Madrid: Day Two

We woke up pretty early considering how late we actually went to sleep, mainly because we wanted to get out of that hostel. We got ready in the bathroom and headed to the bar for a complimentary breakfast that turned out to be toast and coffee. No thanks. We knew that we wanted some wi-fi and a better breakfast, so naturally we went to McDonald's. I know what you are thinking - McDonald's? In Spain? Come on! But really, it was a two-story Mickey D's with free wi-fi, a bakery, and a darn good smoothie. After starting my day with a strawberry and banana smoothie, an apple, and a little bit of email and Twitter, I was ready to go. We got on the subway at Puerta del Sol, the very center of the city, and headed in the opposite direction that we did yesterday. We wanted to see some of the gardens, and being the English nerd that I am, the National Library. We were also on the hunt for a place that we found on Pinterest, Burgundy Street, but we found no information about said street, nor did any of the locals that we asked seem to know what or where that was. We headed off in the direction of the gardens anyway, and though we never found Burgundy Street, we did find a plethora of beautiful sights. 

We came across Parque del Retiro, which is huge, and just enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. Spain is definitely a country of sleeping in, which means Sarah and I get the mornings all to ourselves because we wake up so early. We did see quite a few runners and I was itching to go running. We do walk a lot though, so I guess I can count that as a workout! We found swings at this park, we saw people on bikes and people on rollerblades, we found a body of water (not sure if I can classify it as a lake?), and we saw so many different types of trees. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, and we loved having the park basically to ourselves. Madrid is a great city, but it is also very, very crowded, making it a prime place to become victim to pickpocketing. We held tight to our purses and made sure to put luggage locks on our backpacks, as we had to be out of our hostel by 11:00am, but our train wasn't scheduled to leave until 5:30pm. We probably looked like the ultimate tourists carrying around purses and backpacks. Hey, we are still in possession of all of our belongings, so I will gladly accept my label as a typical tourist!

Channeling my inner child

This reminded us of Town Lake - an Austin favorite!

Senior pictures in Madrid 

So artsy, right?!

:)

After exploring the park, we decided that we really wanted to see the National Library (duh, that is an English major's dream), so after somehow walking the wrong way for a bit, we managed to find it, and though we did not go inside because we did not want to go through the trouble of putting all of our bags through security nor did we really want to have to pay to go inside, we had fun taking pictures with some of that statues out front!

Relaxing in the park

After our library adventures, we still had about an hour and a half until our lunch reservations at Botin, so we (again) headed over to a sunny park area, put our feet up on the benches, and read until some police officers informed us of a festival that was about to take place. We decided that we should probably head back over to Puerta del Sol to make our lunch reservations, as we weren't quite sure where the restaurant was. Luckily, we found the restaurant pretty quickly and we were immediately led downstairs to be seated in the basement area. Botin is known for its pig and lamb, and though Sarah and I opted against those options, we both agreed that our meals were just fantastic. I opted for the vegetables with ham, and sarah went with chicken and rice - both were delicious and very filling.

We thought the bread was complimentary, and then we had to pay three euro for it! At least it tasted good! 

My delicious meal!

Sarah and I

Oldest restaurant in the world!

Before we left the restaurant, we talked to the people at the table next to us and discovered that they are also studying abroad in Barcelona and that they attend Georgia Tech, but one of them is originally from Dallas and we found out that we had a few mutual friends! Small world! We talked to them for a bit, and overall just really enjoyed our experience at Botin. After asking for the check, we decided to just head over to the train station so that we would be sure to make our 5:30 train back to Barcelona. We loved our time in Madrid, but we were ready to get back home! We had an absolutely wonderful weekend, well worth the trouble we went through in getting the tickets to actually get to Madrid (more on that soon!) and we decided that a trip back just might be in our future. After a great night's sleep, we are off on a bike tour of the city, and then we are making our first official trip to the beach! 

We also have a holiday today here in Spain, but I will be thinking of America today on Memorial Day and remembering all of the soldiers who have died fighting for our freedom. Have fun today, ride the jet ski for me, and eat an extra burger! Hasta luego! 

Madrid: Day One

What started off as an early morning yesterday ended up being a wonderful day. We made it to our 8:00am bullet train on time, and we found it to be very spacious, comfortable, and effective. The wheels started rolling promptly at 8:00am, which guaranteed an on-time arrival to Madrid. The train ride lasted about three hours, so Sarah and I both got quite a bit of reading done. Once we arrived in Madrid, it took us a while to find out where we needed to go in order to get to our hostel. It turned out to be a very short Metro ride away, so we quickly purchased Metro passes and found our line. We found our hostel quite easily, but we were less than impressed with it. I know that is how everybody travels around Europe, but it really just was not our thing. It had a smell to it, and I really prefer having a private room. We did it, we got the experience, we know what it is like, but I can't say that we will be doing it again. We had it hanging over our heads all day that we eventually had to go back to Cat's, and when we are in London and Paris, we don't want that hanging over our heads all day. We want to enjoy the day and come back to a room that relaxes us, not one that gives us anxiety.

We should have known with a name like Cat's..

Anyway, after we dropped our bags off at Cat's, we headed out the door to try and find some lunch as it was almost 14:00 (2:00pm) at this point. We knew that the world's oldest restaurant was in Madrid, so we took advantage of Cat's free wi-fi (its only perk) and looked up how to get there. It turned out to be very close to our hostel, but alas, without reservations, we would not find a table at that time.We went ahead and made reservations for Sunday lunch, knowing that we would most definitely want to eat there before we left the city. We wandered across the street and came across a restaurant called Cantina La Traviesa with friendly waiters welcoming us into the restaurant, enticing us with the promise of paella. Our first paella! How could we pass on this opportunity? We came to Spain knowing that we had to experience this famous Spanish dish, so we decided to stop and eat there, despite the fact that it appeared to be rather pricey. We were given an appetizer of ham, cheese, and bread, on the house, and promised that our paella would be ready in approximately 20 minutes. The waiters were fun and really seemed to like us - they saw us taking pictures of our food and immediately whisked us over to the bar area so that we could have pictures with the meat (yes, there were two pig legs just on display), and with the cook.

Our paella finally came, and y'all, it came in a HUGE pan, but it was not very deep (at least, that's my justification for going back for thirds!) and it was absolutely delicious. People have told me that Spanish food tends to be bland, and while it doesn't have much flavor to it, I have found it to be wonderful. The paella was so, so good, and I am very excited to have even more of it in the weeks to come. Our waiter asked us if we wanted any coffee or dessert, and though we declined, expecting to receive our bill, he proceeded to bring shot glasses and some type of drink known as "crema" to our table. He kept telling us to drink even though we told him repeatedly that we didn't want it. He then proceeded to bring us out another type of alcohol that we again told him we didn't want. All we really wanted was our check! He then brought out some type of peach water (sin alcohol, finally!) which was actually quite delicious. Once we had finished that, we were once again expecting to receive the bill, but no such luck. All we received were a few winks, smiles, and waves. It turns out that you have to ask for the bill in Spain and it does not just get brought out to the table. That is a nice way of doing things, because I find that I often just sit at the table for hours after I am done eating, and the waiter often walks by, just waiting for us to leave. It can be hard to catch the waiter's attention though, so I guess there are positives and negatives to both situation!

 

With full bellies, we then set off to explore the rest of the city, on foot rather than by metro as we knew we would get to see more of the city that way. We only had about 36 hours there after all, and we were determined to see as much as possible. We headed toward La Plaza Mayor, where we were greeted with a beautiful courtyard that housed what we think was an apartment building of some type, a statue, many delicious-smelling restaurants, artists and their paintings, and many, many people. I was excited to see someone dressed up in a Mickey Mouse costume, seeing as Sarah and I traveled to Disney World about six months back, so I asked him for a picture. We got a couple of cute pictures before he began begging us for money. We quickly walked off and avoided any and all Disney creatures for the rest of the day. We continued walking down La Calle Mayor, where we came across many fun shops and cool monuments. We had a destination in mind, but we just had to make a few pit-stops! Our friend Katie traveled to Madrid over spring break to visit her brother who is currently living there, and she told us that we had to try this place that resembled our beloved Whole Foods. Those of you that have been reading for a while know that I am an avid Whole Foods fan. Sarah and I could not remember the name of the place for the life of us, and Katie is currently at camp right now sans cell phone, so we sort of just hoped that either the name would come to us or that we would somehow stumble upon it. Stumble upon it, we did! Though we were not yet hungry, we had to stop in Mercado de San Miguel and take a look around the place. We were met with hundreds of stands selling many different kinds of food and sweets.

La Plaza Mayor

Puerta Del Sol

Bakeries EVERYWHERE! 

Mercado de San Miguel

Candy stores are also everywhere

Hook'em all day long!

We knew that we had to come back before we left, as this place just looked too good to not try. We continued on down La Calle Mayor until we hit what we were looking for: the Cathedral de La Almudena, the Royal Palace, and the grassy area in which we would later rest our feet and read for a bit (I'm telling ya, we are big nerds)! Both the Cathedral and Royal Palace were stunning, and we actually got the chance to walk through the Cathedral and it was breathtaking. Imagine going to church there every Sunday! And the Royal Palace, y'all, it was incredible. It reminded me of the Palace of Versailles in France, and though we did not walk around, we gawked from outside of the gates, wishing we could sleep there instead of at Cat's. By that time, our feet had gotten the better of us, and we decided to recharge by sitting and reading in a grassy area that overlooked the Palace. The weather was absolutely perfect all day, and we ended up sitting there for over an hour! Walking everywhere can really take a lot out of you!

Front of the Cathedral

Palacio Real 

View from the grassy area

We then decided to take a page out of our Pinterest boards and put down the map and just walk, getting wonderfully lost. Well, we weren't quite lost as Madrid really isn't too difficult to navigate, but we just walked a ways, admiring all of the beautiful buildings and nature that surrounded us. We then caught the metro to take us back to Puerta del Sol, so I could stop in at El Corte Ingles to purchase the luggage locks that I so smoothly left at home. No worries, I found two for a great price! We were getting hungry by this point, but we had no interest in going back to Cat's, but we did want our computers so that we could take advantage of some of the cafe's that offered free wi-fi. Since we were close to the market, we headed in that direction to eat a light dinner before heading back to the dreadful Cat's. After walking around the entire market, faced with some very tough decisions as everything looked wonderful, I went with two vegetable kebobs and one salmon and guacamole topped piece of bread. It was delicious and really hit the spot. Sarah also opted for two kebabs as well as a mint truffle that she said was just wonderful. The desserts in this country are just unreal! I have yet to have one because I am still on the lookout for a dairy-free dessert, but when I do, I will go to town!

Hello, beautiful

Vegetable Kebabs 

Salmon and Guacamole - two of my favs!

With some delicious food in our stomachs, we began the long walk back to Cat's, where we made a desperate attempt at finding a hotel that we could stay at for the night, completely willing to forfeit the money at our hostel. We know, we know, we are being total divas, but this was just really not our kind of place. I am sure that other hostels out there are quite lovely, but this happened to be the only place that had any available beds the night before we planned to check-in. We decided to stick it out at Cat's, telling ourselves that it was just one night out of our lives and that it was part of the European experience. We grabbed our computers and sat in the bar to take advantage of the free wi-fi when I got to Skype with my sweet parents for the first time since I have been gone (granted, I have only been gone one week, but still!) It was so great to see their faces, and I absolutely loved getting to talk to them. I have not yet gotten homesick, but I do miss talking to my parents every day! I am hoping that now that they have figured out how to work Skype, there will be more Skype dates to come in the future.

Once the bar started getting a little rowdy, Sarah and I grabbed our stuff and read for a bit in the common room before heading into our actual room to get ready for bed. Some of our other roommates were getting ready to go out for the night (at almost midnight, the norm here in Spain) so we continued reading, trying not to think about the fact that we were actually spending the night at this place. We clearly blew things out of proportion in regards to this hostel, but it really was not our idea of a good place to stay. But, despite our less-than-glamourous sleeping arrangements, we had a wonderful day and were ready to hit the ground running in the morning!

Look for a post about our second day in Madrid - coming soon!