Hey Cool People,
Ok I know I am really behind on blogging. Right now I am in Biarttz, France and we are using this to relax a little bit before heading into the craziness of the next couple of weeks, so I am hoping to catch up and let you all know what has been going on.
So Spain is incredible, probably my favorite country so far. The food has been absolutely delicious and I have fallen in love with the Spanish culture. It has also been nice to speak in their own language, which makes me wish I had continued to learn and practice Spanish in High School and University.
Anyway, this is what we did while in Madrid:
Day 101 Thursday, August 27th - Today was another travel day! There is not much to say about today; we woke up in Valencia, got on the bus and made our way to Madrid, the capital of Spain. The bus ride was pretty uncomfortable at first, the air-con wasn't working very well, there was no entertainment system on the bus and every seat was full. The nice thing was we were reunited with a bunch of old friends we had met over the past couple months who were making the trip to Madrid with us. During the bus ride, I bounced around, talking to a whole bunch of different people I hadn't seen in a while. Lydia and Jess sat toward the back, attempting to nap. It was the hottest in the back, so I was glad move around.
When we arrived in Madrid, we checked in to our hostel and relaxed a bit. During our "relaxing" tim, I attempted to buy tickets for the Real Madrid soccer game that was happening on Saturday, a bunch of our friends were going and a soccer game was something I wanted to experience while in Europe. It was a little frustrating because there were not very many seats left and the website was not working very well. After a few failed attempts at buying seats, I decided to take a break and out for Tapas at El Tigre with our friends John and Vicki that night.
El Tigre is an authentic Tapas bar, where you order a drink and you get a plate of food. We didn't really know what to expect, but it was a bit overwhelming when we first walked in. There was no sense of order, but we made our way to an open table and after waiting a little bit, we got our drink order in. The drinks were massive and shortly after we got our drinks, a server started dropping off plate after plate of tapas. Once we got adjusted to the craziness around us, it was a pretty cool experience that only cost us 7 euro each with tip.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel. We were still pretty nackered from La Tomatina the day before. I continued searching for tickets to the Real Madrid game. It wasn't until 1:30 am that my order finally went through and I was able to secure tickets for me, Lydia, Jess and our friend Vicki.
Day 102 Friday, August 28th - Today was pretty relaxed. We started off the day wth a walk to through the Buen Retiro Park. The park was beautiful was a giant pond and many florally decorated walking paths. Our walk took us past the Crystal Palace, a glass and metal structure, host to various exhibits, and the Fallen Angel Statue, which apparently it is located 666 meters above sea level and actually a beautiful piece of artwork. Our walk then took us through Madrid to the local food market, which was really nice. It was a lot calmer than the market in Barcelona. We had a few snacks before sitting down for a proper lunch.
Me, Lydia and Jess had skipped breakfast, so we were pretty hungry by lunch time. The night before we had walked by this Mexican restaurant that looked similar to Chipotle back in America, and Me and Lydia have been craving Chipotle, so we decided to eat there. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs because we got a lot of food, but so satisfying!!! Note: It was good, but Chipotle is still better and I can not wait to come home and get myself a proper Chipotle burrito. We were all practically in a food coma, so we all took a short nap before meeting later for the sunset that night.
We all got back together around 7:30 pm and made our way to the Temple of Debod for the sunset. The Temple of Debod was kinda cool in itself. FUN FACT: The Temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuild in Madrid. The temple was a gift from Egypt for helping save the temples of Abu Simbel after the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. On our way to the Temple, we stopped the monument of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of the famous novel, Don Quixote. We stood next to the statue to take some photos, rubbing the donkey's tail for good luck. The sunset was beautiful. The Temple of Debod is located atop a hill that looks over much of Madrid and provides for a very picturesque sunset. There was even a couple taking wedding photos. aww cute.
After the sunset, the group of us walked around and found a place for dinner. We ate and made our way back to the hostel for drinks. Me, Lydia and Jess still had bottles of alcohol to finish off before hopping on a plane to Lisbon, Portugal in a few days. We ran into our friends Katie and Freya in the dinning room and sat down with them. They were drinking with a couple friends who were living in Madrid at the moment.
Our original plan that night was to meet up with some of our friends who were doing a pub crawl for our friend Michael's birthday, but after they left the hostel, we were not able to get in contact with them again, so, one of Freya's friends suggested going to Club Kapital because ladies got in free apparently. After a metro ride to the club, we found out ladies don't get in free and none of us were keen on paying the cover charge, so we assumed the girls who brought us to the club were going to lead us somewhere else. Well, after walking around and then standing around for a bit, me and our friend Katie got annoying and sat down for a drink at the first bar we saw. Well, everyone ended up following and the girls that failed at getting us in the club decided to leave.... It was annoying. Lydia and Freya decided to head back to the hostel too. They were going to take the metro back, but didn't realize it closed at 2 am and got locked inside for about 15 minutes until they were able to get someone to let them out. After they rushed back to tell us this story, they waved down a cab, i think, and headed back to the hostel. Me, Jess, John and Vicki stayed out for a few more drinks.
At around 3 - 4 am we were all partied out and we walked Vicki back to her hostel since it was nearby. After we left Vicki's hostel, we stumbled on a Burger and Hotdog shop and food always sounds like a good idea when you are drunk. Well, these burgers were AMAZING and it is not the "I am drunk amazing," it was legit AMAZING!!!! Me, Jess and John were talking about it all day the next day. We, eventually made it back to the hostel at 5:00 am and went to bed.
Day 103 Saturday, August 29th - Today we were a little hungover, so we were not moving too fast. We went to go get breakfast at a cafe down the road and me and Jess almost shit ourselves when we found out that they served pancakes. I miss a good American breakfast, and while it was not the same, it was pretty nice to get something somewhat similar. After breakfast, I did our washing, which was frustrating since I had to practically guard our stuff in the washroom because people were being dick heads.. I am going to leave it at that. Once our washing was finally done, I took a short nap before the Real Madrid game that night, which didn't start until 10:30 pm.
We were all really pumped for the game. I was getting the chance to experience a soccer game in Europe! A Real Madrid Game! Cristiano Ronaldo! Before the game, we had a big family dinner with all our friends who were going to the game at the Mexican restaurant down the road. The game itself was pretty crazy. It was Real Madrid vs. Real Betis. The game ended 5 - 0 for Real Madrid. It was a pretty amazing experience to see the energy and excitement of the crowd. However, I will say, while the energy was incredible, the experience is very different than that of an American sport. I will explain below. Anyway, after the game, our friends and us all walked back to the hostel together and said our goodbyes, since that would probably be the last time we would be seeing each other for a while and went to bed.
Ok now to explain the difference between American sporting events to my experience with Real Madrid:
1) The Stadium:
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was very simple. The stadium was there to seat people for the game. I only saw one "food" stand inside. Only One!
That is very different when you compare that to Miller Park or Lambeau Field, which is an entertainment experience in themselves. They house restaurants, shops, kids activities, etc. It is more than a concrete block with seats. People are walking around with a beer in their hand and chowing down on a brat or hotdog, maybe shopping for a Jersey or walking around the stadium.
2) The Experience:
At the Real Madrid game everyone was focused on the game and, for the most part, the crowd was quiet until something big happened. Also, while people were wearing Real Madrid fan gear, most people were wearing "normal clothing
That is different from most American sporting events. Go to Lambeau field for a Packer Game people are most likely drunk and load, shouting at the field about every play. Also, if you are not wearing green and gold, you are wearing blaze orange. Period.
Fallen Angel Statue
Sunset at Temple Debod
Real Madrid scoring their first goal of the night
