  Seriously, it was underground in the bar in the basement of this old building. The room only fit about 15 people in it.  We payed 13 euro for a show and a free drink!  Coke for the Mormon girls please :) It was such a cool experience. The best part was how intimate it was. There was one female dancer, a guitar player, and a singer.  The dancer was amazing.  She was so captivating and was able to show anger, love, passion, without a partner.  We also go the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about Flamenco.  

We then asked Javier if he had any recommendations for food and he said he did and he would even take us after he got the pub crawl group from the hostel to the bar they were starting at. So we wandered around a bit and technically were a part of a pub crawl.  We were fascinated by the idea of the word crawl and decided we wanted to do a pub roll, or a pub swim. Those sounded more fun. Anyway we got some great food and ate TONS of bread seeing as we hadn't eaten for hours. We got a spanish omlete, basically an omlette with a lot of potatoes and peppers on top! Then my favorite Manchengo Cheese. I can't describe it because how do you describe cheese but everyone should try it. I have to get more. 

Bed time was glorious but not early enough. I was OUT! The next day was the beginning of our Cheetah Girl's remake. :) Stay tuned for Barcelona details in the next few days. 

Really quick I just want to say that I went to see a ballet called Manon at the Royal Opera House and it was so wonderful. I have never been so captivated by a ballet before in my life. The character of Manon was the epitome of grace. I have never seen anyone move so beautifully.  They really used ballet to portray all aspects of humanity including passion, hatred, drunkenness, despair, ah it was wonderful. Plus I got to wear my vintage dress so that made me happy. 

Oh and at the opera house they had this ceiling of HAIR! I almost puked. SICK.