Hola Madrid

I am just on my way back from Madrid so I will continue with my en route blog! I am actually going to try and proof read this one before I post it though so that might be nice for readers (lol). I am experiencing some great views on my flight since there are no clouds! It's really very cool I think I have begun to take advantage of the views I get when I am flying since this is actually my 10th flight since being here. That is so crazy I can't hardly believe all the places that I have been! I just have one more trip to Munich and Prague at the end of April so I am excited to spend a few weeks in Dublin without leaving. After that I will be almost done with my time here. It's weird how fast it seems like everything is coming to an end so I am going to try and take advantage of my last 40ish days left in Europe as much as I can. It is really easy to get caught up doing nothing all day but now that the weather is getting better that is not a good excuse! Also I need to try and finish all my last homework assignments. Okay well enough rambling I will continue on about my trip to Madrid.

Madrid from Above

Airplane View

Since we had a field trip to the grave yard  on Friday I had to go on Saturday morning. Even though I didn't have that much time in Madrid I think it was the perfect amount of time and we were still able to see so much. I arrived around 11 and Allison luckily met me at the airport so I could go drop my stuff off at her apartment. It was so nice and easy meeting a friend there since she knew what she was doing and I didn't have to worry about getting lost or finding my hostel or anything of that sort. After we refueled with a quick snack we set off on a tour. First we went and saw the royal palace and the church that was next to it.  The church was big and very nice on the inside like most of the European churches I have seen. We then went to a plaza that I think is famous but once again I forgot the name of it. We got a delish sangria and lunch. After that we continued our tour seeing more of the city. Even though Madrid is the capital city it didn't feel like a huge city. The buildings were all really cute and reminded me of Italy a lot. On one of the streets we saw a Dunkin donuts and I couldn't resist getting an iced coffee. A great taste of home. Later we went on a gondola ride over the outskirts of the city that led to a park that was the old royal hunting grounds. It was much bigger than we imagined it would be and looked like a forest. We didn't want to wander too far since we were afraid we would get lost. Later we picked up Katie at the airport since her flight got in at 10 and we got some churros con chocolate since it is a staple Spanish treat. Apparently you are supposed to drink the left over chocolate which I started I do but it was so rich I could only have a few sips. I can't imagine how people drink the whole cup. Anyway I was pretty surprised at the late night shenanigans of Madrid. I know they do things differently in Spain but it was just so surprising to be wandering the streets at midnight and see so many people out like it is 8 in the evening. There were so many cafés still open. Very weird to me since things are much quieter in Dublin at that hour except for the drunks. 

Tortilla Espanola

Yummy

Our Gondola

Well we ended up sleeping a little later than we planned the next day but things also seem like they start a lot later in Spain. Since this was Katie's only full day in Madrid we had to cram a lot in. In the morning we went to a flea market that I forgot what it was called in Spanish. They had some pretty great deals and I got a really cute scarf for 2 euro! It was so big though it seems like it went on forever. Later we hit up the Prado and we were able to get in for free with our student ids!  I actually enjoyed this art museum more than most, it was very very big. For lunch we went to a cute Spanish restaurant and had something like al menu dia where you pick different courses so that was nice. We also went to the retiro park which I loved! It was a Huge park and there was a place to rent rowboats and a bunch of fountains and statutes. We had some ice cream and laid in the park soaking up the sun. On the way back we viewed a few more Spanish buildings and  sights and got to see a beautiful sunset with the mountains in the background. When we finally got back at 10 we were pretty hungry so we went back to Tierra which was a yummy burrito place that me and Allison went to the night before but couldn't resist. I couldn't believe the crowd that was there at 10! 

Churros con Chocolate

Sangria

Me at the Palace

Street in Madrid

The next day we just went to the park and soaked up the sun since it was in the 70s and did some shopping and I was finally able to get some tapas. I really loved the tortilla esponola (?), very yummy!  Unfortunately then I had to make my way to the airport.  

Turtles

Palace

Us at the Retiro

One thing I was really surprised about in Spain was how little English they spoke. In most of the countries I have been to a lot of the people spoke English so I was still able to communicate but most people in Spain didn't even try and talk to us in English . So luckily I knew a decent amount of Spanish and I had Allison there to help communication otherwise it would have been very difficult to understand them since they talk so fast and seem to expect you to be on their level which I was not. Overall I really liked Madrid and I think it seemed a lot less touristy then a lot of the places I have been. It also was a lot safer feeling than I expected. I was luckily that I had Allison to show me around and be a great host! I am sad that I was only to go to one city in Spain though since all the cities seem so diverse but at least I was able to go! Okay that seems all for now ! Adios