Happy 3 Months in Spain! & Madrid

After a night of not being able to sleep and staying up talking to Rachael, the alarm sounding at 5:15 am did not seem like it was time to wake up. At first I actually thought that it was just another notification from someone back home on Facebook or Twitter, but lo and behold, it was the alarm. 

Rachael and I got ready, finished up our last minute packing, ate breakfast and headed downstairs to meet Michael. The only disadvantage was that it was raining... and I didn't have my umbrella, so I ran back upstairs to grab it. From there, all three of us headed down Camino de Ronda to flag a taxi. 

When we got to the bus station we had about 40 minutes to wait around until the it was time to load the bus (better early than late). We got on the bus and it was packed full. Practically all of the seats were taken up. The bus was luxurious with headphone jacks and radio stations to pick from to listen to and also two TVs that had the map of where we were going and the path we would take. Later on in the ride, it would also show the movie Ice Age 4, in Spanish of course.

When we were about halfway to Madrid, at about 9:15 am, we stopped at a rest stop so that people could use the toilets (even though there was one on the bus) and buy food and relax for 20 minutes. I bought a palmier, which is a flaky pastry with chocolate covering it. It is very good and I wish I could eat them more often! I also bought one when I went to Morocco, so here is the picture from that trip so we all can remember what it looks like!

After the rest stop we finished up the journey to Madrid. When we got to the bus station we soon realized how huge this place was going to be. There are even two bus stations, one on the south end of town, where we were, and one on the north! The population of Madrid is about 6 million too, so that is a lot greater than Granada which is about 250,000 people! 

We got off the bus and unloaded our bags from the compartments under the bus and then we walked through the station. At the end of the station there was a point where you could leave or go to the metro, and we went towards the metro. We bought our tickets, only 1.80 euros to get to the city center and after riding a million (or so it seemed like it) escalators up and down, we found the platform that the metro was going to come to. The metro arrived soon after we got there, within 2 or so minutes. 

We got on the metro, set our bags close to us and grabbed the zippers on our purses to avoid being pickpocketed. This was my worry for the whole trip! The guy that was sitting next to where Rachael was standing (across from me) was very sketchy and he kept on twiddling his fingers and looking at her bag and her purse, so I did not lose sight of his hands the whole ride. Luckily we got off eventually and nobody attempted to touch our things. 

We weren't at our stop yet when we got off the metro, we still had to switch lines to get to Gran Via, which is the stop that is near our hostel. We switched lines like pros and we were off to Gran Via. No troubles along the way! When we got off the metro and walked up the stairs to the outside, it was a huge reality check that we were in a HUGE city. It was crazy to see how many people were out and about, granted it was about 1 pm on a Friday, but regardless the city was a hustling and a bustling. 

We walked about 3 blocks or so to the hostel, passing shops like H&M, Lefties,, Mango, Nike, and much more. We would eventually return to these shops later in the day. When we got to the hostel, the door to get into the building downstairs was open so we just walked in (usually you would have to buzz for the hostal to unlock the door for you). Rachael and I then squeezed into the world's smallest elevator and Michael took the steps to the 4th floor. When we got to the hostal's door we rang the bell and a sweet woman answered it. We would be staying at Hostal San Martin, right off of Gran Via. We were about 5 minutes early to check in but it was no issue. We got checked in, paid the bill and we were then shown where our room was.   There was a shower and sink in the room but no toilet, which was down the hall. Rachael took these pictures of the room after we made ourselves at home a bit.

Once we were settled in, we broke open our bocadillos that our host moms had packed for us and we ate our lunches. After lunch we went to explore the city a little bit and we went to the Reina Sofia Museum. Here are some shots of the city on our walk to the museum and the outside of the museum. The tall glass things are elevators!

We got in for free to the Reina Sofia because we brought our student cards from CLM. We knew this in advance, so we made sure that we had them before leaving Granada and then later when leaving the hotel today. 

When inside the museum, we got to see a lot of artwork by Spanish artists such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. I also took a lot of pictures of black and white art, hoping to print it off in the future and hang it in my room or find it online and print it off from there. Here are some of the works of art that we got to see! For the sake of us all, I will name them and say who the artist is. Labels will be above the pictures!

Pablo Picasso (1939) Trois tetes de moutan (Three lamb's heads)

 Salvador Dali (1941) Templo, Boceto para teatro (Temple, Sketch for theatre)

Pablo Picasso (1971) Femme nue assise (Seated Woman)

Pablo Picasso (1963) Le peintre et le modele (The Painter and the Model) *ALL 3*

Zoomed in view on his signature

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1901) Mujer en azul (Woman in Blue)

Salvador Dali (1923) Gitano de Figueres (Figueras Gipsy)

Salvador Dali (1923) La Jorneta 

Salvador Dali (1925) Figura en una finestro (Girl at the Window)

Salvador Dali (1925) Muchacha de espaldas (Girl from the Back)

Pablo Picasso (1924) Instruments de musique sur une table (Musical Instruments on a Table)

Pablo Picasso (1946-1947) Monument aux Espagnola morts pour la France (Monument to the Spaniards who Died for France)

After walking around the museum for a bit we headed into the courtyard that was at the middle of the museum. The museum made a square around the courtyard.

We then finished up looking at the rest of the rooms and seeing more famous works (many of which I did not recognize the artist or the work itself) and we left. When we walked out I wanted to get a picture of the glass elevators that we rode up (not remembering that I had already taken one) so here it is! 

After the museum we began our trek home but not directly! First we stopped at McDonald's and we got Mc Cafes and Michael got a Coke. The Mc Cafes in Europe are like a separate part of the McDonald's and actually have pastries and cakes and desserts. It is like a real cafe and bakery mixed together! I got a caramel macchiato iced coffee, which is totally different here than in America. They drizzled caramel on the bottom of the cup, added ice, added the milky mixture and then topped it off with the coffee. This is what it turned out to be!

On our walk back to the hotel from the Reina Sofia we stopped in almost every gift shop because Rachael was looking for something special, torro toothpicks. She had picked up a set of them in Ronda when she was there with her family but now her dad wants some so she is on a mission to find an extra set or two. 

We also encountered this wall of shrubs and plants. It was randomly located, out of the blue and we still do not know why it is there. According to Google, it is called the Vertical Green Garden.

When we got back to our hotel, toothpick-less we decided to do some real shopping. More like browsing for now because we ended up not buying anything. We just stopped at Lefties, (how coincidental, right?) which is one of the cheap and best stores in Spain. It is very similar to Charlotte Russe or Wet Seal and I love it! I hope they move to the USA very soon because I would be their best customer. 

After shopping we went back to the hostal and rested up because it was an exhausting day, looking at art and everything. After resting Rachael and I split off from Michael to do some shopping (because he wasn't interested in our stores, for good reason) and Rachael I each bought a shirt (or two, for me) from Lefties. We then browsed around a few other stores and then met Michael for dinner at McDonald's. 

We were all craving McDonald's and seeing them everywhere we went in Madrid did not help the craving to go away. It was also a relatively cheap (more expensive here than in the USA) option and it was close to our hostal. I ordered a McDouble and some fries, but there weren't any ol fries, they were special! They were called "Patatas Deluxe" and they came with a dipping sauce that was similar to ranch (if not)! Both of my items were on the Euro menu, but my fries had an extra .30 added to it, good deal! 

After eating dinner I treated myself to an Oreo and chocolate syrup (yes, we can add syrups for no extra cost) McFlurry. Oh! I forgot to mention how crazy busy McDonald's was! There was nowhere to sit, and we actually got lucky by snatching up a table that I watched someone leave from. The lines were crazy long and it was similar to a mosh pit. 

When we finished up eating dinner we went back to the hostal and rested up! I took advantage of the shower, not having the hold the handle, and then hit the hay!