Guest blogger #2: Madrid :)

Buon giorno tutti! This is Suzanne’s second guest blogger, Patrick, recently returned from a great trip. It’s strange to think that I just spent a week over four thousand miles away and am now back home in my living room. At any rate, here is an accounting of my adventures. Where appropriate, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I arrived in Madrid on Tuesday morning. This worked out great since Suzanne didn’t have any classes on Tuesday and was able to meet me at the airport and guide me into the city. We took the train into town and checked into my hostel to drop off my suitcase. I stayed at the Way Hostel which was great because it was right in the middle of town and within walking distance of everything. Suzanne then took me on a whirlwind orientation tour of Madrid. We basically walked from one end of the city to the other catching glimpses of Plaza Mayor, Sol, The Cathedral, The Palace, Plaza de Espana, The Opera House, and Temple De Debod. Tuesday was also the celebration of the patron saint of Madrid, the Virgin of La Almudena. On the 9th of November, St. Almudena is remembered. Her image was supposedly brought to Spain by the Apostle Santiago (St. James) and hidden away inside a city wall when the Moors invaded in year 783. Two centuries later, the legend goes, the wall fell away exposing the same lit candles she had been hidden with. This made our tour even more interesting as there were lots of worshipers in traditional clothes making their way to the cathedral, there was a mass being said in Plaza Mayor, and later we saw some traditional dancing in the plaza. Our tour also took us to the old royal gardens, now a sprawling public park. The park was great with the changing leaves, Crystal Palace, and (perhaps my favorite part) a grassy spot to take a nap. We ended the night with dinner and a flamenco show. The flamenco was just as great as Suzanne’s previous posts have indicated. Finally worn out by an intense day I headed back to my hostel.

Wednesday began with a trip to a bakery in Sol where Suzanne and I had a delicious breakfast with pastries and café con leche. I actually returned to this bakery every morning I could. We then set off for the cathedral. We went through the cathedral museum, climbed to the roof for a spectacular view of the city, and ended with a walk through in inside. I really liked this cathedral for how bright it was inside. The stone is white and the stained glass is colorful without being heavily saturated, letting in lots of natural sunlight. Right when we came out of the cathedral, Suzanne and I noticed a crowd forming in front of the palace and so we headed over. The palace does a ceremonial changing of the guard on Wednesdays and so we got to watch the soldiers march in formation as well as a few horses. After this, Suzanne left me to my own devices and headed off to class. I headed back to the Egyptian temple for a tour in the daylight. Then it was off to the royal palace. Oddly enough I think one of my favorite parts about touring the palace was the grand staircase right at the beginning. You can’t walk up a staircase like that and not feel cool. After my tour of the palace and the armory and the pharmacy I walked to the back of the cathedral and toured the crypt which was cool. Exhausted I headed back to my hostel. On the way I passed the convent where the cloistered nuns sell their sweets. Suzanne and I had tried to get some the day before but they were out by the time we got there. On a whim I decided to stop and try my luck. I buzzed the door and new that I had to say “Dulces” to let them know I wanted candy. This I did and was buzzed in. I made my way to the window where you order via a lazy susan with dividers so that you can’t see the nun on the other side. Unfortunately she didn’t speak any English and my translator was not with me. I was a bit at a loss until the lazy susan started to spin and there was suddenly a box of cookies in front of me. Not knowing what else to do I took the cookies and put some money down and spun the susan back around and waited for some change. Nuns give the worst change! I returned for more cookies on another day and both times I got handfuls of coins as my change. That evening Suzanne and I went to the opera house for a performance of “The Turn of the Screw” and churros con chocolate. The opera was good with some very interesting staging and set pieces and the churros were every bit as delicious as I had hoped.

Thursday was my big museum day. I started out with breakfast at the aforementioned bakery and then headed down to the Prado. The museum was really nice and I was able to get through almost all of the rooms and see the highlights before I had to meet Suzanne at my second museum, Renia Sofia. We had some lunch and then Suzanne’s art teacher was nice enough to get me a free student ticket to the museum. I followed the class around looking at Picasso and Dali. After a full day of museums we headed to the San Miguel market. San Miguel used to be a covered market. The original cover structure still stands but it is now glassed in and is filled with gourmet food and wine vendors. We hopped from stall to stall sampling bits of food and glasses of wine. After this delicious meal we headed to Elena’s to pack for our trip to Milan! Because we had such an early flight we decided to spend the night in the airport. This was terrible. Marble is a very uncomfortable surface to sleep on. The best part of the stay at the airport was eavesdropping on a guy’s phone conversation. Here is the transcript: “Mama..mama..no I…mam..I told th..no….mama…ma…….whatever you want mama.”
-Patrick