Madridito

My last night in Madrid is for the most part complete, so I thought why not update on the past couple days. You'll be glad to know that this will be my first semi-drunk post of the tour (three beers is a lot), but hey if I can make it back to my hostel after getting lost semi-drunk, then I think I can get through this as well! Before posting I gotta say, I love listening to people try and hit on girls in hostels. Oh the movie 13 days, that's my favorite! You're from New Mexico, I've never been, but I heard it's just so incredible around there. It's cute.

On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.

On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).

When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!

'BK