Tuesday
Well we all had to meet at the train station to get on the bus to Madrid at 6:30am. It was early. On the way up to Madrid we stopped at the castle. Now I had a problem with this castle because they were restoring it so the genuiness is questionable. Which is kind of disappointing because the point of seeing it because it is old. It was a short stop but it broke up the trip a little bit. We then all loaded back up on the bus to go to La Mancha which is the little town know for Don Quijote. There we toured a tiny theater and bought lace. The lace was being made right in front of us and was pretty cheap considering the fact that it was hand made. We got some lunch and tried pickled eggplant, it was surprisingly good. I wish you could find it more places. After about an 1 1/2 hr. there we again got on the bus to Toledo which is where we were going to stay the night. We arrived in Toledo at about 6 or 7pm and checked into the hotels. Toledo is known for their sword making and majorca pearls. After settling into the hotel room my mom and I did a little shopping and later met up with my friend and her mom. Together, the four of us, we did some damage shopping and found this cute little restaurant with a heated patio and had italian food and a pitcher of sangria. After we headed back to the hotel, where my mom and I watched the season finale of the Bachelor and skyped the family.
Wednesday
The day started off with a mini excursion to see an El Greco painting at this church, unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. The church was located in this little shopping area that had pretty competitive prices for swords and pearls. Again we made some purchases. Then came the fun part finding our way back to the hotel, we had a map but to get back to the hotel was several versions of twisty and windy roads all uphill of course. I had the chance to show off my mad navigational skills and we made it back in pretty good time. Upon arriving back at the hotel we ran into my friends and their moms waiting in the lobby because it was about 11:45 and we were to all meet back to get on the buses at 12:30. The palan for Wednesday was after getting on the buses we were going to actually go past Madrid to a small town called Segovia. Every city we go to they tell us some type of food to try or something specific to the area to buy. In the case of Segovia the food was suckling pig. When we arrived in Segovia though it had snowed! It was freezing and still kind of raining/snowing, no one was really prepared for that weather so they let us decide which if any places we wanted to go with the group. At the aqueduct (roman) there was the suckling pig restaurant so we pretty much hauled it in there to get seated before everyone did. Unfortunately lunch took a long time so by the time we were done we only had about an hour or hour 15 mins. to get back to the bus. In Segovia there is a castle that the castles in Disney movies are modeled after! We were able to make it up there to see it but not to go in. We went back to the bus to finally head into Madrid. We got into Madrid at about 8pm. We settled in and decided to go to a chinese noodle place that they had told us about on the bus. It turned about to be delicious and they had a mango salad! I LOVE MANGO! So I was a little happy camper. After that we decided that we needed to find a place that served green beer to celebrate st. Patrick's day. It turns out that it is not really a big deal in Spain. I forgot to mention that while looking for the noodle place we got a little lost and stumbled upon this Irish Pub called "the Swan", later we found out that it is the only bar that serves green beer so we told the owner that we would be back tomorrow night for the green beer. We then went back to the Hotel and settled in for the night.
Thursday
We were out the door at about 10 or 11. The mission that morning was to try and find some green shirts to wear. So the 6 of us (my friend Carol and her mom, my friend AnnMarie and her mom, and my mom and I) headed down to the shopping area. We ended up in an El Corte Ingles, I don't know it I have mentioned this before but it is a HUGE department store that literally has everything I mean everything it is a grocery store, books, music, home decor, make up, fragrances, etc, everything you could possibly need is there. Well my mom and I weren't really looking for anything but discovered that Longchamp purses/bags here are SO much cheaper in Europe than they are in the United States because it is a Paris brand! So we had a bit of a field day with that one! Madrid also has a little broadway type set up. On the main street there was the musical los miserables in Spainsh! I am not really familiar with it so I knew I wanted to see a spanish musical so we I got back to the hotel I googled to see what else was playing. That story to be continued later. So before that we were looking at prices of the tickets for les mis. By that time it was about noon and we were suppose to have already eaten lunch and be on the bus at 1:15 to go to the El Escorial. Well we rushed through lunch and the more we talked about it we were sure that we wanted to go. It was an hour and a half away and it was scheduled as a 8 hr. excursion. We had just got to Madrid so we decided to go a head and skip and just stay in Madrid for the day. So after lunch we went back to the hotel to do some research to find something to do instead. We decided to go to the Prado Art Museum because we thought since it was a Thursday it might not be so crowded. On the way there we would walk by the royal palace and go through some of the major plazas as well as by tickets for Peter Pan, which is the musical we decided to go see, we figured it would be at about the level of our Spanish. So we started on our journey across the city of Madrid. We finally made it to the Prado and spent a couple of hours there. After we decided to try our luck at the metro back, and we kind of had to hurry back because we had only about 30 mins to get back to buy tickets for Peter Pan for Friday night. We hurried back bought the tickets and then took the metro. We conquered it, absolutely flawless. At the hotel we took a quick break and freshened up. The night before just before the Irish bar we had seen a cute restaurant that we thought we could try. On our way the restaurant we ran into some of my friends and their parents and they were just getting back. They were going to go get ready for dinner and try to come join us later at the bar. We took our time at dinner and again because it was early for Spain there was no one in there. The 6 of us went in and while we were waiting for our food our sneaky waiter brought out this cooked food and bread and all these things we didn't order. In my head I was thinking he is going to charge us for these for sure. Well we ate it anyway and it turned out to be pretty good. But yes we did get charged for it, the food was okay but my mom and decided that we would have preferred the noodle place.
Well the next stop was the Swan. We walked in and they were also giving away hats if you drank two beers. Well between the moms and girls we were able to get 3 hats and that took care of us girls who wanted them! We had a great time with Carol and her mom showing us show bar tricks with coasters and matches. Two separate tricks, I was determine to master the coaster one and I still have some so that I can practice. About an hour or so after being there my friend Molly and Hayley and Molly's parents joined us. They had dinner and drinks and we had a great time all practicing the various tricks we had learned and great conversation. It was a very relaxed night. Because we had such a hefty bill between the 10 of us the owner actually opened up a bottle of champagne at the end of the night that was free. After that we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
Friday
Well this was a free day and we weren't really sure what we were going to do the only for sure plan was that we were going to Peter Pan the musical that night. My mom and I got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Across the street from our hotel was the Plaza de Espana and it had this little flee market/ shops going on so we decided first to check that out. There we ran in to my friend Carol and her mom and decided that we could form a plan together. Also across from our hotel was the National Geographic store, I had never seen one before and it was a cafe as well so we decided to go there have some coffee and formulate a plan for the rest of the day. We ended getting coffee and then I also got the best juice I have ever had in my entire life it was orange, banana, and strawberry all fresh! We looked at the map and decided that we wanted to go to the fashion museum. Well we ended up staying at the national geographic cafe a little longer than planned so by the time we walked to the museum and got through it and back to the hotel it was time to get ready and go to see Peter Pan. We left a little early hoping that maybe if we took the metro we could get to this huge and apparently gorgeous park. Well unfortunately some how we had made a mistake and ended up going the wrong direction on the metro. We tried to hop off real fast at another stop after we had realized it and catch another one (blindly) which still ended up going in the same direction we had been going. So now we aren't only going the wrong direction still but we also have no idea with line we are on! We figure it out and 40 mins later we got off on the stop we wanted to be at. with about 30 mins before the play starts. So we just decide to go a head and go in. Annmarie and her mom hadn't arrived yet.
The musical was great. I understood most of it and was glad I knew the story. They sang and danced and we brought tinkerbell back to life. After my mom and I knew we were gonna go back to the noodle place and the others thought that was a good idea too. So we headed back that direction and basically did a repeat of Wednesday night's dinner. Both my friends moms were leaving Saturday because that is when the group was going back. I had made arrangements to go back on Sunday because I knew my mom's flight was for Sunday morning. So after dinner we called it a night.
Saturday (then there were two)
So by this point it is just mom and I. A nice surprise was that one of my friends from high school was actually in Madrid the same week for spring break in a program with her school. Since she didn't have a spanish phone it was kind of complicated but we did eventually meet up later in the day. Well my mom and I got up ate breakfast and headed down to a el corte ingles. By that time it was almost 12 and I was going to try to meet my friend in the Plaza de Espana but I said if she wasn't there by 12:30 I was going to call it quits on that attempt. Well she didn't show so my mom and I went on with our day and headed to the park we had missed the night before. The park was absolutely beautiful and it was a wonderful day. There were street performers, musicans, this huge pond that had all these row boats people had rented, and lots and lots of trees. After that we headed to a little tapas bar and restaurant because my mom had been talking all week about when are we going to get tapas and sangria. So that is what we did. While we were on the hunt for a table outside, because you have to pounce as soon as people leave one, my phone rang it was the friend I was suppose to eat earlier I asked where she was and she said that she was gonna try and come meet us. Well my mom and I took our time eating and drinking sangria and then she calls again from a pay phone and she was just right around the corner so we enjoyed another pitcher of sangria. We then all took the metro to the Plaza de Espana to drop off my friend and her friend at the little market area there. My mom and I then headed off to the Royal palace unfortunately it was closed so we just took some pictures from the outside. After that we went back to the shopping area and walked around looking for souvenirs. Then went to the hotel to relax a bit before we went to dinner. We ended up having pizza and salad. Then we went to bed.
Sunday(the goodbyes)
So after a long, fun, and exhausting week we woke up early to go our separate ways. She went to the airport and I got dropped off at the Ritz hotel to meet up with my friends Molly and Hayley who stayed an extra day so that we could all take the train to Sevilla back together. The train ride was uneventful and I was back in Sevilla by 3:30 I took a taxi home and relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday
We had a quiz and then were informed that we would have a quiz or a test everyday this week.....rough. So we decided we were going to take a beach trip this weekend to Cadiz.
Tuesday
Was an average day and we had a quiz the weather is getting nice outside the orange trees are blooming it is amazing!
Wednesday (today)
our test was a little rough but I think I might go relax at the rio later this blog post was exhausting haha.
I hope you all enjoyed it if you are even still reading!
con todo mi amor,
Katie
No comments:
Post a Comment