¡Viva Madrid!

I’m currently sitting in the Madrid airport, and I have about two hours until my flight back to Vienna takes off. I had an incredible Thanksgiving weekend in Madrid, despite the lack of turkey and the cold weather. I arrived here late Thursday night, and went straight to Stephen’s apartment where we enjoyed a lovely holiday meal of chicken and tortellini. After dinner, I got to Skype with all of my family members who were tucking in a delicious feast at my house. Despite my sister’s claims that the turkey was dry, the stuffing was cold…etc., I was pretty jealous of all the food they got to eat. (And yes, to all of you who have made comments about the extensive descriptions of food on this blog, food pretty much is on my mind all the time.) I had my own place card set up in front of the computer, and everybody just rotated around the screen. It was so nice to see everyone, even though they were more concerned with what I had eaten than with what I was doing.

The next morning, Stephen took me on a long and extensive tour of Madrid. For breakfast though, he brought me to a pastelería where we had churros with chocolate. SO GOOD. We started at the Jardín Botánico, the botanical gardens, which were right outside the Prado museum. There were so many rose bushes, I wish I could have been there in the summer to see the flowers all in bloom. Next, we walked down the Paseo del Prado to the Plaza de las Cortes, the Congreso de Diputados, and the house of Lope de Vega, a famous Spanish writer. We walked to the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, next to which was a plaque that claimed the spot as the exact center of Spain. From Sol we walked to the Plaza Mayor, which was a big, enclosed square where there was a Christmas market being set up. After seeing the Christmas markets in Vienna though, I was not really impressed. For a snack, we stopped at the Mercado de San Miguel, where we ate some croquetas full of cheese and shrimp and a couple of tacos. We passed Sobrino de Botín on the way, which is the oldest restaurant in Madrid, and perhaps even the world. The rumor is that Francisco Goya worked there as a waiter. Our last stop was the Palacio Real, before we ate a delicious lunch of paella and more croquetas. It was only about 5pm then, so we went back to his apartment and took a siesta. When in Spain….right? I woke up at 8:30pm and the first thing out of my mouth was “We forgot to eat dinner!” Good thing we were in Spain though, and people don’t start eating dinner until very late. We went to a tapas restaurant for dinner, and after dinner we called it a night.

On Saturday, we took one of the high speed trains to Segovia, a town north of Madrid. We spent about five hours roaming the city, looking at the Roman aqueducts and taking a tour of the Alcazar. The entire town was beautiful, set on a cliff overlooking the plains. I couldn’t help but think about how the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains! We got back to the apartment at around 7pm, and after another siesta we went to a restaurant called Cornacopia, where we ate delicious duck and stuffed pasta. After dinner, we went to a bar which had been made to look like a cave. Their famous drink is leche de pantera, panther’s milk. When you order it, the drink comes out of a rock hanging down from the ceiling. Pretty cool, huh?

On Sunday, Stephen and I went to the Museo de Reina Sofia to see Guernica by Picasso, the Parque del Retiro, and the Prado. The Prado was amazing, I was able to see so many paintings that I had studied back in Art History. I think my Prado experience may have surpassed the Louvre. After all the sightseeing, we had a boring evening of writing papers and finishing up homework. We made dinner, and I got to see one of my friends from Tulane who is studying at the same university as Stephen. After that, I feel asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. This morning I got to have one more round of churros with chocolate, and now I’m sitting in a random spot in the airport watching the snow fall outside, waiting for my gate to be announced and hoping that my flight doesn’t get delayed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!