Madrid! Again...

Okay. So yesterday I went to Madrid. We caught the bus from Alcala (about a 10-12 minute walk from my piso to the bus station) at 11:00am. The bus tickets are 2.20 euro, which seems amazing to me. It's so cheap to travel to Madrid. After a 45 minute bus ride, we entered the creepy bus station again under Madrid and began our adventure. It began at the metro station, which is pretty simple although a complete maze. You find which station you are in, then which station you need to go to. Then find which lines will connect the two. Each line can has trains going in both directions, so you look at the end of the line that is towards the direction you want to go. The name of the last station is the name of the train you get on. The ticket machine wouldn't take my credit card, but I had enough cash on me to buy a 10 ticket deal. Finding the proper platform wasn't difficult, but time consuming. We knew which platform we needed and everything was clearly labeled at every intersection, but this place is huge. We had to have walked for a good 5-10 minutes until we got there. After changing trains once, we arrived at the Retiro park near the Plaza de Indepencia and the Puerta de Alcala (Door to Alcala, which is where I live and apparently these arches were built on the road that would take you to Alcala long ago). 

Me at the Puerta de Alcala. So, it was raining a lot of the day, but it was mostly a light rain. I was so glad to have an umbrella. Walking around in wet wool would have been terrible.

Then we visited the park again. Rather than have to follow Javier around and spend limited time at each place, we wandered at leisure and found the best places to take pictures. Especially a straight on shot of the Monument to King Alfonso XII from across the lake. 

Monument to King Alfonso XII. It's very impressive.

We walked around taking pictures and made our way to the monument itself for some close up pictures. The good thing about the rain was that we pretty much had the entire park to ourselves. So, when no one is watching, why not have a little fun? I was too afraid to climb up anything, like onto the lions around the monument, but the naked women sitting on sea animals were readily accessible from the steps.

Me sitting on the back of a turtle. The woman is tastefully shielding her nudity.

We continued around the park, seeing the Monument to General Arsenio Martínez-Campos, the Crystal Palace and the Royal Botanical Garden. All sights were very beautiful and lots of pictures were taken. This park will be gorgeous come late April when everything is in bloom.

From the park we walked towards the Puerta del Sol. On the way is the Plaza de Cibeles with the Cibeles fountain and the Madrid City Hall. We walked back past the clock museum, the store that contains it is called Grassy and has a big Rolex sign at the top of the building. The Jeweler that I mentioned before, but couldn't remember his name is Anthony Caro. Also on the way to the Puerta del Sol, is the Kid's Cow and I totally made sure to have a picture this time.

Check this out! Is this not one of the coolest things you ever seen? The information plaque lists the artist as a seven year old, though I doubt he put together or painted the cow... probably just drew it and others did the rest.

One the way to the Puerta del Sol, we stopped at a McDonalds. This McDonalds had two stories and a marble staircase. Very fancy. I just had some chicken nuggets, the only food I can really stomach from McDonalds and they were pretty good. I asked, all by myself, if they had any honey ("¿Tienes miel?") for my nuggets, but they did not. So I ate them with salsa barbocoa instead. Then we went to the Puerta del Sol. The Puerta del Sol is a great place. Within the Puerta del Sol is the very center of Spain. I stood on it and got my picture taken. Within the Puerta del Sol is the office of the governor, a statue of Charles III, and a statue of a bear stretching up a madroño tree, a symbol of the city. The very best part of this statue is that there is a similar statue near the Hard Rock Cafe in Madrid of a cow stretching up a tree. I had to get my picture taken with it, but my battery was almost dead at this point and so I have to get it from someone else before I can post it.

After the Puerta del Sol, we stopped at the Corte Ingles, a multiple story shopping mall, kind of like a Kohls and Meijer combination on a grander scale. It was very large and confusing, not very well labeled at all, but the staff was friendly and helpful enough. After the Corte Ingles, we headed to the Plaza Mayor again. Unfortunately, due to the rain, there was only one or two estatuas humanas (human statues) around the Plaza, but there were quite a few people out selling paintings and painting pictures within the Plaza. Also in the Plaza, I sneakily snuck and shot this picture just for Tom. 

You'll have to tell me what you think of the uniforms, okay? These uniforms are pretty much identical to the police in Alcala.

In the Plaza Mayor we ran into a few Americans. They wanted us to take a group photo, and we obliged. One of them was from Indiana, so pretty close really. It was nice to have someone come up to me and saying in my accent of English "Someone who speaks English!". I miss English, despite the fact that everyone in my group only speaks to one another in English. I guess I'm just too used to them and I've become frustrated with strangers because I can't communicate with any of them.

After the plaza, we took a side street and ate some Bocadillos de Calamares. The Rick Steve's book that I was following indicated a different place than we stopped, but we didn't see it right away and figured any place was good enough. Well, it wasn't quite fried long enough and it was a bit chewy although it tasted okay. It was just literally fried squid rings on a roll and nothing else. The biggest thing is that everything here is so bland. I could have really used some mustard or hot sauce or something. I was really expecting some real spice. Like Spanish rice is spicy, but I'm sure that Spanish rice is not real Spanish rice, but I was just thinking there would be lots of spices for some reason. Spanish food is blander than American food and everyone knows how bland a hotdog would be without loading it with condiments. I miss spices. Maybe I should go to the Carrefour (pretty much a Walmart only on a lesser scale) and look for some chili powder and hot sauce to add to some of the dishes.

Anyway, Bocadillos de Calamares. Fantastic picture! Check out my fingernails! I talked about nail polish in my last entry.

From the Plaza we headed towards the Cathedral. On the way we passed the Statue of Don Bazán in the Plaza de la Villa, where City Hall is located. Many pictures were taken of the Cathedral. It is really a beautiful and extensive church. It's easy to pull up a picture of it on the internet (Cathedral of Almudena), but this part was one of my favorites.

These statues are very high up and it's just gorgeous. Why don't we have millions of statues all around and sculpted out of buildings?

At the cathedral, we went in and took pictures. You know how the catholics light candles for some reason, to pray for something, I think. Well, in this church they don't have real candles that you can light. It's probably too dangerous (fire hazard) and with all of the tourists that go through, they'd probably go through candles really fast. So in order to make some money off the deal (as the Catholic church would) and save on the expense and eliminate the fire hazard, they have these boxes set up all over with maybe 50 or so fake candles in them. If you put 20 euro cents into the slot, the bulb of a candle will light up. I paid the 20 cents just to say that I did, but I was more interested in taking a picture of the whole thing than to remember to pray for something.

Next to the Cathedral is the Royal Palace. It's beautiful, but you cant get close without paying 8 euro to enter. I took lots of pictures, but we didn't go in. Someday I would like to. There is a beautiful view of the valley below on one side of the Palace, that we couldn't get a good view of where we were due to construction and traffic. One day, I'll go. There's plenty of time let on this trip and it's less than 5 euro total to round trip to Madrid. 

Anyway, after the palace, we went back towards the Puerta del Sol. Near here there is a pastry shop recommended by Rick Steves. We stopped there and ate a pastry called a Napolitana, a cream-filled pastry. I figured I would try one filled with chocolate because it look so delicious, but it was way too rich and I had couldn't finish it. My determination was that it wasn't good enough to justify the sugar/calories/fried-ness of the pastry. 

One more stop at the Corte Ingles for a bathroom break (really one would expect a bathroom on every floor, but they would be wrong. One bathroom was all I counted). Then it was to the Prado, where the museum is free Tue-Sat from 6-8pm. We weren't allowed to bring cameras into the museum, but it was still worth it. The paintings are beautiful and the best Spanish artists are in this museum: Goya, El Greco, and Velázquez. I bought two prints from the gift shop, one of a painting by El Greco and Las Meninas by Velázquez. I'm so excited to bring them home, get them framed and hang them up somewhere. I love Velázquez and El Greco. 

From the Prado, we headed all of the way down the Paseo del Prado, the very busy main street. Along this road, you find the Hard Rock Cafe of Madrid. We stopped in for dinner. I had a pepsi, a salad (with ranch and cranberries) and a side of spicy macaroni. It was the best meal I've had in such a long time. I might have to go back regularly just to get some spices and some pepsi and it was so amazing. I was so full and happy and I can't stop going on about how great this macaroni and salad were. It ended up costing a little over 12 euro, which is much more than I like to pay for a meal, but considering it was a Hard Rock and they tend to run expensive anyway, it really wasn't a bad price for such a good meal.

After the Hard Rock, we navigated the metro another time. By the way, don't ever put a metro ticket in your pocket with your cell phone because it clears the little strip and voids the ticket. I learned this in DC, so I didn't have problems, but I didn't think to tell anyone else. Although later that night, when I was emptying my coat of valuables, I stuffed my phone in my pocket with my ticket, forgetting the ticket was even there, so let's hope it's okay. I'll find out next time I go to Madrid. We caught the 10:00pm bus home, after some initial confusion about which side of the bus station was unloading and which side was loading. It only took about half an hour because there wasn't much traffic. 

We left the bus station and went to the Plaza de Cervantes where we met up with more people ready to go for the night. I ran home to drop off my things and came back by 11. Our first stop was a dance club (the name escapes me) where they were giving out free beer and free sangria and 50¢ shots. Holy crap, right? I was all over that. Then we went to the Can Can where they were giving out free beer until 1am. Because we were the only people in the place, the bartender gave us a free mixed drink, and free shots. I didn't spend more than 2 euro total. It was amazing. No one give out free alcohol in the states, they know the college students would never be able to handle themselves. The dancing was even fun too although it got very crowded around 3am. I left not long after that with most of the rest of my group. It was a very fun time.

Today, I slept quite a bit, which felt very nice. I hadn't been sleeping very well, but I got some good sleep today. My roommate found out that she has pinkeye, which I'm horrified to get. I really hope I'm lucky and don't get it. I took out my contacts and have been washing my hands constantly. We went out for churros today. They are like fried doughnut sticks that you dip in chocolate and eat. They sound really good, but there were very rich. My stomach doesn't handle that much sugar well anymore. I felt the same way about them as I did about the Napolitana... good, but not good enough to justify how bad it is for your body.

My entire body aches. We must have walked many miles yesterday and dancing really works the muscles. I'm feeling much healthier since I've been here. I might even start running again, if my shoes can handle it. I didn't think to bring my workout shoes. 

Anyway... I should probably work on some homework, I have quite a bit. So far, no plans tonight other than homework. That should be fun... or not.