Matador!
Yeah, aren't I a lucky bitch. First I get to go to Paris, then I go to Madrid and Barcelona the following week -- life is fucking good right now.
We wake up at five in the morning, and get on a Ryanair plane, an airline which emphasizes its cheap tickets over service (a one way ticket to Madrid was around 30 pounds). The plane looked like it had touched down from the land of the sketch. Yeah, it flew -- and that was about it. The inside looked as if the people at Ryanair had exclusively used the "Fill" button on Paint to design the interior. To make matters even more sketch, the seats didn't even recline, allowing for a very uncomfortable plane ride.
Plane of the sketch
We touched down, checked in at our beautiful hotel -- right next to the airport. We got pretty gypped last minute in terms of our accommodations, so we were forced to stay in a place far outside the city center. At least the hotel was nice, even if the bathrooms didn't have locks on them.
On the first day, we basically failed in all aspects. Having failed to plan anything to do, we spent an hour looking for some Paella (it sucked); spent two hours at Zara -- a Spanish clothing store chain -- because the girls thought Zara in Spain would be different than a Zara in London or New York (it wasn't); and then walked down the theatre district looking for dinner when we finally settled at a Burger King (definitely authentic).
It was a sad state of affairs when we went back home. We were all exhausted and for what? Walking around in circles all day, failing to do any sightseeing that day -- I was not going to let a repeat of that day happen. When we got back, I researched what exactly there is to do in Madrid and made up an itinerary. Jim figured out the food.
We ended up hitting up all the major spots: Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Catedral de la Almudena, El Retiro (the Central Park of Madrid), Museo del Prado, Gran Via, Alonso Martinez, and finally Plaza de España.
These trip posts are really taking a lot out of me. It takes too much time to flesh out everything in detail when all the pictures are there, so here I will just post the highlights of Madrid; Barcelona will be reserved for another post.
Symbol of Madrid, in Puerta del Sol
Plaza Mayor
Fat Spiderman at the Plaza Mayor
Palacio Real
Main door of the Catedral de la Almudena
Jim: "~king in the castle~ king in the castle~ Go take a picture with the king."
Kevin: "That's the pope Jim."
Palacio Real, garden view
The lake in El Retiro
The gang saying hello to fellow British travelers
Swan found in El Retiro
Inside the Museo del Prado
Additional Pictures, Madrid
-Emoinacloset
2 COMMENTS:
fat spiderman!!
dude Ryan air sucks. It brings negative connotations to my first name. Furthermore, there is a ridiculously small limit on the weight of your luggage, something like 15kg. Not to mention when I went from Venice to Rome, they were an hour late coming in and then circled Rome for 45 minutes before landing.
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