Madrid and saying bye to Spain.

When we got to Madrid (Wednesday) we put out bags up and explored!  We Madrid is a lot like New York. It is a BIG city! I love it! I can’t decide if I like the small of big city better, but I know I love Madrid. Maggie and I when and looked at tickets to Los Miserable and decide we are going to go on the 24^th! We also might go see a ballet! We walked around for a while and decided it was time for dinner

We went to this place called “The noodle king.” It was amazing! Best Chinese food I have ever had! Dr. Stratton told us to go there and get the number 50 (which is what I got) and it was the best thing ever. At this place they make their own noodles! We even got to watch them make the noodles! It was very impressive!

After we left there we walked back up the street. We sa Dr. Stratton and I pretend to “pick-pocket” him since he had been giving us speeches all day on how to be careful about it. It was funny. We talked to him and his wife for a while and then headed into town a little further. We found a few fun places and danced around- not really caring how dumb we look but just having a good time. We went some Italian ladies who spoke didn’t speak English or Spanish- so it was pretty entertaining switch back and forth between the languages before I realize they didn’t know either.

We found this place called Tupperware. It was a really small place but it was so much fun! We were literally the only people there but we had a blast dancing around. They had these little microwaves with action-figures in them for decoration and had paintings of people and action figures and whatnot all over the place. They ever had a TV with cartoons playing. Sounds a little bizarre but it was great! After that we found this place called Angie’s, everything was very expensive there so we didn’t stay long, just long enough for Angie to take a picture!

After that we went to this place called 31. There was this awesome room with tons of lights that looked like stars on the walls. Again, we dances around and just acted stupid. The best part about this bar was the bartender. The bartender was a good-looking young guy so we were talking to him for a little while. We asked where he was from and how he ended up in Madrid. We told him we were from the USA. He asked us if we liked the Backstreet boys since we were from America….? We kind of laughed and and said yes and then started singing some Backstreet boys songs. Next thing we know the guy is showing us his tattoo on his arm of some Backstreet Boys Lyrics (“Show me the meaning of being lonely”). He was dead serious in his passion of the Backstreet Boys so we asked who his favorite Backstreet Boy was…. With out a hesitation, as if he had already been thinking about this question, he said “A.J.” …. Of course. At 31 Katie saw friend of a friend who went to Blue Valley West in Kansas. We all had a few friends in common and she was a Chi O at KU! Small world!

After not too long we started heading back to the hotel area. Our hotel is right next to the Plaza De Espania – so Maggie, Chelsea and I when and sat on the fountain of the Plaza d Espaina for a while and just talked! It was a great way to end the night.

Woke up early the next morning (Thursday) and headed to beautiful French castle not far from Madrid. It was huge and the inside was beautiful! This castle had the most beautiful chandeliers! My favorite part was the gardens though. The garden was enormous (4 square miles) and was beautiful. It had very large decorative fountains and the landscape was unreal. I would have looked to spend an afternoon exploring it and having a picnic, but we were only there for an hour.

After this castle we headed to the city of Scadovia to spend the rest of the afternoon. Scadovia has one of the oldest, most impressive Roman aqueducts in the world. The bus dropped us off at the aqueduct and we had the afternoon to do whatever we wanted. Scadovia is famous for its “suckling pig.” Suckling pig is basically an entire pig just cooked and you just eat it, face and everything. John Wayne has even came to Scadovia just to have the suckling pig. My first thought was- “If John Wayne did it, I’m doing it.” Then I saw a picture of the suckling pig. I have a problem with eating anything that has a face, so my second thought was- “nevermind.”

We grabbed lunch at a tapas place instead. I have been craving a good salad so I ordered the most amazing salad ever! We walked around the city for a while and saw the Cathedral, which was a lot like the Cathedral in Sevilla (just smaller). We then headed over the castle. This castle was the inspiration for the Walt Disney castle at Disney World! So what do we do? Sing Disney songs on the way there, of course. We decided we were the Disney princesses and took a picture outside the castle. Angie- Ariel; Maggie- Snow White; Shaina- Jasmine; Katie- Bell; Chelsea- Sleeping Beauty; Me- Cinderella. We walked around the castle and then took the tower all the way to the top. The tower’s stairs were the steepest, smallest, longest spiral staircase I have ever seen! It was the scariest thing trying to walk up and down them! But when we got to the top we ahd the most amazing view of Scadovia!

After grabbing ice cream (to reward ourselves for surviving the staircase) we headed back to the bus. In the spirit of Walt Disney we got the entire bus singing Disney songs all the way back to Madrid! It was our last bus ride as a class and the best bus ride yet! Its so weird that this was the last time we would all be together in a big group- very sad..

When we got back to Madrid our teacher rewarded us with like 50 Euros that we all had left over from the program. Angie saved her Euros. Maggie and I decided we really wanted to go see the musical the Los Miserables! Madrid is considered kind of the New York of Europe by some people, so of course we wanted to go see a “Broadway play.” So we headed over to buy tickets! We were going to go out with our entire class that night so we wanted to by them for the next night. We got up to the counter to order, paid our money, and then looked at our tickets. We bought them for the wrong night! Oops- I think we were a little tired! We waited back in line to exchange them but apparently you can exchange. Luckily these sweet ladies behind bought them from us. So Maggie and I got back in line for the third time to buy tickets for the right night.

We headed back to the hotel, got ready for the night (Thursday night), and then went to eat at this amazing Mexican restaurant. It made me miss Lubbock Mexican food! Angie and I split some of the best fajitas I have ever had. They even had chips and salsa!

After dinner we headed over to Plaza de Espania. So many young people just hang out on the benches and grass in that area around a fountain before they go out- so we joined them. Maggie brought our flute out tonight, so we decided we would play it for money. Maggie played and I did interpretive dancing. We paraded around the fountain several times and made good friends with this older man who videoed our awesome dance moves. At one point Maggie was even playing the flute on my shoulders while I danced around, but we still did not make any money.

After hanging out there for a while we caught a cab to a discotech called Kapital to meet up with the rest of our group. Kapital is 7 stories with different music and atmosphere on ever floor. My favorite floor was the top floor. It had awesome lights and was very chill. I asked this guy from New York if I could have his fedora (hat), so he let me where it for a while- even did a New York style goofy photo-shoot- funnnnnny times.

The next people we met where two girls. One’s name was Maggie and the other’s name was Amy. They saw us and came up to us and asked Maggie and I if our names where Maggie and Amy and if we were the girls in the fountain next to the Cathedral in Sevilla….. yes, yes that was us. They had been at the fountain that night and had seen us and overheard our names- crazy! We left the top floor and went to expore the rest of the place. You could spend hours upon hours there, and still not see everything. It was ridiculous, but we really cut loose and had a blast!

Friday we went to the Prado museum and Riena Sophie museum. The Prado had so many amazing painting! I honestly didn’t think I would enjoy an art museum as much as I did. My three favorite painting in the Prado were The Deposition from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden, Las Meninas by Diego de Velázquez, and The Garden of Delights by Hieronymus van Aechen Bosch. I say that those are my favorite, but it is hard to say. There were so many painting that I like. I spend forever at the museum! I really liked the Deposition from the Cross the first time I saw it in Granada, but seeing the actually original painting is breath-taking. It was really beautiful; the contrast of light and dark was perfect. I really enjoyed have the chance to we Las Meninas as well. It is the most famous painting in the museum and was very complex. I feel like the more you look at the more you discover and find out about the painting. And last I really like the Garden of Delights mainly because you never get bored of it. You could sit there for hours looking at the painting and find something new about it every second. I sat next to in older British couple who were discussing this painting for a while and it was interesting to see what all they had picked out and how they interpreted it compared to what I had see and thought.

After the Prado and a quick lunch we went to the Riena Sophie Museum. This museum was much more contemporary. The Prado was just a classic, amazing experience of art. When we went to Reina Sofia we experiences the complete opposite kind of art than we did at the Prado. This museum was full of Picasso and Dali. It was so fun to go see and compare the two different museums! There was also exhibits of a few modern artist today that were very… interesting. All of this one girls art looked as if it had things growing on it. It was bizarre.

We left the museum and had very little time to get ready for the play. Maggie and I just changed really quick, grabbed some coffee so we could stay awake the entire play and then went to Los Miserables. We made friends with a girl and her grandma that were from Brazil. They where sitting right by us. In Brazil they speak Portuguese, (which is very similar to Spanish). The girl told us if we didn’t understand what they were saying in the play to just ask her and she would explain.  She was eating a piece of candy and offered one to both Maggie and I. We took one not knowing exactly what it was. Turns out it was a cough drop….?  We had great seats for the price. We sat in the top balcony but on the second row. We watched the play and at intermission we asked our friend what exactly was going on. We were a little confused on the characters and plot. The girl told us that she couldn’t even understand that was going on. There was know hope in us understanding everything. The music was beautiful though, and the acting was great! I just wish we could have understood the language a little better! At the end of the play (curtain call) the main character came out and everyone went crazy… Maggie and I didn’t even know who the character was. You see, we were planning on researching the play a little bit before we went, but we spent too much time at the museums so we didn’t have time!

After grabbing dinner with the rest of the girls at Noodle King.. again… I went back to the hotel and looked up the plot. It makes a lot more sense now! But it was still a great experience and I’m so glad we went! That night we packed our bags and rested. We stayed up with Maggie til about 1 am just talked about our trip before we went to bed. The next morning everyone was gone! I’m really excited to travel around with Angie now, but I will miss the rest of the class so much! We all had an amazing time together!

On our last day in Spain, Angie and I packed and got organized. We did some more research on Paris and the other places we were going and planned out our trips! After that we went to the airport to go ahead and store our big bags in long-term lockers! (We are only traveling around with our backpacks) We only got one locker (meant for one big bag) and stuffed both of our huge bags in there! I wish you could have seen it! It took us about an hour to stuff both bags in there, but we did it and saved about 60 Euros! We when to bed early because we have to leave the hotel at 4 a.m. to make it to the airport on time.

The airport this morning was crazy busy! We waited in line for a while to get our passports checked and then went through security. Luckily our bags were small enough that we didn’t have to pay 40 extra Euros!  When we were going through security though, One of the security guards grabbed me after my bag went through. They had my bag and told me that I had a knife in my bag so they needed to go through it… a knife…. I was trying to smuggle a knife on to the plane…? So they dug through my bag and found a wine bottle opener… oops!  We grabbed a little breakfast and coffee and then caught our flight to Paris! We just landed at the airport and are now taking a shuttle into the city!

I will try my best to keep y’all updated on this new crazy adventure we are starting, but be patient- I don’t know how much access to internet we will have… or how much time I will be wanting to spend on my computer! We have so much that I want to do and so little time!