madrid. okay, so this vacation got off to a good start. dana and i set out at a lovely 4:15 am for CDG. we called a cab, hustled over to the airport, and were on our way a lovely 1.5 hours early. we sat, chilled, sat, read, sat, dozed. then they called our flight. joy. we get in line, all ready to board. i need to check my bag.
i have been sitting here for over an hour, and now i realize i need to check one of my bags.
the woman looks at me.
"i am not sure if you'll have time". she is not sure if i'll have time. what does that mean? like time for what. cause i am getting on the plane. like. no questions. so the sprint begins.
run. run. one desk. run. second desk. run. pay at third desk. jump to front of line. she tells me to cut security, i just look at her. she takes me to front of security. i go through security round deux. this time they do not speculate in my voltage converter is a bomb. round one they did. i run, hustle, run. meet dana at line. miraculously we find two seats together. TG for dana. and we are off. phase one. madrid.
we get to madrid, hope an airport bus. arrive at atocha-renfe, take a cab to our hotel. the hotel is feet away. l'oops. bigger l'oops. we are called putas, and charged 9 euros. interesting. welcome to madrid. best part, he asks us if we understand. yes. we entiendo. no apology. we are still putas. that's just rude.
anyway. moving forward. the hotel was ama. like so nice. so great. so wow. also cheap. thanks expedia (plug. no i am not being paid by expedia or special k. yes. i think i should be as well).
view is great, sun is shining, people are speaking a language i understand.
we move out post-dropping bags. its breakfast time.
we stumble upon a hole in the wall, order some tortilla espanola (eggs and potatos. aka YUM). it was 2 euros. did i mention i love spain. my coffee cost more than 2 euros in paris. rude.
anna acts as our tour guide, our live in tour guide. our share-a-twin-bed-with-me tour guide. but an excellent tour guide. so like. whatevah.
the next few days are full of sunshine followed by rain followed by more sunshine. temps are in the 60s. we walk around. get tapas, get paella. get our culture on via the reina sophia, prado, and the palace. spend some time soaking up rays in the plaza de orient. like good time all around.
of course we locate an sbucks. chill there. meet a canadian woman. we chit chat. she is from ottowa. shout out to the padre. she studied in both madrid and paris. she is super nice. she is waiting for the bathroom. no judgment .i take english where i can get it.
the next day is slightly rainy, we museum it up, during our siesta i go back to anna's with her to grabs some belongings, here is where ish gets freaky. we walk into her homestay. NO POWER. and i see anna is nervous. so internally freak, externally remain calm. i know. so smart slash great of me. i bbm and whatsapp up the wazoo telling loved ones this may be the end. but on the exterior i am cool calm and collected. needless to say we grab ish and go, back to the hotel... aka safety. that night we (and by we i mean dana) find this great japanese place to go for dinner on saturday night. its in a business area, so it looks very diffrent from sol, but we eat a late dinner and relax and enjoy. so yum. and so much more affordable than paris. (see a trend?)
the next night anna has hdubbs. i know. homework abroad. gasp. but she's legit so we let her do her thang. dana, once again, finds us some food. we go to this cute italian place, teatriz, also in a business-y area, but also with shopping. and its in an old theater, hence name. and was ALSO so good. i approve of food in spain. please note, teatriz was discovered post-going to hard rock to find out it was closed for a private event. l'oops.
the next day we walk around, check-out, grab quick lunch at sbucks and board the renfe. shout out to 7th and 8th grade spanish with colombo. def researched the renfe and AVE trains. alto velocidad. or whatever.
next stop barca. wooooo.
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