Spring Break: Madrid! (week 9)

So the first place we traveled to was Madrid, Spain. Ashley and I ended up having to rush to get to the bus in the morning  to Pisa Airport, and we got to Madrid by the early afternoon. We checked into our hostel and found a cute place to get lunch outdoors. We ended up getting a three course lunch for 10 euro: I got pasta salad, chicken, and ice cream. My friend Pamela is studying abroad in Madrid, and she and her friend from Syracuse, Kerry, who happens to be studying in Florence, met up with us. We walked around a bit and got to know our area before figuring out what we wanted to do that night.

Before dinner, Ashley and I took a much needed nap, and then took the Metro to Sol where we met Kerry for dinner. We went to some random Tapas place, and the food wasn't so great since we didn't really pick the best restaurant to go to. We ordered a few tapas to split and it was fine. We then bought wine and met Pamela and her roommate and we walked to the Royal Palace where we sat and drank our wine and caught up. Pam then took us to this bar where we got another drink and then to this rooftop lounge that overlooked Plaza Mayor, which was pretty cool. It was a bit windy at this point, and Ashley and I were really tired from our trip and lack of sleep dating back since we got back from Paris, and so we ended up leaving a bit early to go back to the hostel.

The next day, we woke up early to try to catch a walking tour, but ended up missing it by a minute we believe. Instead, we walked to this park that Pam mentioned, where you can rent a rowboat and go out onto the lake for 45 mins. So Ashley and I walk there in no time, and rent a boat. I was the rower at first since I knew how to row from camp, but eventually we both just let the boat drift. At this point we were in the middle of the lake, by this fountain that was spewing water into the lake. Ashley decides to lie down and I decide to look at all my pictures, when all of a sudden I hear Ashley scream- we had drifted right into the stream of water and it had begun to get all over her and into our boat! We caused such a scene because there were tons of people around us, and we both moved to the side with less water and frantically tried to row ourselves away from the fountain. Luckily, it did not get into our bags or onto my leather jacket. It was pretty funny though, and we decided to just row ourselves back to the dock and dry off.

 

The lake, with the fountain on the left.

After spending a little more time walking around the park, we get lunch nearby. Ashley and I both got Asparagus risotto which was soooooo good. My sister, Morgan, and her friends who are all studying abroad in Brighton, England, arrived in Madrid that day, so before going out with all of them, Pamela, Ashley, Morgan, Kerry, and I went to another Tapas place. This time it was so much better. We all ordered Sangria, which was huge and delicious, and then had so much food to go along with it. Ashley and I had already changed to go out, and so we went to Morgan's hostel where I met all her friends, and we all drank our wine and got ready to go out to the biggest club in Madrid called Kapitol; it has 7 floors!

We get there, and it was huge! Pamela wanted us to check out all the floors first so we could see what themes they were. We got two free drinks, and ended up going back to the main floor. The top two floors were closed for some reason, but it didn't really matter. The main floor was so much fun, and at random points in time there would be smoke and air that would burst down onto us, and it was a little scary the first time it happened because we didn't expect it, but later it was fun to be under. We danced on top of these stands, and just had a good time.

Ashley and me at the market

The next day, we woke up to go to this market, where I bought a lot of gifts for people and a few things for myself. We met up with my sister and her friends who had been there for a while, and they went to go get lunch, while Ashley and I continued shopping. We eventually found somewhere to sit and we ate lunch. We had bought sandwich supplies again and fruit, and sat in the sun and ate. We then started to head back to meet my sister and her friends at the Park, but then noticed that there was a mini concert in this cool looking square.. what we later found out is called a "hard square" because of it's urban feel. We sat and listened to people sing, and it was nice and sunny at this point, and we bought a beer and just talked and enjoyed the music. Ashley and I were probably one of the only Americans listening.

the "hard square"

We sat there for about an hour before we had to go back and meet my sister and her friends. They hadn't gone the the park like we thought they were doing, so we quickly showed them it before going the the Prado Museum, which was free from 4-7 or something. After walking around the museum for a bit, we all head back. Ashley and I took a nap, and packed, since we were leaving for Barcelona the next day, and then met up with them again for dinner. We ended up going back to our area for dinner since we didn't see anything we wanted to eat in Sol. We wound up in this cute restaurant down the block from my hotel, which was decently priced. I got this pasta dish like my sister did, and most of my sisters friends got a food sampler. We also ordered two pitchers of Sangria which really good, and we got unlimited bread. Ashley and I realized we couldn't go out that night since we had to wake up at 4 to catch a shuttle to the airport, and went to sleep when we got back to the hostel. My sister was going to be in Madrid for one night longer before going with her friends to Barcelona for a few days too. I kind of planned my trips around when she was going so I could see her.