Madrid

On June 5th 2009, I left for Spain. I got to Spain June 6th 2009. Lets just say it was a pain but I am so glad I am here. It's also extremely intimidating.

Saturday June 6th-

Lots of activities happened today. Most of them occurred while I was... in a drowsy state. The first thing we did was checked into our apartment. It's gorgeous. This is be on our balcony. (The picture is supposed to be here) The landlady was super nice and only spoke Spanish (and to my surprise, I actually understood 90% of what she said! Yah!). At one point she asked me if fifteen mean quince. With delight, I gave her a smiling 'Si!' I have a feeling this is just the start of a close friendship. After we checked in, we headed to El Museo del Prado, which is, to say the least, overwhelming! The paintings are astonishing. I cannot even describe how incredible those babies are. Ya'll need to come check it out. I was super excited to see Goyas' Naked Maja (both paintings) They were very intriguing-to, both, the mind and the eyes.

After the Prado, we had our one and only Obnoxious American Moment of the day. This is how it went down- We wanted to look in the lobby of the Ritz hotel (famous-look it up) but ended up interrupting a formal lunch party in the back garden. I'm talking people wearing dresses and suits, while we trekked in and out of tables wearing socks and sandals (a tragic fashion statement even in the states). We brushed of the glares and actually made it out all right. We ended up discovering the lobby and it was fairly grand but I'm pretty sure our amazement was slightly exaggerated; Most likely because of the embarrassing sacrifice we had to make in order to get a glimpse.
Finally, we bought groceries, took the metro, bought some flamenco fans, and had some delicious thick hot chocolate with churros. =]

Sunday June 7th-

So people kept telling me that the Spanish like to party but nothing really could have prepared me for being awoken at 3 am from the people in the streets yelling and howling getting back from a late night. I swear they sounded like they were in my bedroom and my mom said she kept trying to look for an open window. With a little help from my earplugs I made it till morning (by ‘morning’, I mean 12:30pm.).

So we continued to fill the afternoon with shenanigans. We visited the Royal Palace which is “open every Sunday!” However; this Sunday the people of Madrid were voting. Therefore: Royal Palace + The only Sunday that my family was ever in Madrid and probably wont be there again. = A sign that says “CLOSED”.

Anywho, we visited the Plaza Mayor, which was oh so unbelievably awesome and full of life. We ate decided to eat lunch there at an outside café and during lunch, my mom decided she wanted to embarrass, both, herself and those around her. She proceeded to use sign language to communicate with the locals, sit on the toilet in complete darkness and drop euros in her underwear. It was quite the spectacle. Later we visited the center of Spain, which is marked by a small plaque on the ground about the 2ft by 2 ft. About a million people walk over this everyday and no one even cares. Its on a random street, rusting through the sidewalk.
Next, The Retiro Park. =] I love it. My mom and I rented a blue rowboat to take out on to the lake, which is under looked by a beautiful plaza with many steps and live entertainment. We became quite the laughing stalk by dad, grandpa, and nana as we bumped our way from dock to dock for the first 20 minutes trying to get to open water.

Later we took a bus tour and ate dinner at La Taperia. Now I shall conclude the evening with a light cookie and some warm socks.

Sorry this is kind of a random post. I haven’t decided how often I am going to blog or how I am going to organize it. But we are still in Madrid. Hope everyone is dancing to Mariechies.(This is where the other picture is supposed to be but blogger.com is being funky.)

Peace,

Emily MokaMoka