Today started out extremely slow, but here we are again at 1am with no intention of getting to bed soon. We love the nightlife! Plus the time change is kicking us in the butt so we have a really hard time sleeping and then are tired right around the time we're supposed to be getting up here. But the siestas are keeping us sane.
Needless to say, we didnt get out of our APARTMENT until 12pm today. We got to stand and wait in line again in the rain, we just love that. But finally made it to the major museum here in Spain, the Prado. This museum is known for having tons of Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. It was HUGE, and so stinking confusing we spent a lot of time wandering around lost...but enjoying every minute of it. I got to see the Velazquez piece that I have studied a lot in my art classes and was on my list of things to see before I die, so I was happy. We really enjoyed the Goya and El Greco pieces too, I dont know as much about these artists and history as say...when you put me in a modern or impressionist museum, but we loved their work so much despite not knowing a ton about what we were even seeing. Especially since Goya is primarily portraits and El Greco is mostly religious scenes, both topics we find dull...they were so beautifully done that we just LOVED it!
After a few hours there, we came home so I could sleep...someone may have gone to bed at 1am...woke up at 4am...and stared at the ceiling ever since. So someone may have been exhausted. After our siesta we had BIG PLANS.
WE. WENT. TO. A. FLAMENCO. SHOW.
yeah, thats right. We are amazing. Rick Steves came in handy again and led us to a beautiful little hidden Flamenco bar that only charged us 25E for the show and some sangria. IT WAS AMAZING!!! There were 3 beautiful female dancers who each danced for about 20-30 minutes and then this young scrumptious male dancer who somehow managed to rock the flamenco despite his extremely tight pants:) We were just in heaven. AND , they got us bar stools so we didnt have to stand the entire time. And it was all locals, oh we just had such a grand time.
Of course, this being Madrid. While walking back to our APARTMENT around midnight, there was a HUGE commotion going on the plaza outside our place. Tons of people were out like always, but were running down the street toward the plaza. Everyone is wearing wigs, and hats, and weird glasses, and spraying champagne everywhere...we could hardly even walk to our apartment it was so jam packed! Someone said it had something to do with Italy and it seemed like they were celebrating the New Year...but uhh...its a day early. And I dont know why Im talking in the past tense since everyone is still out there! The square is still playing music on and off and its so fun!
Im not going to lie, we are really sad to leave our amazing APARTMENT on this amazing plaza in this amazing city. We hope the rest of the cities rock like Madrid does! Excited for New Years in Barcelona tomorrow!!! If tonight was any indication of how tomorrow is going to be...OH MAN. I AM READY.
Now its time to pack and try and get a few hours sleep before we catch our train in the morning.
Again, thank the Lord for siestas!
Sending love from Espana!
-Esther (and Alyssa from the kitchen doing dishes)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Well we made it! Hola Madrid! Estamos aqui!
First of all our adventure getting here was just that, quite the adventure. First off, we got to the airport extremely early because we were afraid the security line would be super long…don’t worry, we’d already printed our boarding passes and the security line took about 5 minutes. So yeah. Then while Alyssa was putting her luggage into the upper compartment, she somehow severely cut her finger open and it was bleeding everywhere. Good times. We made it to Philly, but our next gate was literally ACROSS the entire airport. Then they changed our gate without changing ANY of the signs in the entire airport so we were running all around trying to figure out where to go and trying to get something to eat (of course they starved us on the first flight, and despite snacks we almost died). And literally almost missed our flight. Everyone else was super confused too and US Airways can suck it. Then of course getting from the airport to our hostel was quite the adventure. Once again, the metro was on the other side of the airport and we had a few transfers with all our luggage, then got lost walking in the rain to our hostel. But we were SO HAPPY the entire time anyway! Like, Who cares that I’m wet, exhausted, and my body feels like its been bull dozed: Its beautiful and we’re in Madrid!
THEN THE BEST THING HAPPENED. EVER.
We finally found our hotel, and it was in such an amazing location we were SO excited. Right around the corner from the main shopping and restaurant Plaza Del Sol. And right around the corner from Top Shop and H&M, thanks.
BUT THEN WE CHECKED IN.
and they upgraded us.
To an APARTMENT.
Yeah that’s right. A two bedroom, full kitchen, private entry, private bath, washing machine, living room, the works, APARTMENT. Lets just say, we have a hard time leaving everyday because we just love it here SO MUCH. We are just here tonight and tomorrow night though before we are off to Barcelona to stay in our one hostel for the trip.
We freshened up and then went to get dinner out…we had a weird dinner of smoked salmon…it was strange. But the sangria made it all better! We were going to try and go do something to try and stay awake, but were literally falling asleep into our food so we just went home and slept. And when I say slept, I mean we fell into some kind of travel induced coma which entails being half dead between the hours of 5pm and 10am.
Now that’s brought you up to speed to today! Today we went to the palace! We are big fans of palaces, so we were pretty excited. We’re still a little groggy, but got it together just in time to stand out in the rain for an hour with the rest of the Spaniards on holiday waiting to get inside. Inside wasn’t too crowded (nothing will ever beat my summer at Versailles were I literally couldn’t move inside any of the rooms because of the crowds), the line was long because we had to go through security. Inside was beautiful, of course. Our favorite were the incredible chandeliers inside all of the rooms…just overwhelmingly beautiful and show such craftsmanship and talent. We loved the HUGE dining room that they still use (imagine a ballroom with a long table and chairs across the entire room), we also loved the throne room with more pretty chandeliers and these cool lions that represent the Spanish monarchy. We went through it pretty quickly, probably because we weren’t allowed to take pictures. FROWN FACE.
Afterwards we went next door to a pretty Cathedral they built within the last couple of years. It was fairly modern, so it wasn’t as cool as most European cathedrals are…but it was still big and charming. And nice to sit down and escape the rain in.
After our siesta we ate some dinner in our APARTMENT and then heard music coming from the plaza! Music! So we got dressed quickly to find gaggles of people roaming the plaza and streets (it was around 9p) shopping, visiting with friends, families just walking around…so we joined. The music was super fun and actually quite good. We did some shopping and then finished up with some of the best calamari rings Ive ever had and some garlic mushrooms to DIE FOR. Plus some cervesas of course.
Now its midnight and we really must be getting to bed, big museum day at the Prado tomorrow! One of those “must see in my lifetime” things to check off my art list. SO EXCITED. Tomorrow my arty nerd self will re-enter the world…she has been missed.
We miss you guys! Sending love!
-Esther (and Alyssa in spirit)
Alyssa and I partying it up in the Plaza Del Sol. We love the night life. We like to boogie.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKokbmJHGi_9e3-KUzIKkq6vUq8YkDcMiRfiAXrXOT7UZr-dk0G4phtQP78P8zdFJQA9y_c_gfBdR6YQpnsK28K76AGhxtQaua1fm8Ce7eImSMnZ18GhzmvraQxrn5ZSZUL1ZamPjRymb/s1600-h/alyssa+and+cathedral.jpg">
They had these really beautiful doors in front of the cathedral. Pretty.
Thats me in front of the palace! yay!
First of all our adventure getting here was just that, quite the adventure. First off, we got to the airport extremely early because we were afraid the security line would be super long…don’t worry, we’d already printed our boarding passes and the security line took about 5 minutes. So yeah. Then while Alyssa was putting her luggage into the upper compartment, she somehow severely cut her finger open and it was bleeding everywhere. Good times. We made it to Philly, but our next gate was literally ACROSS the entire airport. Then they changed our gate without changing ANY of the signs in the entire airport so we were running all around trying to figure out where to go and trying to get something to eat (of course they starved us on the first flight, and despite snacks we almost died). And literally almost missed our flight. Everyone else was super confused too and US Airways can suck it. Then of course getting from the airport to our hostel was quite the adventure. Once again, the metro was on the other side of the airport and we had a few transfers with all our luggage, then got lost walking in the rain to our hostel. But we were SO HAPPY the entire time anyway! Like, Who cares that I’m wet, exhausted, and my body feels like its been bull dozed: Its beautiful and we’re in Madrid!
THEN THE BEST THING HAPPENED. EVER.
We finally found our hotel, and it was in such an amazing location we were SO excited. Right around the corner from the main shopping and restaurant Plaza Del Sol. And right around the corner from Top Shop and H&M, thanks.
BUT THEN WE CHECKED IN.
and they upgraded us.
To an APARTMENT.
Yeah that’s right. A two bedroom, full kitchen, private entry, private bath, washing machine, living room, the works, APARTMENT. Lets just say, we have a hard time leaving everyday because we just love it here SO MUCH. We are just here tonight and tomorrow night though before we are off to Barcelona to stay in our one hostel for the trip.
We freshened up and then went to get dinner out…we had a weird dinner of smoked salmon…it was strange. But the sangria made it all better! We were going to try and go do something to try and stay awake, but were literally falling asleep into our food so we just went home and slept. And when I say slept, I mean we fell into some kind of travel induced coma which entails being half dead between the hours of 5pm and 10am.
Now that’s brought you up to speed to today! Today we went to the palace! We are big fans of palaces, so we were pretty excited. We’re still a little groggy, but got it together just in time to stand out in the rain for an hour with the rest of the Spaniards on holiday waiting to get inside. Inside wasn’t too crowded (nothing will ever beat my summer at Versailles were I literally couldn’t move inside any of the rooms because of the crowds), the line was long because we had to go through security. Inside was beautiful, of course. Our favorite were the incredible chandeliers inside all of the rooms…just overwhelmingly beautiful and show such craftsmanship and talent. We loved the HUGE dining room that they still use (imagine a ballroom with a long table and chairs across the entire room), we also loved the throne room with more pretty chandeliers and these cool lions that represent the Spanish monarchy. We went through it pretty quickly, probably because we weren’t allowed to take pictures. FROWN FACE.
Afterwards we went next door to a pretty Cathedral they built within the last couple of years. It was fairly modern, so it wasn’t as cool as most European cathedrals are…but it was still big and charming. And nice to sit down and escape the rain in.
After our siesta we ate some dinner in our APARTMENT and then heard music coming from the plaza! Music! So we got dressed quickly to find gaggles of people roaming the plaza and streets (it was around 9p) shopping, visiting with friends, families just walking around…so we joined. The music was super fun and actually quite good. We did some shopping and then finished up with some of the best calamari rings Ive ever had and some garlic mushrooms to DIE FOR. Plus some cervesas of course.
Now its midnight and we really must be getting to bed, big museum day at the Prado tomorrow! One of those “must see in my lifetime” things to check off my art list. SO EXCITED. Tomorrow my arty nerd self will re-enter the world…she has been missed.
We miss you guys! Sending love!
-Esther (and Alyssa in spirit)
Alyssa and I partying it up in the Plaza Del Sol. We love the night life. We like to boogie.
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKokbmJHGi_9e3-KUzIKkq6vUq8YkDcMiRfiAXrXOT7UZr-dk0G4phtQP78P8zdFJQA9y_c_gfBdR6YQpnsK28K76AGhxtQaua1fm8Ce7eImSMnZ18GhzmvraQxrn5ZSZUL1ZamPjRymb/s1600-h/alyssa+and+cathedral.jpg">
They had these really beautiful doors in front of the cathedral. Pretty.
Thats me in front of the palace! yay!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Off to Espana!
Less then a week until our third adventure begins, this time we are off to Spain! Its been hard to try and get ready to go out of town with school ending and Christmas happening all at the same time, but we have everything booked and our itinerary is ready to go...You know how I love itineraries, teehee. We will be spending time in 4 different cities over the course of two weeks, we're going to be busy!
Madrid
Barcelona
Toledo
Granada
So many museums, parks, castles, and shopping to do while we're there! I have a feeling with the Spanish we know, the schedule (siestas everyday!), the weather, and culture...we will have a hard time coming home.
Stay tuned, we depart Sunday the 27th! More adventures to be had!
Madrid
Barcelona
Toledo
Granada
So many museums, parks, castles, and shopping to do while we're there! I have a feeling with the Spanish we know, the schedule (siestas everyday!), the weather, and culture...we will have a hard time coming home.
Stay tuned, we depart Sunday the 27th! More adventures to be had!
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