Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I Love Madrid



This past weekend we took our first (or at least my first of the semester) adventure out of Italy.  Madrid seemed like a great place to go so we excitedly booked the cheapest flights we could find at the very beginning of the semester…those flights just happened to be at 6 am both return and departing. 
On Thursday night we went to the Ballet at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and saw the ballet, Slyvia.  It was a lot of fun and our tickets were super cheap through John Cabot.  The story  was of a nymph who falls in love with a guy but then she kills him or something and cupid disguised as a marble statue comes to life and intervenes to save his life and help bring them together.  It was a good show and the statue-coming-to-life part was pretty appropriate for Rome since there’s always street performers disguised as statues. 
So Thursday was pretty fun BUT we had to wake up 3:30 am to catch a cab to the airport soooo basically we slept for a grand total of 1 hour.  It was a rough morning, especially since we were already kind of exhausated from midterms that week but we managed to hit the ground running and see a lot the first day. 
The other girls in our apartment had been to Madrid the week before so they gave us some maps and we ended up staying at the same hostel as they did.  The first day we checked in and got a breakfast of churros and chocolate—it was amazing!  Churros in Spain aren’t like the ones you get at South Dining Hall at Notre Dame.  First of all they don’t have cinnamon sugar on them, which I kind of missed, and they are super salty and they are kind of u-shaped.  The chocolate was literally chocolate; I felt like I was drinking a candy bar!  It was definitely what we needed to begin the day.  We moseyed around through Plaza Mayor and Puerto del Sol and discovered the Madrid public Library.  It was kind of fun to peak inside even though we didn’t know what to see or anything.  We also checked out some churches and ended up in Parco del buon Retiro.  The Park is a beautiful 300-acre place to relax and wander around.  We rented a row boat for 45 minutes on the big pond in the middle of the park; it only cost 4 euros for 3 of us!  Rowing was more of a challenge than I thought; do you push or pull?  We all kind of struggled with that, though I think I may have been the weakest link in our rowboat, haha.  Jamie, jenna, and I were joking, “Hand over the oars OAR there might be a ROW”.  Even the corniest puns are funny when you haven’t slept the night before.  The park is also home to this huge crystal palace which may have once housed plants but now holds some weird art exhibit.  We took a break at an outside cafĂ© and had sandwhiches and caffeine.  We also discovered a Starbucks where I bought American coffee; it was a great feeling to hold my cup of coffee (not espresso)! 
Madrid is a really beautiful city; all the buildings are so ornate but not an a ridiculous way like some of the baroque architecture that covers up architecture that is actually beautiful in Rome.  Some of the buildings almost look like lace; it was kind of like walking through a fairytale.  The one unforunate thing about Madrid was that it was really cold, especially in the ally ways.  But we were fine!  It was so strange to hear a different language and although it’s not like I can speak Italian it was really challenging to even order food.  
We also went to the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia.  We got separated in the Prado which was a bigger problem then you might think since our cell phone use was limited.  Jenna and I waited but couldn't find the other girls so we went out to dinner and fortunately they found us and joined us later.  The museums were so large.  The Prado was especially interesting because it houses paintings and works of art that I've learned about in class.  The Reina Sofia wasn't everyone's favorite.  Jamie especially enjoyed the half-eaten piece of toast that was part of an exhibit that also contained a pile of shoes and an upside-down painting (she is not a fan of modern).  That night we went out to dinner on Plaza mayor and had traditional (?) Spanish cuisine of steak and fries and sangria. 
Jamie loving the modern art


We also went to the Palacio Real, the royal Palace of Madrid.  It's a huge palace with so many beautiful rooms and different styles.  King Juan Carlos does not live in the palace but royal families of Spain did for a long time.  The palace we saw dates from 1734, when it was reconstructed after a fire.  My favorite room was the throne room; it was like walking inside a jewlry box.  
The trip was amazing and exhausting!  Our 7:30 am flight wasn't my favorite part of the trip but it got us home!