Hola Madrid! I have been wanting to visit Spain for quite a while, so I was very excited when I found some friends who also wanted to go! We decided on Madrid instead of Barcelona since everything I read said that Madrid is a great city that is considerably cheeper than Barcelona.
Friday:
When we flew into Madrid, we were all starving. We were supposed to meet someone at the stop Principe Pio, but had a miscommunication. We got to the stop and decided to go into this huge shopping center which had a Burger King, McDonalds, and KFC right next to one another. It was slightly ridiculous, and we all actually felt like we had been taken back to America for a minute. We grabbed some food, wandered around the mall for a bit (marveling at how much less expensive Madrid is compared to Paris!) Then decided to head off to find our other friend Vanessa and our hostel! This was our first sight coming out of the metro in the center of Madrid:
We found Vanessa, then shortly after found our hostel next door to the hotel in which she was staying! Which was perfect so we weren't all separated too much. We then decided to walk to Sol, which is the center of Madrid. And since Madrid is the center of Spain, Sol is the very center of Spain as well! It was pretty cool. There were guys in Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes, a bunch of Sponge Bobs and Patricks, a Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Woodie, and Elmo and the Cookie monster. It was kinda random! We even found a guy dressed as Jesus, so that was amusing.
Then we stopped for a quick lunch break as it started hailing, plus a glass of wine to celebrate Stacy's 21st birthday! This is Vanessa and my petite sœur, Christy!
When we left lunch, the lighting was gorgeous. It was fun being a tourist and taking pictures of EVERYTHING! I don't feel like I have that freedom as much in Paris, since I've been living here for 3 months now. Anyways, we walked back to Sol and Plaza Mayor and sat down by the fountain like many other people and just decided to people watch. It was wonderful, and so relaxing especially since all of us woke up at 4 or 5am for our flights!
There was a parade going on, most likely for Easter, but we didn't really catch much of it since we didn't really understand where the route was. After that we headed back to Vanessa's hotel (it was really nice) and watched a movie and hung out for a while until Christy, Stacy and I headed back to our hostel for some sleep.
Saturday:
So the next morning we got up and had a HUGE breakfast, except it was like noon so it was more like a lunch. Either way it was pretty good and filling. We wandered the opposite direction of Sol today, and saw some pretty cool stuff:
I LOVED this Starbucks sign! At one point, Stacy and I took a picture in front a Starbucks since we are both from the greater Seattle area :) Her from Snohomish, and me of course from Everett.
After a while, we decided to go to a Museum. I can't lie, living in Paris has actually made me museumed-out. There are so many here in Paris and its like the "cool" thing to do is constantly go to them, but since I grew up in a more sports focused family and have personally been more focused on sports in general as opposed to art, I get a little bit tired of going to museums after a while. But that could also be because of my drawing class, where I don't get to actually wander around and appreciate the art, I just get to draw stuff and then have my teacher tell me what I'm doing wrong then either take my notepad and draw it herself or else "tell" me how to fix it in terms which I don't not understand, and if I ask her to clarify she repeats herself and walks off. But, I digress. Back to Madrid and happier thoughts!
So we went to the Chagall exhibit at one museum, Stacy really wanted to see it and I had no idea of what kind of art he was producing so I was down for anything really. We had to wait for about an hour before we could go in, so we went back down the road to this place that had some awesome souvenirs and I picked up some stuff for myself, and also for my Sister and Booker. There was so many things I wanted to buy for more people, but with all the other places I am going, I knew I had to wait to buy other people souvenirs! Anyways, back to the museum we went after buying our booty. We went into the exhibit and it was cool, although not my favorite style of art. I'm not so into surrealism, I tend to like impressionist work. Monet, Degas, etc. But there were some pretty cool things. The nice thing about our group was that Christy and Vanessa liked to take more time looking at the work, while Stacy and I were good with looking at it for a minute then moving on. We also found a couple of images that we really liked, both of which involved cats. Lol. But it was cool, fun to see. I did, at least, like his use of color!
Anyways, then we wandered around some more, and found this other awesome building which I think was a museum, but we didn't go it. It just looked awesome from the outside.
Then we needed to stop for a snack break. Look at all the yummy yummy Spanish pastries!! Mmmmmm
Ok so this next picture is because as we were walking down the road, we saw this family and they were all holding hands and being so adorable, so we (by we I mean Christy and I) had to take a picture. Trés mignon!
So after wandering around all day plus a little shopping, we went back to the hostel with our new found shirts to wear out that night in celebration of Stacy turning 21! Did I mention Stacy is a fellow WSU Coug like myself? Go cougs ;) We went to El Tigre to get some beer and tapas, and it was all delicious!! And SO CHEEP! It was amazing.
After dinner and lots of drinks, we went to a club called Kapital. It had 7 floors of amazingness, it was awesome. The first floor was like a techno/top 40 dance floor, the second was a KARAOKE BAR!, the third a lounge, the fourth a hip hop dance floor, the fifth a latin groove dance floor, the sixth a mojito lounge, and the seventh and really awesome huge lounge.
We danced for a little bit on the first floor, then went to the second and upon learning that it was karaoke, Stacy and I knew we had to do our school proud and get up and sing! Of course, we sang Wannabe by Spice Girls. They entire crowd loved it, we were rock stars for 3 minutes. It was amazing. I'll be posting that video soon!
It was an amazing night, we stayed out until 6am (which is normal for Spain and even early really) and then got up the next morning to check out of our hostel.
Sunday:
So, like I said we had to check out of our hostel, and we had to be out by noon. We had decided to save some money, and since the metro stops running at 1am that we would just sleep in the airport that night instead of paying for both another night at the hostel and new transportation to the airport when we still had a 10 ride metro pass. We dropped our stuff off at Vanessa's hotel then went off for lunch. I got a steak, but the girls got paella. They let me try some and it was DELICIOUS!
After lunch we got some ice cream and sat by a fountain for a while, then headed for some Starbucks. Vanessa had some homework to do, so she departed to work on that while Christy, Stacy, and I decided to pick up some post cards then figure out where to go.
Side note: i just realized there are like no pictures of me and Vanessa together on here, and thats only because those pictures were taken with other people's cameras and since I knew i'd pick up their photos I didn't want to be like "and one more with my camera!" lol. But it is making me a little sad. I may have to fix that later.
Anyways, on one post card we saw this amazing building so we decided to go there, and there was El Parque de el Retiro. It was GORGEOUS! And since it was such a beautiful warm day, it made everything even more perfect. A perfect Easter Sunday!
Thats Christy blowing a dandilion
Shleepy ducks. Quack quack.
So this was the building we saw on the post card: its El Palacio de Cristal. I have no idea what its used for, but its stunning.
Then I saw this tree and thought it was awesome, so we all had a photoshoot with it. Stacy and I were transported to our PNW childhoods, since we both spent a lot of time climbing trees. It was wonderful.
The inside of the Palacio de Cristal.
Then we just wandered back to the hotel to meet with Vanessa, taking pictures along the way.
PINK VESPA!!!!
When we got back to Vanessa's hotel, Stacy and I passed out while Christy and Vanessa used the steam room. When we woke up and Christy and Vanessa got back, we decided to head to the airport.
Monday:
So spending the night in the airport was fun... although we didn't actually get any sleep and since we only had maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before, we were deliriously tired. It was hilarious, we were ridiculous. But it was fun, and quite the experience. It was nice to finally get back to Paris and pass out in my bed!
Such an amazing weekend with amazing friends. My life is a dream right now. <3
Friday:
When we flew into Madrid, we were all starving. We were supposed to meet someone at the stop Principe Pio, but had a miscommunication. We got to the stop and decided to go into this huge shopping center which had a Burger King, McDonalds, and KFC right next to one another. It was slightly ridiculous, and we all actually felt like we had been taken back to America for a minute. We grabbed some food, wandered around the mall for a bit (marveling at how much less expensive Madrid is compared to Paris!) Then decided to head off to find our other friend Vanessa and our hostel! This was our first sight coming out of the metro in the center of Madrid:
We found Vanessa, then shortly after found our hostel next door to the hotel in which she was staying! Which was perfect so we weren't all separated too much. We then decided to walk to Sol, which is the center of Madrid. And since Madrid is the center of Spain, Sol is the very center of Spain as well! It was pretty cool. There were guys in Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes, a bunch of Sponge Bobs and Patricks, a Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Woodie, and Elmo and the Cookie monster. It was kinda random! We even found a guy dressed as Jesus, so that was amusing.
Then we stopped for a quick lunch break as it started hailing, plus a glass of wine to celebrate Stacy's 21st birthday! This is Vanessa and my petite sœur, Christy!
When we left lunch, the lighting was gorgeous. It was fun being a tourist and taking pictures of EVERYTHING! I don't feel like I have that freedom as much in Paris, since I've been living here for 3 months now. Anyways, we walked back to Sol and Plaza Mayor and sat down by the fountain like many other people and just decided to people watch. It was wonderful, and so relaxing especially since all of us woke up at 4 or 5am for our flights!
There was a parade going on, most likely for Easter, but we didn't really catch much of it since we didn't really understand where the route was. After that we headed back to Vanessa's hotel (it was really nice) and watched a movie and hung out for a while until Christy, Stacy and I headed back to our hostel for some sleep.
Saturday:
So the next morning we got up and had a HUGE breakfast, except it was like noon so it was more like a lunch. Either way it was pretty good and filling. We wandered the opposite direction of Sol today, and saw some pretty cool stuff:
I LOVED this Starbucks sign! At one point, Stacy and I took a picture in front a Starbucks since we are both from the greater Seattle area :) Her from Snohomish, and me of course from Everett.
After a while, we decided to go to a Museum. I can't lie, living in Paris has actually made me museumed-out. There are so many here in Paris and its like the "cool" thing to do is constantly go to them, but since I grew up in a more sports focused family and have personally been more focused on sports in general as opposed to art, I get a little bit tired of going to museums after a while. But that could also be because of my drawing class, where I don't get to actually wander around and appreciate the art, I just get to draw stuff and then have my teacher tell me what I'm doing wrong then either take my notepad and draw it herself or else "tell" me how to fix it in terms which I don't not understand, and if I ask her to clarify she repeats herself and walks off. But, I digress. Back to Madrid and happier thoughts!
So we went to the Chagall exhibit at one museum, Stacy really wanted to see it and I had no idea of what kind of art he was producing so I was down for anything really. We had to wait for about an hour before we could go in, so we went back down the road to this place that had some awesome souvenirs and I picked up some stuff for myself, and also for my Sister and Booker. There was so many things I wanted to buy for more people, but with all the other places I am going, I knew I had to wait to buy other people souvenirs! Anyways, back to the museum we went after buying our booty. We went into the exhibit and it was cool, although not my favorite style of art. I'm not so into surrealism, I tend to like impressionist work. Monet, Degas, etc. But there were some pretty cool things. The nice thing about our group was that Christy and Vanessa liked to take more time looking at the work, while Stacy and I were good with looking at it for a minute then moving on. We also found a couple of images that we really liked, both of which involved cats. Lol. But it was cool, fun to see. I did, at least, like his use of color!
Anyways, then we wandered around some more, and found this other awesome building which I think was a museum, but we didn't go it. It just looked awesome from the outside.
Then we needed to stop for a snack break. Look at all the yummy yummy Spanish pastries!! Mmmmmm
Ok so this next picture is because as we were walking down the road, we saw this family and they were all holding hands and being so adorable, so we (by we I mean Christy and I) had to take a picture. Trés mignon!
So after wandering around all day plus a little shopping, we went back to the hostel with our new found shirts to wear out that night in celebration of Stacy turning 21! Did I mention Stacy is a fellow WSU Coug like myself? Go cougs ;) We went to El Tigre to get some beer and tapas, and it was all delicious!! And SO CHEEP! It was amazing.
After dinner and lots of drinks, we went to a club called Kapital. It had 7 floors of amazingness, it was awesome. The first floor was like a techno/top 40 dance floor, the second was a KARAOKE BAR!, the third a lounge, the fourth a hip hop dance floor, the fifth a latin groove dance floor, the sixth a mojito lounge, and the seventh and really awesome huge lounge.
We danced for a little bit on the first floor, then went to the second and upon learning that it was karaoke, Stacy and I knew we had to do our school proud and get up and sing! Of course, we sang Wannabe by Spice Girls. They entire crowd loved it, we were rock stars for 3 minutes. It was amazing. I'll be posting that video soon!
It was an amazing night, we stayed out until 6am (which is normal for Spain and even early really) and then got up the next morning to check out of our hostel.
Sunday:
So, like I said we had to check out of our hostel, and we had to be out by noon. We had decided to save some money, and since the metro stops running at 1am that we would just sleep in the airport that night instead of paying for both another night at the hostel and new transportation to the airport when we still had a 10 ride metro pass. We dropped our stuff off at Vanessa's hotel then went off for lunch. I got a steak, but the girls got paella. They let me try some and it was DELICIOUS!
After lunch we got some ice cream and sat by a fountain for a while, then headed for some Starbucks. Vanessa had some homework to do, so she departed to work on that while Christy, Stacy, and I decided to pick up some post cards then figure out where to go.
Side note: i just realized there are like no pictures of me and Vanessa together on here, and thats only because those pictures were taken with other people's cameras and since I knew i'd pick up their photos I didn't want to be like "and one more with my camera!" lol. But it is making me a little sad. I may have to fix that later.
Anyways, on one post card we saw this amazing building so we decided to go there, and there was El Parque de el Retiro. It was GORGEOUS! And since it was such a beautiful warm day, it made everything even more perfect. A perfect Easter Sunday!
Thats Christy blowing a dandilion
Shleepy ducks. Quack quack.
So this was the building we saw on the post card: its El Palacio de Cristal. I have no idea what its used for, but its stunning.
Then I saw this tree and thought it was awesome, so we all had a photoshoot with it. Stacy and I were transported to our PNW childhoods, since we both spent a lot of time climbing trees. It was wonderful.
The inside of the Palacio de Cristal.
Then we just wandered back to the hotel to meet with Vanessa, taking pictures along the way.
PINK VESPA!!!!
When we got back to Vanessa's hotel, Stacy and I passed out while Christy and Vanessa used the steam room. When we woke up and Christy and Vanessa got back, we decided to head to the airport.
Monday:
So spending the night in the airport was fun... although we didn't actually get any sleep and since we only had maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before, we were deliriously tired. It was hilarious, we were ridiculous. But it was fun, and quite the experience. It was nice to finally get back to Paris and pass out in my bed!
Such an amazing weekend with amazing friends. My life is a dream right now. <3
