Sunday - On sundays, in Madrid, they have a huge market, something like a flea market, called El Rastro. It's a huge market that encompasses many streets and seems to go on forever. I decided that I would start off my day there and then work my way over to the Prado Museum and then see the park and some of the main downtown area. Well, easier said than done. Like I had said earlier, I understand that it was a holiday weekend in Spain but I honestly think that everyone and their brother decided to come to Madrid. It was so unbelievably crowded at this market, I had to fight a crowd with every step I took. At one point I just wanted to leave. The market was nice for the most part, it was full of a lot of junk that I didn't need and stuff but I bought a few items. I was there for almost 3 hours just because it was so crowded. After the market I tried to find a bite to eat and I ended up grabbing a doner kebab. lol It was ok and I was in a hurry to get to the museum since I had spent so much time at the market. Well, I finally make it over to the Museu del Prado and there is a huge, long line. Ugh, I probably waited a good 30 minutes in line. I ended up getting in free though which was nice. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum but, I really enjoyed it. The Prado houses the largest collection of Spanish art and has some of the world's most famous paintings like Las Meninas, which in person btw, is pretty amazing. I saw some great art but the museum was huge so I started to loss interested about halfway through. lol I bought a pencil and left. It was already dark outside by the time I finished so I was going to have to save the park for another day. So I headed for the main square Puerta del Sol in the very center of Madrid. As I was walking into the square I was greeted by a gigantic christmas tree and then, by the terrible crowds. It was like being at the human castles of La Merce all over again. It was seriously shoulder to shoulder like sardines in a can. It was terrible. I honestly wanted to stay and see some things but I was too frustrated at this point in the day with the crowds that I just left. I decided that if one more person stepped on my foot that I was just going to slap them. Therefore, I took the metro home, relaxed, and booked my flights for the last week of my trip!
Monday - So I thought that maybe the crowds wouldn't be as bad on Monday because it was Monday! But, I was wrong. I first decided to go to the royal palace. It's huge, I've never seen such a big house. The Biltmore in North Carolina is big yes, but, this is 10 times more impressive. So I get in line for the palace right, I couldn't really tell where the line ended and when I got in line it appeared as if it was moving so I was like ok, this probably won't take that long. WRONG again. I ended up waiting 3 1/2 hours! OMG! I wanted to shot myself. At one point I had to turn around in line and ask the people behind me if they spoke english. Thank goodness one of them said yes and I asked if I could run to the bathroom and if they could save my place in line. I was so relived when they said yes and then I made my way to a bathroom because I was about to pee my pants! lol I was really not happy about waiting that long to see the palace but the thing is, I couldn't tell where the line was ending and I kept thinking to myself, oh well it'll probably only be another 15 mins or so and after waiting for so long I wasn't going to just leave and go do something else after waiting over a hour. The palace was really amazing, as usual you weren't allowed to take pictures and I tried to snap a few but they had a person in almost every room so it was really hard but, it was like something out of a fairy-tale. It was so beautiful and detailed, I've never seen anything like it, it was truly a royal palace. There were so many different rooms and it was very impressive. It's something that you picture when you think about what a palace must have looked like in the 1700's or maybe even earlier. I really liked it and it might have been worth an hour wait but not 3 hours. If I would have known it was going to take that long then I wouldn't have waited! After the palace I grabbed a bite to eat and then I went to see Plaza Mayor which is beautiful at Christmas time, they had a market and there were so many people, it was packed. I did a little bit of shopping and then I left because I couldn't take the crowd any longer. I walked down some of the important streets and saw Plaza Vila something or other. I went back to Puerta del Sol again and it was equally busy so it must not have been just the weekend crowd. I went into El Corte Ingles and shopped around a little bit and then I headed home because again, it was so crowded and it was getting late. I didn't feel that I had gotten that much accomplished because I spent more than 5 hours at the Royal Palace but, it did see alot this day.
Tuesday - I woke up around 10, got ready, packed my things and went downstairs to check out of the hotel. They let me store my bags there while I went out to do some more site seeing. I started at the park, Buen Retiro, the park I had been trying to make it to since I arrived in Madrid. I finally made it and it was a beautiful park, the lake and the monument that you always see in pictures is just gorgeous, pictures don't do it justice and the atmosphere at the park is so lovely. There are people everywhere, families, puppet shows, they had people there telling fortunes, basically anything you could think of was a the park. It was very nice, I walked around for about an hour or so and then I decided that I would head down another important street, Gran Via. This street was full of so many pretty buildings. There was another market happening and I bought some really cool handmade gloves. After this I tried to find a bakery or candy shop to buy some violet candies that are native to Madrid. My professor told me that I had to get some so I set out hunting for them. I asked at one bakery but I don't think they understood what I was talking about. I thought that they came with chocolate but, turns out, they don't. It's just lavender candies. I ended up buying some at a candy store where this really nice girl informed me about all this. lol After this adventure I headed back to the hotel where I sat in the lobby for about an hour and worked on my powerpoint for wednesday's presentation. My lovely roommate didn't do shit for it, so basically I did all the work. She's just so pleasant.
I headed to the airport around 5 or so. My flight wasn't until 7:30. I got there, got checked in and everything and then when we got on the plane it was all decorated in Disneyland Paris stuff! It was the coolest plane I have ever been on. I thought, wow, I hope this plane is going to Disneyland, it wasn't but it was still really cool, the aisle was disney carpet and there were stickers and stuff everywhere and then the curtain between first class and coach was a curtain with mickey hands, it was awesome. The flight wasn't too bad, I tried not to think about it too much and kept myself busy with blogging. We landed at Terminal 1 which I wasn't extremely excited about because this means I have to take the bus over to Terminal 2 to catch the train and I just wanted to get home at this point. Well, I go outside to where the bus is to Terminal 2 and I get on the bus that is in the front that looks just like the bus that I always take to Terminal 2 and other people were also getting on this bus so of course I get on too. Well, I ended up taking a little joyride around the airport for about 30 -45 mins. I think I got onto the employee bus maybe because we went out to a desolate parking lot and I saw some employees get off at this stop but, there were also a couple of other people on the bus with me that didn't get off at this stop so I'm assuming they must have also gotten onto the wrong bus but they didn't really seem to be too phased by it. lol The bus took us back to the same exact place where we had gotten on the bus so I just got off and decided to pay 5 Euro for the Aerobus because I didn't feel like waiting any longer to get home and I was pretty mad that I just wasted an hour riding around the airport on a bus. I was relieved to get home and I spent most of the night working on my powerpoint and didn't end up going to bed until 3. I was pretty exhausted.
Overall, I really liked Madrid. The metro was very confusing at first but after I figured it out, it was ok. Madrid is also less expensive than Barcelona so I really enjoyed this aspect as well. The people in Madrid are very different from the people in Barcelona. #1 They only speak Spanish in Madrid and English is the second language. #2 I feel like the people are more accepting than in Barcelona. For example, in Barcelona they are Catalan and it's a very distinct culture and sometimes I feel like even if I lived here that I would never fully be accepted because I'm not Catalan and it's a hard culture to just blend into. and #3 People in Madrid are very nice and eager to help. I could definitely see myself living in Madrid. The only things I dislike about Madrid are: it's a very very big city and there isn't a beach nearby. When you really look at it, Madrid is located in the desert, there isn't any water nearby and I really want to be near the beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment