Our day trip turned out to be the most fun that I have had yet. Four of us decided to take the bus to Madrid for the day. López and Bernhard were also going to spend the afternoon there, since Bernhard had to fly out that night.
Brittany, Ashley, Ashtin and I caught the 8:30 bus into Madrid. The first stop was El Rastro. Every Sunday in Madrid, there is an open air market and it is huge. It takes over one main road and a lot of the side streets around it. People there sell everything from clothes, jewelry, purses, posters, shoes, music, movies, touristy stuff, souvenirs; we even saw this guy selling duct tape and tools...haha. People were everywhere! We walked around and checked everything out. I bought a few things and then we decided to head back toward the center of Madrid to get something to eat.
We wanted to visit the Royal Palace, so we took the metro to that area and found a cute café where we could sit down and eat. We sat for about 2 hours outside, just watching all the people and taking in the sun; Ashtin even played a little bit with the pigeons :).
After that, we headed for the Palacio Real. It is a huge building...I don´t even think we saw half of it on the tour. But it was still amazing. It was very decadent inside and it was fun to be inside a real live palace...pretending to be a princess ;).
Around 3, we met up with Lopez and Bernhard. We decided to go grab some dessert. We went to Corte Inglés and had the best chocolate cake ever! mmmmm...Dad and Molly, you would have loved it!
After dessert, we went to my new favorite place in Madrid....Retiro Park. It is a giant park...I didn´t even see the whole thing, but I am in love with it! It is so gorgeous there! There is a giant lake where people can rent row boats and it is right in front of this giant statue with steps in front of it leading to the lake. The statue and steps are surrounded by a semi-circle of columns where local musicians come and play the drums and bongos.
The first thing we did in the park was stop and watch this couple of Argentinian actors perform their little show. They kind of integrate acrobatics and the people in the crowd into their show...which was more like a comedy act. They were very funny, but also kind of inappropriate...they were telling some very sexual jokes and there were little kids everywhere. We all agreed this kind of show would never happen in Louisville or in the Quad at Bellarmine. We stayed and watched them for the finally, where one of them flipped over a rope that was probably higher than 8 ft in the air. They were just a couple of guys trying to make a few bucks and I think they were rollin´ in it by the end of the show...there were a ton of people watching and throwing them money.
After that we walked around the park a little more, and finally went over to the statues and the musicians I was talking about before. We sat on the steps for about an hour, making up stories about the people rowing by us on the lake and the couples sitting near us on the steps, listening to the drums and just talking. I could have sat there all day long.
Around 8 or so, we decided to go get something to eat. López of course had somewhere that he knew, so he took us to this restaurant in the Puerta del Sol. He knew the waiters, so they treated us very nicely. We all just shared some tapas and a bottle of wine. We ate a tomato salad that had peppers and fish in it, mushrooms stuffed with bacon bits, a seafood dish (I can´t remember what type of creature it was...but it was good) and finally....bull tail. The bull tail was surprisingly good.
One of the waiters developed a strong crush on Ashley (she has very blond hair and he really liked that). When we first sat down, he was telling Ashley how pretty she was, and even went so far as to say that she was prettier than me! I was a little mad at first, but then our other waiter told me that I was pretty too :). haha.
After our dinner we had to run through Madrid trying to make it on the metro to the bus station. The last bus left at 10:30 and we didn´t leave the restaurant until 9:45. It was a close shave, but we made it! I think this day in Madrid was one of the best days yet!
Brittany, Ashley, Ashtin and I caught the 8:30 bus into Madrid. The first stop was El Rastro. Every Sunday in Madrid, there is an open air market and it is huge. It takes over one main road and a lot of the side streets around it. People there sell everything from clothes, jewelry, purses, posters, shoes, music, movies, touristy stuff, souvenirs; we even saw this guy selling duct tape and tools...haha. People were everywhere! We walked around and checked everything out. I bought a few things and then we decided to head back toward the center of Madrid to get something to eat.
We wanted to visit the Royal Palace, so we took the metro to that area and found a cute café where we could sit down and eat. We sat for about 2 hours outside, just watching all the people and taking in the sun; Ashtin even played a little bit with the pigeons :).
After that, we headed for the Palacio Real. It is a huge building...I don´t even think we saw half of it on the tour. But it was still amazing. It was very decadent inside and it was fun to be inside a real live palace...pretending to be a princess ;).
Around 3, we met up with Lopez and Bernhard. We decided to go grab some dessert. We went to Corte Inglés and had the best chocolate cake ever! mmmmm...Dad and Molly, you would have loved it!
After dessert, we went to my new favorite place in Madrid....Retiro Park. It is a giant park...I didn´t even see the whole thing, but I am in love with it! It is so gorgeous there! There is a giant lake where people can rent row boats and it is right in front of this giant statue with steps in front of it leading to the lake. The statue and steps are surrounded by a semi-circle of columns where local musicians come and play the drums and bongos.
The first thing we did in the park was stop and watch this couple of Argentinian actors perform their little show. They kind of integrate acrobatics and the people in the crowd into their show...which was more like a comedy act. They were very funny, but also kind of inappropriate...they were telling some very sexual jokes and there were little kids everywhere. We all agreed this kind of show would never happen in Louisville or in the Quad at Bellarmine. We stayed and watched them for the finally, where one of them flipped over a rope that was probably higher than 8 ft in the air. They were just a couple of guys trying to make a few bucks and I think they were rollin´ in it by the end of the show...there were a ton of people watching and throwing them money.
After that we walked around the park a little more, and finally went over to the statues and the musicians I was talking about before. We sat on the steps for about an hour, making up stories about the people rowing by us on the lake and the couples sitting near us on the steps, listening to the drums and just talking. I could have sat there all day long.
Around 8 or so, we decided to go get something to eat. López of course had somewhere that he knew, so he took us to this restaurant in the Puerta del Sol. He knew the waiters, so they treated us very nicely. We all just shared some tapas and a bottle of wine. We ate a tomato salad that had peppers and fish in it, mushrooms stuffed with bacon bits, a seafood dish (I can´t remember what type of creature it was...but it was good) and finally....bull tail. The bull tail was surprisingly good.
One of the waiters developed a strong crush on Ashley (she has very blond hair and he really liked that). When we first sat down, he was telling Ashley how pretty she was, and even went so far as to say that she was prettier than me! I was a little mad at first, but then our other waiter told me that I was pretty too :). haha.
After our dinner we had to run through Madrid trying to make it on the metro to the bus station. The last bus left at 10:30 and we didn´t leave the restaurant until 9:45. It was a close shave, but we made it! I think this day in Madrid was one of the best days yet!
3 comments:
Realmente me gusta leer tu blog. Esta aventura en mi vida no tieve precio. Va aser dificil el volver a la vida en Louisville, Kentucky. Tambien la velicula que viste me gustaria ublo tambien. Pero era tan buena como "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"? Espero vente pronto, con amor.--UB
Aileen---A Spanish teacher here at Purcell Marian was raised in Avila. He writes to you: "Debed visitar Segovia y el Acuveducto Romano, El Escorial...y tambien Sevilla. Yo soy de Avila y estudil en la V. de Salamanca. Que Dios te bendiga y Ciudado conlos chicos espanoles." ---Tito Sanchez
Dear Aileen: Sounds like you are having a great time. It's great fun to see how other people live! I'm glad you like your senora - I know you were a little nervous about that. I can't imagine that an unfriendly person would take in exchange students for a month! John & I are remodeling the bathroom & it's taking a little longer than we thought. We didn't have a toilet upstairs for about 10 days. We got it back today, thank goodness. Still no sink, but I don't care about a sink at 2AM. I didn't like having to go into the basement in the middle of the night!
We celebrated Judy's birthday today at Aunt Catherine's party room. It was very nice. I think she hired Molly to help set up the tables & chairs. I made 1 unusual salad - it was watermelon, fresh mint, red onion, black olives, lime juice, feta cheese and a little olive oil. It sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? It was delicious! There were no leftovers, so I think it went over pretty well. I hope you are paying attention to some of the recipes that Alphonso & Lola are using. Maybe you can get them to write some of them down. Have a great time. August 3rd will be here before you know it. Love, Aunt Mitzie
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