madrid dias uno/dos

hola! i got in yesterday to Madrid's extremely cool airport and met Chelsea (miraculously - no cell phones or anything... realizing my connectivity dependence...) by the baggage claim. We took a bus into Madrid and I got my first glimpses of the city in the afternoon light. The Spanish do it up right - giant statues outside of every government building, balconies/look-outs on every window, and everyone looks fashionable all the time (my travel clothes and sneakers felt a little ridiculous haha). Chelsea had to go to class so she pointed me in the direction of my hostel and I was off.

Hostal Barrera is gorgeous - a mom and pop owned place with really cute (really tiny, but really cute) rooms. I relaxed there for a while and met with Chelsea after her class. We walked around for a bit and had dinner around 9pm Madrid time in a place that was known in the guidebook as good for its brie con bacon and mojitos... Brie wrapped in bacon on toast might be best thing I've ever tasted (more like scarfed down since I still hadn't eaten since my last post about airplane peanuts). The delicious food combined with how hungry I was after travelling made for an amazing meal.

We then walked around Lavapies and Sol (something centro? apparently all distances are given from here). At every intersection and in front of every bar there are barkers who in a Miami-style ask you to come in for cheap drinks and usually talk about something getting something free blah blah blah. Some are more aggressive than others- in Miami they don't continue to follow you down the street, haha.

Also - It's not too cold here but apparently the Spanish think it's FREEZING. I know this is unseasonably cold for them (14 o centigrade in the sun most days) but it's really not that bad. I think of my friends in the -20 F windchill at Tufts and am grateful for the 45 F temperature here. It is pretty funny to watch people walk around in parkas and scarves in the 40s.. but I do have to say, when it's night or if you're even standing in the shade the temp massively drops... even if you turn down a street cast in shadow you can feel the difference.

After considering a couple of places we ended up in Javier Bardem's family's bar for vino and a tortillita (omelette sort of deal). We headed back around one and I slept for the next billion years.

Surprisingly, I woke up to discover that I had only slept for 8 hours, not a billion years, after all. Chelsea and I met up and headed to Sol, grabbing a coffee in a cafe on the way. It was getting to be lunch time, so after some window shopping and some touristy viewings of the Plaza Mayor, we consulted her guidebook for a place to eat. Continuing in the vein of delicious cheese dishes, we ate cauliflower smothered in cheese and then a plate of cooked ham in roquefort. mmmm. Everything closes from 2-5 for siesta/lunch, so a long lunch is nice to relax and pass the time.

Chelsea had to head back to her program center for a meeting, so I did some wandering on my own back to the hostel. I'm on the hunt for a purse or bag that I can use in India that could hold my netbook. I instantly felt so much more vulnerable without Chelsea the pseudo-Spaniard (she's modest about her Spanish but it is seriously awesome) to respond to store clerks when they ask if I need any help. Other than simple pleasantries, my Spanish sucks (you know what else does? My Hindi. Good thing I don't need Hindi.. wait...). But exploring on one's own is fun and I scoped out a pizza place that we went back to later that night.

After a skype sesh with Jenna (when I should have been practicing Hindi) Chelsea and I hung out in the room and headed out in search of tapas. After a terrifying moment when I thought I had lost my wallet (and Chelsea was awesome and put up with my neurotic need to go make sure I had left it in the room - i did), we took the metro to the coolest place I've seen so far in Madrid, a market that can only be compared to a much more awesome version of Quincy Market in Boston. You walk around from stall to stall and get a drink (cheap ones 2-3E, more expensive 10+E if that's what floats your boat) and then pick out different bite sized options from each stall (fish, olives, cheese, meats, croquetas, ...even a sushi bar - it's super trendy in Madrid). Unfortunately even though the signs said the market didn't close until midnight, it started closing pretty much as soon as we got there. We were there long enough to get some croquetas and sangria and a mini pizza (minizza i just accidentally typed? i think yes), and stopped at the other pizza place I had seeen earlier that day for something more substantial.

At the pizza place, the clerk noticed I didn't speak Spanish so took the opportunity to tell me about all of the toppings on the pizza, including a few phrases Chelsea and I couldn't quite figure out: "Now this pizza, this is topped with very educated mushrooms." ??? He also informed us that the place used to be a publishing company, but he said it wasn't going so well so they were trying to do both, and you could buy a book and a slice of pizza for 4E if you were so inclined. Definitely a new business model. It was delicious. The pizza, that is.

We came back and poured over a Lonely Planet Spain guidebook and a "walking tour of art" pamphlet I got from the lobby. I think we're going to shop tomorrow around the Gran Via and then meet up for lunch with some Tufts kids.

And if you've read this far, bear with me, I know I'm painfully detailed now :) I'll work on it for India. If you've read this far, you're probably my Mom, or you're just awesome.

Love,
Laura