Spain - 21/10/2006

MADRID


Brittany and I got to Madrid around 10am that morning. This was our first sign of true Western civilization for almost two months. We got a cab to the hostel we were staying at (Hostel Ole)


There we met up with the rest of our party (Kendra, Natalie, and Rachel. They had already been there for a full day, since they took the non-adventurist route, (aka wussies) and flew into Mardid Saturday morning. We sent out to explore Madrid. The first order of business was to get food. Kenrda went off on her own while the rest of us got some good old fashioned American cuisine, i.e. KFC and Burger King, AND I got to eat a donut for the first time since I left the U.S. (mmmmmmmmm).
(The gals)

After lunch, Rachel, Natalie, Kendra, Brittany and I went to the Museo Nacional Del Prado to get out fill of culture. The museum was beautiful and we spent about an hour there. I don't have any photos due to the fact that we weren't allowed to pictures from the inside, and it was raining pretty hard on the outside. After the Mueso Del Prado we walked to another museum, which was closed.

(Outside the closed museum figuring out what to do next)

We had time to kill, but had plans on going to a bull fight later that evening. So we killed time by shopping and visiting the Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor is a huge plaza constructed in the 1600's which held "open market, jousting, and public hanging". As far as I know, there is no longet public hangings in the plaza, but there are quite a few shops and artists around the plaza, and apparently, when the weather is nice, the plaza is filled with tables and chairs occupied by people enjoying the sun, food, and drinks. However, when we were in Spain it was chilly, cloudy, and rainy. So the plaza was virtually dead.
(The archway in the middle of the picture is one of several portals into the Plaza)
(Plaza Mayor)
(Plaza Mayor)

After the Plaza, we set off to the bullfight. We were pretty excited to see this event, and had purchased our tickets online prior to the show. We on the metro (subway), got lost, found two nice little old ladies to help us, got back on the metro, got to the arena, and found out the bullfight had been canceled due to the weather. We were pretty upset. There wasn't another fight scheduled for the remainder of our time in Madrid, so we got refunds and found the nearest pub to drink our sorrows away.
(The lines for refunds in front of the arena)

That night, we had plans to partake in a "Pub Crawl" from Madride. The Crawl included: 3 Mad-guides, 4 Mad-bars, 4 Mad-free shots, 1 free admission to a Mad-dance club, and a night to remember forever. The guides were Gary (an Irish lad), Fernando (a mexican lothario) and Isabella (not really her name, but for some reason I can't remember it-a Spanish dame of unspeakable cuteness). I won't go into details since they aren't of any great consequence, but we did have fun. We met at the "Bear" in one of the plazas, and went on the pub crawl with some other Americans from the Boston-area, who were on break from their university in Scottland, and a few random locals.

(Natalie, Rachel, Brittany, Kendra)

(The Mad-Guides)

The final bar on the crawl was a salsa club, which Brittany, Natalie, and I didn't make it to. After the third bar we had had enough of the Madridian night-life and decided to call it a night. However, Kendra and Rachel went to the club, and aside from Fernando trying to make-out with them, they had a good time also.

P.S. Kendra DID get me to dance, albeit for a very brief moment. Don't worry, no one got hurt.