Madrid is winding down. The last few days have been a whirlwind! I arrived feeling nearly no jet lag and immediately checked into Cat's Hostel, met an American girl from Atlanta and several guys from Brazil, and went with them to el Jardín Botánico, next to el Parque del Buen Retiro. The weather on the first day was very cool, a nice surprise after the heat wave I suffered last year throughout my travels!
After the Botanical Garden, I still had enough energy to make it to Museo El Prado, which, along with the other museums in Madrid, has evening hours in which admission is free. I am so thankful for the Spanish language, history, and art education I got while at Baylor because I was able to appreciate what I was looking at in the Prado...Velásquez, Goya, Rafael, El Greco.
I then wanted to go to Puerta del Sol where there is a famous statue and symbol of Madrid, a bear and a strawberry tree. Of course I wanted the Baylor photo opp in front of the bear doing the "Sic 'em", but once I arrived and walked up the steps from the Metro, I encountered a massive protest that crowded the entire square. I later learned that voting for the new government began on Sunday, and these crowds of over 20,000 people were against both the left and the right parties. "Demo-cracia no es lo mismo que partido-cracia."
Friday I made it to el Parque del Buen Retiro. It was absolutely gorgeous. I walked around and saw the beautiful monument to Fernando II in front of a pond where people can rent boats. I was a little embarrassed when I sat down at a table in front of a food kiosk, not intending to buy anything, but a waitress came up to me and basically told me I couldn't sit there if I wasn't buying anything. Eventually I found a bench in the shade and dozed for awhile...my own little siesta! When Ryan comes to Spain in June, I can't wait to go back to the Parque with him.
I can't forget to include the several pub crawls I joined through the hostel. They reminded me a lot of my experience at Kabul Hostel last summer in Barcelona. The people here are fun and friendly. I got nostalgic drinking sangria at the hostel bar, and even more so when I bought a bottle of Don Simón! ("The World's #1 Sangria!")
Saturday a group of us had lunch at the Plaza Mayor...another reminder of Barcelona! (The Plaça Reial). It was very touristy but beautiful nonetheless. Later that afternoon I made it to the Museo Reina Sofia, and got a taste of Picasso, including his famous Guernica. Another reason to be glad that I concentrated on Spanish in college!
Finally, yesterday was a more leisurely day to wind down these first few days in Spain, walking around with friends getting coffee here and a glass of wine there.
So now, I am sitting here in Cat's Hostel after a very hectic morning. I originally had a 7:30am bus to San Sebastián, but I was 10 minutes late to the station and missed it entirely. I thought I was going to cry when I was dealing with it. I am on the next bus at 3pm. It isn't the end of the world because I was able to come back to the hostel, check my bags, and enjoy the free breakfast and Wifi, but it is stressful when you're carrying 100 pounds worth of luggage up and down stairs to change Metro lines and such. This afternoon, I plan on leaving with plenty of time to spare!
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