We had bus tickets to Madrid at 7 am (Hello, Early Morning..) so we met at Corte Ingles to call a cab from there. This is the moment where we proceeded to call the cab company four times trying to get one. They would speak fast and then hang up quickly, without asking for our names or giving us a cab number! We were so confused and starting to run out of time, so luckily, we waited on the street for a cab to come by and one of them did. (Sidenote: We remembered how in the beginning of the semester, our program director told us that when you call a cab, you better be there when they arrive, or else they jot your number down and you are on their "black list" and they probably won't come for you... Whoops! Hopefully this wasn't our fault though, so we're okay. Otherwise, we'll be grabbing cabs from Corte Ingles from now on! Which isn't really a problem at all.) Anyways, then, during the first minute of our ride to the bus station, we passed an area just a little further down the street with about 20 cabs waiting for people. So NOW we know that that is where they all hide.. Meg and I are winners.
The bus ride to Madrid was really easy- it was exactly 5 hours (with a half hour stop along the way) and I slept most of the way. Another benefit: Sam and Spencer were on our bus, too! It was nice knowing that we had friends in Madrid, too, that were just as clueless as us!
So, we arrived in Madrid around noon and then took a ride in the metro to the area where our hostel is. (Another sidenote: the metro system in Madrid is so easy and so great! If Meg and I can figure it out, anybody can!) Check-in wasn't until 3, so we walked around for a little bit and then sat somewhere to eat our bocadillos (aka-sandwhiches. aka-one of the only things we ate while in Madrid, aside from going out to eat once or twice. Thank God for pb&j, which they don't really do in Spain!) Finally, around 3, we headed to the hostel. We actually ARRIVED at the hostel around 3:30, though, considering the fact that we got lost, then walked right past the hostel without seeing it.. We stayed at "Way Hostal", and there wasn't even a sign or anything, besides on the front window:
Although this was our first time in a hostel, in comparison to always staying in hotels our whole lives, we actually really liked this hostel by the time we left! We shared a room with 6 other girls, and we had 3 tiny showers, a sink, and a locker in our room. Our entire floor shared 3 computers, a kitchen (with all of the necessities in it-besides food), 2 tiny bathrooms, and a social area to hang out in. Here's some pictures we took before we left:
I was top, Meg was bottom! And we shared the bottom locker.
Everything you could ever want in a bathroom.
Where everyone ate/drank/socialized.
How we nommed.
Wasn't always easy to get your hands on these old computers.
Almost everyone spoke English at the hostel, which made life pretty easy. However, of course, checking-in couldn't just go smoothly.. As soon as we walked in and told the man at the desk our names, I also told him that we had called earlier about how we were expecting a letter (our futbol tickets). His response: "Ohhhh... I messed up..." This is where I was about to freak out. The futbol tickets were the ONE thing Meg and I cared about (this was for our Real Madrid game. And they were a lot of money, too.) Beau (the name of the guy that worked at the desk) remembered the message my host mom had left him about the tickets, but forgot about it at the time. So he did not sign for them and the mail carrier took them away. Well, luckily, it turns out that ticket company we ordered from called both me AND the hostel, and told us that it wasn't a problem and that all we had to do was come to the post office the next day and pick them up! Beau is actually a really nice guy and felt very bad that he made that mistake, so he walked us to the post office the next day himself and he also gave us our lock for our locker for free. We really liked Beau a lot!
So, that evening, Meg and I went to El Prado art museum. It's a gorgeous building, and of course the art in it was just as amazing, too. They had all the original paintings done by the greats, such as Velazquez, Goya, Picasso, etc. We weren't allowed to take pictures while inside, so I took some outside instead.
This place was huge, but you can't see the back from this picture.
After that, Meg and I walked around for a little bit and took in the town.
For instance, we saw the ever-so-fancy Ritz Hotel.
The buildings are gorgeous at night, too.
That night, we bought some drinks and went back to the common room in the hostel and drank there. There, we met a few guys from Argentina that spoke very good English, and Spanish, too, and we hit the town with them. As you walk around Madrid on Friday and Saturday nights, there are constantly people at every corner trying to get you into one bar or another.. So we walked around and where ever they offered us a free drink, we went! It was a really good first night!
How often do you meet people that live in Argentina?
The next day, Meg and I woke up around 9, had breakfast, then walked with Beau to get our tickets (!!!). Then, at 11:30, we went on a free tour of Madrid offered by the hostel. This was probably the best tour EVER- and not just because it was free. Apparently, the cool thing about free tours is that they are not official, so they can add personality and jokes and things like that to the tours. This was far better because it kept us more interested, and we learned a lot, too! The tour was about 3 hours long, and COMPLETELY worth it:
Clock tower in Plaza del Sol. It's the clock every Spaniard matches their clocks to.
The Royal Palace
The smallest street in all of Madrid: Calle de Madrid (ironic.)
Building from over a hundred years ago. Made with confusing windows in order to confuse government officials that would try to tax them if they could see from the outside that you had lots of rooms/levels in your home.
One of the biggest, busiest plazas in Madrid- Plaza Mayor (I believe). Lots of crazy stuff going on in there during the day.
"And the US embassy!" -Our tour guide pointed out.
After our tour, we decided to check out another famous art museum called, La Reina Sofia. That one was, well... different. Basically, it contained lots of art we didn't understand. I'll show you an example:
Art?
The outside of it was the coolest part, in our opinion.
We also went to this beautiful park on Saturday, which could be compared to Central Park, in New York. However this one, was wayyy more beautiful.
Then came Sunday! The day that Meg and I have been waiting for for a REALLY long time! We started out the morning by going to El Rostro, one of the biggest flea markets in the world. It was extremely crowded, to say the least. But it was cool!
Once we finished walking around El Rostro, we looked at some stores and went shopping for a bit (we really liked a lot of the stores there) and then ate our bocadillos outside in one of the plazas. When 4:00 rolled around, we couldn't take it anymore. Even though the Real Madrid game wasn't until 7, we wanted to go now! So we got on the metro and headed over there.
The stadium was huge and absolutely beautiful! We just loved the overall atmosphere, too. Everyone caring that much about soccer! This is not something we're used to in America, of course. Everyone goes crazy and has scarves and jerseys on. We were where we belong!
Huge crowds of people lined up hours before the game just to see the bus with the team in it pull into the stadium!
The game was everything we wanted and more! Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 4-1. We saw several of our favorite players in the world, such as Cristiano Ronadlo (Swoooon. Scored 2 goals), Kaka (scored 1), Ozil, Alonso, etc. Best. Time Ever.
Real Madrid with the win!
After the game, Meg and I hopped on the Metro and back to the bus station! Our ride back was another 5 hours, and we were back home around 5 am. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend! Who knows what the next few weeks will be like!
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