¡Fui a Madrid!

Getting there...

I spent this past weekend in Madrid and it was AWESOME! Although I am still exhausted from the trip, it was well worth it. It was just Emily and I who went together, but we had a blast. Friday afternoon we walked (only 5 minute) to the train station of Alicante and took a 3-hour ride through the country to Madrid. The train was actually kinda fun; much more relaxed and spacious than an airplane. When we arrived in Madrid we decided to walk to our hostel because we weren't very far from the city center... however walking with a backpack/suitcase in the hot sun isn't the most fun thing. We finally got to the street of our hostel, and it was nowhere in sight. For a few moments, I panicked and we asked several people if they knew where it was. A nice guy working in a restaurant on the street looked it up on the computer for us, and found out we had the wrong address. However, the real location of the hostel was very close and when we finally arrived we collapsed on our beds. 

Our hostel was called "Los Amigos Backpackers" (kinda funny) but was pretty nice. We only had to share a room and bathroom with two other people. Plus, there was free toast/cereal/etc. for breakfast in the mornings. The first night in the room we met Francesco, a nice older Italian (Tuscany) guy on vacation, and Romanella, a sweet girl on vacation from Buenos, Aires (Argentina). We asked Francesco where a good place is for dinner and I think somehow the communication wasn't quite clear, so he ended up having dinner with us. He was nice, and it was just slightly awkward. This first night we saw tons of street performers (some of them being really cool and others being ultra creepy), some obvious prostitutes, and way too many people. Madrid is so crowded--i think it may be the bigger city I've ever been to so it was a bit overwhelming for my taste.

Saturday

Okay, on to the more exciting stuff. Saturday morning I woke up without an alarm (this never happens), got out of bed, quickly got ready, and headed over to the Starbucks which was a 2 minute walk from my hostel. Not sure if you knew this, but Alicante does not have anything even close to a Starbucks, and the coffees are always really small so I was so ready for a delicious cafe. To my dismay, they only had fancier coffee drinks like lattes/etc, but still the sizing was the same (GRANDE) and I very much enjoyed drinking my large latte outside on the terraza. 

The first thing Emily and I did was a free 3-hour walking tour around Madrid from 11 to 2. It was really awesome and well worth the free-dollars (ok ok i gave a 5 euro tip but still it was a steal). I wish I could remember all the interesting history and touristy stuff he told us... but that will be difficult. I will post comments on facebook pictures if you'd like more details on what we saw. After the tour, we went over to a restaurant with some people from the tour and had comida. This was the best meal I've had (other than Eva's cooking of course) and it  included lots of deliciousness. For 13 euros I got--a sangria, a vegetable quiche, bread, a chicken vegetable dish, and a brownie for dessert. It was marvelous. 

After comida we head over to the Palacio Real (where the king does not currently live but used to live). This place is huge and beautiful!  There are over 2,800 rooms inside it and we only saw some of the most beautiful and elaborately decorated ones. But unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures, and by that I mean I took 4 or 5 until they asked me to put my camera away. However, we did get in for half price (5euros) due to our wonderful student IDs. Next, we went to put our feet on the piece of concrete in the Puerta del Sol that marks 0km for every part of Spain. After that we went to the fanciest McDonald's I've ever seen (they even asked Emily to stop taking pictures haha) and got fountain soda drinks-great. Then, of course, we did a little shopping. Neither of us bought anything, but it was fun to look around at clothing stores that we don't have in the US. By this time it was getting pretty late so we went back to the hostel for a shower and quick rest. Here we met our roommate for the night--Hannah Walker from the UNITED STATES. It was really nice to meet someone with whom there was no language barrier. Hannah actually lived in Cleveland until she was 16 (when she moved to Florida) so that's pretty crazy we met all the way out in Spain. 

Emily and I went to get a light dinner at a restaurant called Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas and she bought me a rose from a street-seller--so adorable (we miss our boyfriends way too much haha). I just got fruit here but of course it was delicious and fancy--when you order water at these restaurants they bring a fancy bottle of just normal water, it's really bizarre to me (I definitely miss the complimentary ice waters back home). After this we went to a restaurant called "Las Carboneras" and saw a Flamenco show! This was totally awesome and worth the 23euros we spent on it. We also got a drink so that was fun--I got, of course, sangria again. Like I said, the flamenco show was pretty awesome! It is a completely different type of dance than any others I've seen-- very passionate and crazy fast. There were three female dancers and one male; also the music was played live (guitar and voices), which was really really cool. After the show we went back to the hostel and crashed. I slept much better Saturday night because Hannah was the only other person in our room. 

**Side note: Emily won the award for most touristy-tourist of the month on the way to the Flamenco show. While concentrating heavily on the map, she ran straight into a street pole and ended up hugging it. One of my favorite moments yet. 

Sunday

Sunday morning I woke up a little before 9 feeling very sleepy, but we had lots to get done that day so Emily and I got ready quickly and checked out of the hostel around 10. I was a little crabby this morning because I was tired and not feeling so well, but luckily Emily put up with me and I started feeling better throughout the morning. The first place we went was El Rastro, which is a hugeee open air flea market that happens on Sundays in Madrid. I really wanted to go there because my older/wiser sister Abby loved it when she studied abroad in Spain. It was really cool! We didn't have much time to walk around, but we saw the main area of the market and lots of people. 

After that we (eventually) found the Reina Sofia, which is a modern art museum, and we got in for free because it was Sunday! This was great. I understand absolute nothing about modern art, but some of the pieces were interesting. Mostly, I enjoyed seeing Dali and Picasso's works because I actually have heard of them lol. The original of the Guernica, one of Picasso's most famous pieces, was here and that was by far the highlight of the museum. It was absolutely huge and super interesting to read the history of the piece.

Next we had a quick lunch at a random restaurant. We each ordered an individual pizza and a soft drink. I paid 4euros for a can of Diet Coke--that's like $6. Not sure how or why this occurred, but mostly it was funny that this was the actual price. 

After lunch we stopped by the botanical garden and got in for half price--1.50euro-- with our student IDs. It was really pretty here and we enjoyed taking even more pictures.

Next was my favorite part of the weekend, we went to the Prado museum. This is full of classical pieces of art, and we also got in free here because of our student IDs (awesomeness). I loved this museum because I have never seen any art like this--dating back to the 1500s. I didn't realize how much I appreciate this type of artwork and I really felt connected to several of the pieces. The strangest painting was entitled, "The Origin of the Milky Way," which was hilarious and disgusting. I'm sorry but when I see a painting of a woman squirting breast milk at a baby's face, I can't help but be immature and laugh. On a serious note, there were a lot of "religious" paintings and statues that I really loved. We even saw an early copy of the Mona Lisa, which is the closest I've ever come to seeing it, so that was really exciting. 

By the time we finished the Prado we stopped by for some gelato, picked up our bags from the hostel, and caught the subway/metro to the train station. By this time I thought my feet might fall off, I was sweaty, and smelled horrible. We got on the train at 8:30pm, with some of our friends from USAC who had gone to Portugal for the weekend, and enjoyed the three hours of simply sitting on our way "home" to Alicante. When we got home, Eva made us pizza and salad and we chatted about the weekend. I showered and passed out in bed within about 5 minutes. 

Conclusion

Madrid was incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It also exhausted me. This blog is extremely long, and i apologize to anyone who is still reading it. I will try to post short blogs the next few days. I only have 4 days left in this amazing city of Alicante :( so I will be busy wrapping things up, studying for exams, and enjoying my time here. However, I'm pretty pumped about seeing my family, friends, and especially my man Sam. 

Hasta Mañana,

SarahBee

Ps.. I will add pictures soon, I promise! It's 1am here and I'm tired haha.