Madrid take two

Hello from 4.5 years after this post was written.. I wrote this about my first day in Madrid and never posted it! This is a lot more bullet-style than most of my long long narratives, but I'm posting it anyways.. :)

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I ended up sleeping until i pretty much had to leave. took the bus to her school and by some miracle got there despite getting yelled at by the driver. Met up with Chelsea and went to McDonalds where I picked up an amazing cow from the Ronald McDonald benefit. It was a pretty swanky place ' much more expensive and fancier than American McDonalds.

Chelsea´s school is located in a satellite town of Madrid, about a 15 minute bus ride away. It is a lot poorer and the school itself is a charter school. She is an English foreign language teaching assistant. I met Patricia and the school supervisors. I sat in on the classes and everyone already knew my name form Chelsea´s presentation about her life in America. I was somewhat of a celebrity.. I forgot what it´s like to be in 6th grade. I was probably a bit of a distraction but Patricia didn´t seem to bothered by it. 

We came back from school and ate at the same cafe where I had had my croissant (actually a Neopolitan) and had cafes con leche. We relaxed at Chelsea's for a while, went out and bought white wine, and then listened to music and chilled in her apartment that she shares with a few various Europeans.. it's cozy and cute and reminds me of what 1960s Spain must have looked like with its cute kitchen and courtyard windows. 

We then went out in search of this restaurant we had found the last time I was in Madrid two years ago in order to reorder the famous bacon con brie. We met up with Andy and somehow found it! 

We accidentally ate pretty raw meat. But the bacon con brie lived up to expectations and was (thankfully) fully cooked.

We then bar hopped a little and I finally had my first Mahou, the local beer. It was a pale ale. Nothing too special but definitely tasty. It was like drinking Bud Light.. Yeah it's just Bud Light, but it's still tasty beer!

We eventually walked all through downtown when we found out that the metro was delayed, and ended up in Sol at a famous underground (literally) Sangria place. The Sangria was syrupy and strong and delicious. It was loud down there but felt super authentic.. That biggest difference on this trip compared to the last is how much more comfortable everything feels, mostly because of how closely involved Chelsea is in Spanish culture these days. She's no longer a tourist or student but instead a contributing part of Spanish life, so visiting her and staying in her apt and going grocery shopping and visiting favorite haunts has a totally different feel.

We came home and crashed around 3 and slept in all morning. The Sangria and the jet lag made my eyes heavy, and we ended up getting a really late start the next morning.

We met up with Andy to adventure around downtown. We started at a famous cafe for Neapolitans and coffees, and I bought some sweets from their shop to bring back for people at home :) 

We walked to the Centro, which used to be the city palace and is now a giant cultural space that is free unless you want to check out the rooftop, which will set you abck a whopping 2E.

Afterwards we went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for mashed potatoes (our contribution to the Thanksgiving feast some of Chelsea's friends from her program invited us to). We fixed them up with Andy in the kitchen and then took a bus to the house where we had dinner. I ended up carving the turkey for 20 people I didn't know. Crazy life.

Now I'm in a Thanksgiving-induced coma back at her apartment, wishing I didn't eat so much. We both pretty much made ourselves sick from food. I'm excited to have a relaxed day with Chels tomorrow to just take in some sights/sites and spend time together. And digest.

love,

laura