Espania: Madrid

Hola a todos!! (Hello everyone!!)

Things are going well. Let me think about what has been going on since we last wrote a few weeks ago....

Madrid was awesome. We went over Easter weekend with our good friends, John and Helen. We left on Thursday, March 20th and came back late in the evening on Sunday the 23rd. Good Friday (the 21st) and Monday (the 24th) were holidays here so we took advantage of the fact we had some time to travel. John and Helen arrived in Madrid early in the day on Thursday, as we arrived later that afternoon.

As always, it was super easy to get to and fly out from Zurich on Thursday from the flughafen (German for airport). Once we arrived in Madrid, we jumped on the Metro, which had a stop right by our hotel. The subway system was really impressive there....it was ridiculously clean and efficient (that is, unless you are coming home at 2am and have to pee. I'll explain that later...).

Anyway, we checked in and ran into Helen when doing so. We planned to meet a bit later for dinner and in the meantime Aggie and I got settled and went for a walk to explore our surroundings. Of course, we came out of the hotel, made a left at the corner and at the next intersection there was a Starbucks! (They are popping up all over Europe; Zurich has about 10 of them and charge a little more than double for what one coffee would cost in the US....Yes, it's crazy.)

We walked around for a bit then went back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner/show. We made reservations at a place downtown called Corral dela Moreria. Here we went to see a Spanish Flamenco show. Flamenco is a very powerful yet graceful form of dancing and several women danced as the men sang and played the guitar. Check it out:



The next day, we got up and headed to a local cafe just up the street from our hotel. This place had the best OJ I think I have ever had. The waitress would just dump whole oranges into a tub, put a cup under the spout, pull a lever and voila! Fresh squeezed OJ!

After the refreshing OJ and somewhat satisfying crossiant, the four of us started walking toward the main city area. Our hotel was a bit outside the main downtown city, but really in a perfect location. We were close to the subway if we wanted to take it, but we could walk to everywhere we wanted with no problems. Also, we got to experience more local places.

Few things to note about Madrid: as I said, subway was clean and effient, plus, the city was really clean. The roads were HUGE! The main roads were usually 4 lanes, sometimes 6 in one direction...so imagine an 8 lane road. Enormous. It would be like US 27 in Hamilton being 8 lanes...not realistic. Taxis were very reasonable. Shopping was great! Cops were out a lot just walking around, patrolling the area. The weather was pretty good, aside from the fact that it rained quite a bit on Saturday.

Okay, so back to us exploring....

Yes, we finished our breakfast and started to walk to the city center area. We took a detour through this huge park, Retiro Park. It's pretty much in the center of the city and has some cafes, a lake to do some paddle boating, etc. There are so many nooks and crannies to explore with fountains and statues of all sorts. I took a snooze on one of the benches Sunday afternoon....It was nnniiiiccceee.


After the park, we went to the Picasso exhibit that was taking place at one of the many museums in the city. The exhibit was very impressive to say the least. One thing I learned, Picasso was one busy dude! His work was everywhere and we couldn't help but marvel at the sheer number of his works.

Afterwards, we went to a cafe and got some drinks and chilled for a bit. Then John and I headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before we went out later that night. We had found an Irish Pub who was going to be showing the basketball games (rounds 1 and 2 of the NCAAs), so we were pretty fired up and excited. Aggie and Helen ended up enjoying the rest of the late afternoon sitting in Plaza Mayor, sipping on wine.

The girls couldn't rally and hang with the BIG BOYZ that night. They crashed or as I like to say, Aggie pulled a "Barcelona". (See our blog about Barcelona from last June and you will understand what I'm talking about.) John and I enjoyed watching some Bball upsets (W. Kentucky, San Diego) and tasty chicken fingers.

We slept in a bit on Saturday. Helen got up early and went to check out the Prado Museum. John, Ag and I went on into the main center and chilled in Plaza Mayor. Helen then met us as it started to rain....which worked out perfect. We split up and went shopping, which was fun. Aggie and I found some great deals and enjoyed exploring the main center area.

After we went shopping we grabbed a bit to eat at an Italian restaurant. Suprisingly, this was probably the best meal we had in Madrid. Not that we don't enjoy tapas and sangeria....

Anyway, once we finished up, we headed toward the palace and were going to check out a few churches. Well, we were stopped by a "parade" that was going on. At the time, we didn't exactly know what was up....and we had seen road barriers thoughout the town a bit but were not sure why. Well, now we know after looking somethings up online!

And I quote: "Of all of the Catholic traditions which are celebrated throughout the year, none is most important than the Passion of Christ or Easter Week, which in Spanish is called Semana Santa o Pascua (Holy Week). There are only three countries which are recognized for their ritual celebration of Easter; these being Israel, meaning Jerusalem, Italy, with special attention to Rome, and Spain with special note to the southern region of Andalusia, but it is also true that many other parts of Spain's geography celebrate it fervently as well. Beginning with the Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) and ending with Lunes de Pascua (Easter or Paschal Monday), Spain is filled with laughter and tears celebrating friends, color, and life itself.

Easter commemorates the passion and death of Jesus Christ and is a celebration with centuries of history and tradition. During Easter the streets in the vast majority of Spain’s cities, towns and villages become the stage for religious fervour and devotion in commemorating Christ’s death.

An image of the Christ, Christ of Medinaceli (a Nazarene Christ) is paraded in the streets which is surrounded by a procession of people dressed in the penitent's medieval garb, with a pointed hood which covers their face, and they even carry chains and shackles, or taking turns with those holding the heavy burden of the image."

Check out our short video (we had a longer, more intense video but it won't upload!):




Unfornuately, it started to rain again, and pretty heavy at that. Aggie looked at me, said this might sound bad but, "Oh, no! It rained on their parade!" I gave her a hug and told her how much my Dad would have enjoyed that very Marcum-like comment.

Alas we reached the palace area. We snapped a few pics checked out a few more things and then headed back to our pub for our NCAA basketball viewing pleasure. Helen and John later meet us and we enjoyed the rest of the evening just chilling with a few pints.

Sunday we slept in and then left our luggage at the hotel as we didn't depart till 7:30pm that evening. We grabbed some breakfast and then headed down to the Rastro Market. I have been to a few markets but this one was CRAZY! I think the whole city was transplanted there....We found a few good bargains though and afterwards celebrated our good fortune with some tapas (the traditional Spanish cusine).

We wondered our way though the city again just taking in our surroundings and ended up on a park bench. We chilled for a bit then headed back to the hotel. There we met up with Helen and John and were off to the Aeropuerto (airport in Espanol). Unfornuately, our flight was delayed but we finally made it back. Monday we relaxed as both of us had the day off, so that was really great.

The work week was then normal and uneventful. Busy. Then, the following Sunday (the 28th) Aggie and I babysat the 4 little girls she babysits for as the parents went to a wedding. It was fun and definitely an eventful evening!

Now it's the weekend again....Hooray! I can't believe it's April already. The weather is starting to get warmer....our landlord, the Italian Stalian, says one more week of rain and then summer is here! Aggie's response to him, "I'll believe it when I feel it."