Our pal Will was supposed to PCS (permanent change of station) to Saudi Arabia on a diplomatic visa at the beginning of July. Thanks to a bungling by the State Department and an over-optimistic Will sending in his information just in the nick of time and assuming there would be no flub-ups, he is still here on the first of August. Thinking that he would be gone early July, he had his household goods packed up and shipped off to Saudi. Since you're only allotted 10 days in temporary housing, Will packed up his bags and has lived with us the past three weeks. El and I have always joked that Will is our "son", since it's often been the three of us going on weekend trips and dinners, but now it's practically a reality. I feel like my son has returned from college to the nest: it's been entertaining as all get out, and our food supply goes a lot faster than usual. Since El and I have been playing house since he got back from the States, we decided to take a weekend trip, just the two of us, to Madrid. Late July/August is the perfect time to go into the city because everyone heads south for vacation. Elliot had been there once before while visiting his friends in college, but this would be the first time for me. After we had told people that we were taking off for the weekend to Madrid, Will, Stu (Will's replacement), and Jeff (Alex's replacement) decided that THEY also wanted to go to Madrid. After making it clear that we were not going to be tagging along with them, they decided to book their hotel at a different location.
Elliot had the day off that Friday, and I went in early (8-noon), so we were able to finish packing and take off at 12:45. The leave policy is somewhat bizarre here in that you have to take leave on the weekend if you are going more than 5 hrs driving time away from Moron. Madrid falls under that category, but only if you drive there. Despite the train being much faster (2.5 hrs as opposed to 4.5) and frequent, you'd have to take leave if you travel to Madrid that way. It has something to do with "being able to leave on your own schedule if something happens", but it just really doesn't make sense. Long story short, we saved the leave and took our sweet Euro ride.
Armed with Oreos and chips for the drive, we made the (mostly uphill) trek through mountains and green pastures. The road system in Spain is pretty confusing, as the roads are very windy and there is no such thing as a 'straight shot' anywhere. It really is a pain to get anywhere fast, as the multitude of roads tacks on at least an extra hour of travel time. Fortunately for me, we took the manual car so I got to snooze a good portion of the trip. Viva la laziness!
As we were driving through Madrid towards our hotel, my first thought was that the city reminded me of the drive to the United Center in Chicago: tons of high-rise apartment complexes, bus stops, and corner stores. We had heard that Madrid was very different from Andalucia in that it didn't really feel "Spanish". It really does look very different, especially when you get into the heart of the city, where the Gran Via and our hotel were located. Madrid was very much a big city, and it was a nice change of pace from having to pass tractors on the way to work.
Despite being in a primo location on the Gran Via (think Times Square in New York-always busy, restaurants and shopping around every corner), we got a sick deal on our hotel thanks to booking.com (great place for finding European hotels, for those of you who are planning any trips). It was very Parisian in its style and had lots of old black and white pictures of Victorian dressed women and flappers. It was very modernly designed, and the hubs was amused by my fascination with the jazzy lampshade that was in our room (plain lampwith a silver sequened cloth on top). Staying in the hotel I felt like a) a 1920's movie star, finger-waved hair and all or b) like I should be smoking out of a foot-long cigarette holder in my flapper dress at a cafe in Paris. I'm sure you get the picture.
After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we just decided to start walking around the Gran Via and the different side plazas in the city center. What really impressed me about Madrid was the beautiful architecture and elaborate plazas. Despite having large buildings characteristic of a city, they were incredibly elaborate and beautiful. I kept feeling like I needed to take pictures of everything I saw.
Madrid was like Barcelona where all of the side streets seem to be lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. We passed Spain's biggest department store chain, El Corte Ingles, other big name stores, and locally owned boutiques and bodegas while we made our way to the Plaza de Puerta del Sol. Downside to being a tourist in a big city means that every restaurant and shop has people on the streets trying to give you fliers and get you into their establishment. As long as you give a forceful "No, gracias", they will pretty much leave you alone. You also have to contend with the tons of street performers that range from people covered in gold paint to "invisible" men (one of which had a squeaky toy as his "voice") to some really creepy Mickey and Minnie costumes. We also passed someone in a costume that resembled Winnie the Pooh..... if Winnie the Pooh tried to lure children into unmarked white vans with promises of candy and puppies.
On the way to Madrid, El got an email on his phone saying to avoid the Plaza de Puerta del Sol on Saturday and Sunday, as there were supposed to be large demonstrations. We decided Friday night was our best bet, so we were able to take a few good pictures. Unfortunately, tons of people had set up tents in the plaza, so we were unable to take a picture at Km 0, the exact center of Spain. I'm all for letting your voice be heard and protesting when things are in the wrong (which the economy most certainly is here), but get in the way of my sightseeing and I will shake my cane at the rabble-rousers and beatniks who prevented me from fulfilling my vacation.
We continued our wandering through the city and stopped at an outdoor cafe for a few cocktails. We took a seat by a misting fan (although it wasn't as necessary as in Andalucia; the weather in Madrid is much more pleasant) and El sipped on a mojito made with brown sugar, while I had a tinto de verano (red wine with lemon soda). Tintos are hugely popular in Spain, especially down south where the refreshment is much appreciated, and our fridge has slowly begun to fill up with Fanta lemon soda and cartons of cheap red wine. A restaurant across the street from our cafe was advertising "Pasta, Pesto, Pizza, and Pizta", so we pondered what a "pizta" was while we sipped our drinks. After concluding that pizta was clearly the ambrosia of the gods, we headed to Plaza de Santa Ana to go on a famous Madridian tasca crawl.
Plaza de Santa Ana is this vast plaza that is surrounded on all sides with restaurants, and we ended up spending the rest of our night in that area. We started off at a place called Natural Bier and had tapas of ham croquettas, tomatoes and goat cheese, bratwurst, and pan, washed down with beer that is brewed at the restaurant. After stuffing ourselves silly, our tapas "crawl" became a bar crawl, and we just had drinks at the last three bars we went to. The first was a tiny little place that was recommended in our Lonely Planet travel guide, the second was a very hip place that should have been in Sex and the City, and the third was this Hawaiian bar. The Hawaiian bar was decorated to the hilt, and its signature drink was in a volcano-shaped mug that was outfitted with dry ice to make it smoke. We were treated like the big kahunas, as we got 5 free things of snacks with the smoking volcano, and I got a carnation, plastic lei, and umbrella for our drink. The drink itself was made of jager, blue curacao, and pineapple juice and was pretty nasty. In fact, we ended up leaving about 1/3 of it on the table, as the next day was jam-packed and we didn't want to risk feeling like crap. Off to bed we went.
After waking up early the next day, we hopped on Madrid's metro system to get to the world-renowned Prado museum. We had witnessed the obscene lines while driving by the day before, so we wanted to get there right when it opened. The Madrid metro transit system is MASSIVE, and you can easily get confused trying to get from place to place. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to make too many transfers to get to the places we wanted to visit. Also, the metro was very clean and fast, much like DC's, and only 1 euro for each ride.
We swung by the McDonald's outside of the Metro and waited 15 minutes for a cold cheeseburger before getting to the Prado complex. There was a Roman gardens exhibition going on at the time, but you had to order tickets in advance, something that we were not aware of. Since we got there early, we made it right into the Prado and spent the next 2+ hours seeing works by Rafael, Goya, Rembrandt, and Greek and Roman statues. The museum is enormous, so we had to ultimately pick and choose what we wanted to see. We actually had to sit down a few times, as you walked at least a few miles through this thing. The museum was very impressive, and it was fantastic to see art pieces that I had studied in college like Goya's Saturn Devouring his Son (also seen in the movie Wall Street 2) and an original portrait of Bloody Mary Tudor.
After leaving the Prado, checking out the Plaza de Neptune, and having a lunch at our favorite sandwich place (100 Montaditos), we trekked across town to the Royal Palace. By this point, there was a winding line to get in that was right in the sun. Cue street performers and people selling water and fans out of backpacks aka our saviors. The line went by fast, because we were entertained by this accordian player who had mad skills. I was tapping my feet and getting down with my bad self when we were all of a sudden at the front of the line. Choosing only to do the palace for 10 euro, we shut off our cameras (boo) and made our way through a palace that looked like it was dipped in gold, adorned with marble and paint, and blessed by Jesus himself. Go online and google pictures if you can. Every room beats out the other in absolute richness and mouth-dropping. Marble statues in the corners of the ceilings, elaborate tapestries, frescoes on every ceiling, mirrors that are the size of the wall, velvet walls, 3-D ceilings, commanding portraits, and detail that you have to see to believe. It's just unbelievable, and you truly feel like a pauper when you're finished visiting....
After being successfully put in our place, we went back to the hotel to take a little snooze then went to the Museo Arqueologico Nacional, which had a stunning FREE admission. The artifacts they had ranged from pre-historic bones to Eygptian sarcophagi to Iberian-Roman funerary portraits to Middle Ages metalwork, sarcophagi and statues. Unfortunately, the majority of the museum is under renovations, so we were only able to view one wing of artifacts. It was worth the trip, but I can't wait to see the finished product.
We had dinner that night at a Basque-inspired restaurant in another area of Madrid. Apparently, Basque country in Northern Spain has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in its area than anywhere else in the world, and is proclaimed to be the "world's best food". Since we were relatively close to Basque country (sort of), there were enough Basque restaurants in Madrid. The restaurant was very cozy, and you felt like you were dining in someone's house. The bread was crusty and hot and served with a plate of olive oil, blue cheese crumbles, pine nuts, and paprika (surprisingly delicious). We got an appetizer of gazapacho and split two entrees of steak and cod in this red cream sauce. The gazpacho was delicious, and the steak and cod were decent (although the sauce on the cod didn't have much taste). We had some of their famous cider for dessert and were surprised by the taste; it's very different from the cider you typically have in the States. Not bad-tasting, just different. Overall, we were very satisfied with our choice.
After unintentionally (no offense, guys) running into the guys after dinner back at the Plaza de Santa Ana, we took them to the Hawaiian place b/c they seemed dead set on getting a volcano. We finished the night there and took off early the next morning. Fortunately, the volcano drink was a lot better than the night before, and I had a separate pineapple drink that was pretty delicious. No 5 plates of snacks this time.... You know how badly I wanted a ham and cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off....
RANDOM SPANISH OBSERVATIONS/UPDATES
-I won an AFN radio contest and received a $5 MWR gift certificate. I had to pick it up from Rota, so I spent more in gas to get down there than the certificate was worth
-Our names are still difficult to pronounce for the Spanish. When we dropped off our stuff to get framed, the guy wrote my name down as "Corin", and when we got sandwiches in Madrid, Elliot became "Ellie"
-Cloudy days are now referred to as "Great weather"
-It's August, so many businesses are closed for the month while people go vacay at the beach. Not. A. Bad. Life.
No comments:
Post a Comment