Europe: Madrid, Spain

Whoa have I been slacking! Sorry for posting so late. Madrid was a whirlwind and we were constantly on the go. But alas! I have some time to update my blog now. Let's dive in:

Madrid Factoids:
·Every time an older person entered the metro train, younger people asked if they would like their seat
· Take out/leftovers are called Take Away (Para llevar)
· No bike lanes in Madrid, not a bike friendly city. Sharrows everywhere instead.
· Recycling is not strongly advocated
· Riding in a taxi through narrow cobblestone streets is always a wild ride
· Madrid LOVES Burger King. At least one every half mile.
· Staple item = Iberian ham
· Vehicle of choice = motorcycle. Small and easy to maneuver
· Pedestrians share the cobblestone streets with an occasional vehicle/motorcycle
· More of a public transit city, not much driving on roads since city is more walkable. Numerous plazas and not many major roads.
· Spain Day is Oct 12 because that is when America was discovered by Columbus. Apparently, it boosted the economy and Spain likes to celebrate that. Kinda odd
· Not many dishes originated in Madrid since it was established so late. Our tour guide only named 4.
· There are 69 different regions for wine, and each bottle has a sticker signifying its region
· Many menu items describe a specific part of the animal that is being served (i.e. back, cheeks, neck) rather than just stating the animal as a whole
· Most doorknobs are in the center of the door rather than on the side
· Buy a “10 trip” ticket for the metro. Stupendous deal. 10 tickets for about 10 euro


October 14, 2017
To say today was incredible would be an understatement. It was such a blur of excitement that it’s hard to separate what exactly happened, but let’s give it a shot!

I flew out of Denver Friday October 13th at 11:30am. I arrived in Toronto for a layover and then flew to Madrid from there. I discovered before boarding the plane that I left my library book on the last flight. I scrambled around the airport trying to figure out how to get it back. People were somewhat helpful but it sounded like there was no chance I would get it back that day. I was to fill out a form and then hope for the best later. Looks like I’ll be buying the library a new book! During my Madrid flight there were several people around me speaking Spanish. I took that opportunity to practice my Spanish. I learned a lot about Madrid and the lady sitting next to me actually just visited DC. Naturally we bonded over that. I arrived at 8am Madrid time (8 hours ahead of Denver) Saturday October 14th. I didn’t sleep a lick on the plane, but somehow I was wide awake. Probably because of the excitement of seeing my family and also being in a new country. Traveling never fails to amp my adrenaline. I used the WiFi in the airport to try to call my parents through WhatsApp and Facetime. However, neither of them answered their phone and so I reached out to Aunt Kathy and Kenneth as well. They also were not answering their phones. I could tell they were receiving my text messages because it had “delivered” underneath them so it wasn’t a connection problem. I then figured they must be still be sleeping, most likely as a result to adjusting to the Madrid culture in which you stay out until at least 3am and sleep in late. Even still, they knew I was arriving at 8am and you’d think at least one of them would have set an alarm so we could be in touch! Family, gotta love em! I decided to set up a game plan and hope for the best. I sent a text out to each person individually asking someone to please meet me at a Burger King near Diego de Leon station at 9:45am. Only thing I could do now was to execute the plan and cross my fingers someone would be there to greet me. I also figured that the Burger King I was meeting them at would have WiFi that I could use to stay in touch. Many people purchase an international plan (which to be honest would save me a bunch of headaches), but I like the thrill of “making it on your own” and also being disconnected from technology while traveling. The metro system was very easy to understand and I actually helped some tourists buy tickets from the kiosk because they couldn’t read Spanish. It made me feel like a local! I arrived at the Diego de Leon station and walked to the Burger King. I glanced around and no one was there…they did still have 5 minutes left. If only I could find some WiFi. Burger King actually didn’t have any available. I eventually walked around the street a little bit to try and get some WiFi and received a message saying that Dad was coming to meet me. Yay! I won’t be a lost American for much longer! The adventures had already begun. My own family forgot that I was coming into Madrid – I will never let them live that down. Dad met me at the Burger King and we walked to the Airbnb.

We’re in a neat neighborhood called Barrio Salamanca. We had to enter a series of doors to get into our place and then Dad and I entered the apartment. I reunited with Mom and Aunt Kathy, both of them laughing at how they overslept and they were slightly apologetic. Kenneth was still asleep in the living room. I took a 2 hour nap and then I was ready to take on the day.

We hung out for a bit and caught up like families do after a long time of not seeing one another. We then walked around the area and eventually it led us to a nice café, 100 Montaditos, along some cobblestone streets (but not before Kenneth and I laughed over the fact that our family was staring up at our apartment trying to spot a plastic bag they hung from our balcony). We sat out on the plaza for a bit enjoying some beers and finger foods, all the while everyone was asking me what certain things meant in Spanish. I’m really enjoying being a translator - it’s a lot of fun and very rewarding. As we walked around the streets we noticed most of the cafes or restaurants were situated on one side of the street, but they also had a setup in the median between the two lanes of traffic. A staff member would run across and serve people food. It was

quite entertaining! Another thing we noted was there were many trees. Which reminds me, our Airbnb has a beautiful balcony with plants on the railing. It’s very narrow in the beginning, but it branches out into a little lounge area with plants and a view of the city. It’s absolutely gorgeous and very relaxing. As we were walking around the streets, Aunt Kathy was trying to reach certain places to see. One being a market. Eventually we went to this market and it wasn’t exactly what we were envisioning. It was a little more like a food court rather than a farmers market of sorts. It was called Mercado de San Ildefonso. We walked up the flights of stairs and eventually got to a balcony area with a bar at the top. We ordered some beers and hung out for a bit. This was a prime people watching spot. At this time it was about 5:30pm.

We decided we wanted to head to Atletico Madrid’s stadium (Wanda Metropolitano) at 6pm for the futbol match at 8:45pm. That’s right, we got tickets to an Atletico match. But not just any match; a match against Barcelona! In Atletico’s new stadium holding approximately 68,000 fans! Saying my emotions and my excitement were high would be a complete understatement. At 6pm we found a metro stop and we hopped on. Maneuvering around the metro stops solo was easy, but doing it with family was a new ballgame. Way more challenging and way more fun! We would get confused going one direction or another, but eventually we found our way. We jumped on the metro and only saw a few fans onboard. Prior to this, Kenneth mentioned that many locals don’t tend to wear jerseys around the city. That’s how they can tell who were tourists. This was a slight letdown considering I brought these jerseys and I wanted to wear them a lot. Eventually, we saw more and more people wearing the jerseys. We joked that they packed a backpack with their jerseys in them so they could wear regular clothes throughout the day, and then as soon as they got to stadium they could change. As soon as we exited the station, we saw a wondrous sight before us. The stadium was so large and so beautiful. From that moment on you could feel the energy - it was so tangible and it was electric. There were so many Atletico fans everywhere. It was like a sea of candy canes. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of their jersey style or colors, but that’s not going to turn me away from my favorite team! They also displayed the Atleti icon and Barcelona icon next to each other on the exterior of the stadium. We went to the official Atletico store. This was like Disneyland for Atletico fans. It was

so crazy and so loud and so exciting. I ended up getting a jersey (female cut), some soccer shorts that I desperately needed, and a scarf. I decided last year at Bayern’s match in Munich that I would get a scarf from every stadium I go to. I think Aunt Kathy was overwhelmed by all of the fandom. Welcome to soccer in Europe! We eventually walked up to our seats which were very high. I think all of us were scared of heights at that point. We looked down on the field below us and it was the most beautiful green I have ever seen. You could see Atletico de Madrid written in the stands. The amount of support that this team has is absolutely incredible and I couldn’t wait for the game to begin. We enjoyed the atmosphere and there were a bunch of die hard supporters sitting behind the home goal jumping up and down, hooting and hollering. Now, the Catalonia referendum had occurred recently. This is where Catalonia (which includes Barcelona) voted to separate from Spain. There’s a lot of tension in the area right now. So during the whole match, there were a bunch of Spanish flags being waved in the air as if to spit on Barcelona. Also, throughout the entire match, whenever Pique

received the ball, the whole stadium would burst into whistles (FYI whistles in European matches are a bad thing). This was because Pique is a strong supporter of the Catalonia referendum and he also plays for the Spanish national team. Like I mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of tension going on right now. When the match was about to start the whole stadium went wild. It was incredible how crazy all these people got - it runs to their blood. There was a really loud, obnoxious girl behind us who was shouting with the supporter section and yelling her face off. Aunt Kathy was her biggest fan (sense the sarcasm). We watched the game and in the first 20 minutes Atletico scored a goal! The stadium went absolutely nuts. It was so great to see them score so early on in the game. They were doing fantastic. Watching Atletico’s coach (who is very attractive by the way, so it was easy to watch him) run around inside his little box and even outside his little box was very entertaining as well. Halftime hit and the score was 1-0. I was so proud of my boys. The Trumpoldts decided to get a family photo just before the second half started. The guy who took our photo was smoking and I asked in Spanish if he could do us a favor. He said yes and he actually took a pretty good photo. I was very impressed. Especially considering he was smoking while taking the photo while being yelled at by the security guard.

As we were watching the game, Atletico started breaking down a little bit and I was getting worried. Sure enough, Barcelona scored at the 80 minute mark with only 10 minutes left in the game. This was so upsetting and it ended up being the result of the game. Despite the tie we did break Barcelona’s winning streak and I got to experience the Atletico stadium atmosphere. It

was outstanding. After the match we were trying to decide if we should take a taxi or take the metro. The metro, as Kenneth and I had learned from the Bayern match in Munich last year, would be completely slammed with people and we would likely be sardines in a can. So we decided to do the taxi route. However, we couldn’t find any that were available for 5 people. We then decided to wait it out and go to a café to grab some beers and food. Beer is so stinkin cheap in Europe good gracious, only 3.50 euro. We hung out for a bit, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company around a traffic circle near Wanda Metropolitano stadium. My dream come true - transportation elements and futbol. We eventually decided to take the metro because taxis were hard to come by. At this point there weren’t many people using the metro. We walked into the station and were a little confused where we were trying to go. Mom immediately walked into the turnstile with her ticket, but instead of following, we started talking to the guard that was nearby. We had to walk back and look at a map. Mom looked at us befuddled and said “I’m already over here you have to come!” It was pretty comical. We eventually determined that we were going the right way so we went through the turnstile and walked down the stairs. As we turned the corner, we realized that Dad was no longer with us. So we almost lost one ahead of us and then one behind us. Whoops. Dad said his ticket wasn’t working because he put it next to his cell phone, but he showed the guard and he let him through anyway. I forgot to mention that we had these really loud Germans on the metro with us earlier and they smelled pretty bad. But it’s a great part of the experience and definitely hyped us up for the game. We eventually arrived at our stop and walked back to the Airbnb to drop off all of our souvenirs. I was completely exhausted at this point because I only took a 2 hour nap after getting off the plane from which I didn’t have any sleep whatsoever. 2 hours of sleep and going kind of strong! We walked to a nearby restaurant, Almonte, that was in the middle of the median like I had mentioned before. The waiter was super nice and didn’t speak any English so I got to speak with him the entire time and help our party figure out what we needed to order. Aunt Kathy and Mom used their translator App that revealed English words when they held the phone over the Spanish words. That night, it translated poorly for one particular item...“What are meatballs of fear?!” That gave us a good laugh. Dad ended up ordering the Meatballs of Fear (they weren’t so scary after all). We ate our wonderful finger foods and beers and hung out in the beautiful weather of Madrid. The weather has been absolutely perfect. About 75 degrees during the day and around 65 degrees at night. After we ate dinner, we went back to the Airbnb because we were completely exhausted. We went to bed at 3am. The entire day was so much fun and jam packed with activity. I have a feeling this trip is going to be one of my favorites. Mostly because it’s with family :)

Sunday October 15, 2017
We slept in real nice this morning. We started our day around 1pm and I wanted to relax a bit more in the apartment so I met everyone in Centro Madrid at 3:30pm. It was so nice to sit on our balcony and look over the surrounding area. I then met up with the family at Rincon De Cava. At first they were not there and I asked around inside if they had been seen. No luck. I was getting a little worried since they are usually on time. Aunt Kathy had texted our group earlier saying she couldn’t find Mom or Dad. Not a good sign. Eventually we all bumped into each other. We ate at a place, Meson Don Carnal, just across the street and ordered the “menu del dia.” The waiter started speaking in English which was disappointing. I asked if we could still speak in Spanish and he agreed, but I swear he was putting me to the test just to see me squirm. Each time he spoke he rushed through his words and smirked at me the entire time. It threw me off and I couldn’t think straight. It was like he was a professor trying to get under my skin and as if he wanted to see me fail. After lunch, we walked through Plaza Mayor and around the streets of Madrid. We stumbled upon a wonderful guitar duo who were playing Bailando by Enrique Iglesias. At least 10 women were gathering around and singing at the top of their lungs while dancing and clapping. It was amazing. I wish people would do that more in the States – so free-spirited and joyful! After a minute or so the street was full of people either dancing or filming on their cell phones. The song lasted much longer than normal because the two guys were making bankkk on tips. Smart fellas.

After this little performance we walked to Palace Royal, saw a harpist, then continued to Temple de Debod which had Egyptian significance. To get to this point we had to walk up a huuuuuge hill. Did I also mention it was insanely hot today? We were sweating bullets. After walking around for a while, we decided to take the metro back to the apartment. It was around 7pm at this time. We arrived back at 8pm and cracked open some cervezas on the balcony. A perfect end to an exercise-filled day. We also needed to save our energy for our big tour day to Toledo tomorrow. During our conversations, we discovered that Mom’s lost luggage was found and “initializing delivery”! We were all very relieved and excited for her. She was over-the-moon excited and it was great to see such joy in her face. She has been a really good sport up until this point - not complaining at all. I am proud of her :) We went to a nearby convenience store to pick up snacks for our tour days and Aunt Kathy bought a bottle of cava. We figured we could bust it open when Mom’s luggage arrived to celebrate. Tomorrow we wake up bright and early for our tour. It will be the first of 3. Let the games begin!

Monday, October 16, 2017
We all woke up, got ready, then left at 7:30am. On our way out I spoke with the concierge about Mom’s lost bag and mentioned that it was supposed to arrive today. He understood me (success!) and we went on our way. We took the metro and arrived about an hour early for the bus. I grabbed some coffee and Dad decided to wander around the hedges of the Palace Royal. A running joke for the trip is that he is always on the go and can’t sit still. It’s pretty comical and adds entertainment to the group. We eventually gathered with the tour group and walked to the bus. The bus was nice and our guide was cool. He was a little hard to understand in English, though, with his heavy accent. I think I understood him better in Spanish.

We rode about an hour to Toledo and exited the bus. We took a series of escalators to the top which was a little ironic considering these modern elements were placed in the middle of ancient structures (Toledo is a UNESCO site with great history behind it). Toledo is important because it was a place where many different cultures lived together and were peaceful. There were Christians, Jews, and even Muslims. This was very rare in those times (and quite frankly, in current times). We explored a cathedral, a mosque, and a synagogue. Kenneth and I found the tour a little dull, but Mom and Aunt Kathy really enjoyed it.

Since we did not purchase the lunch ticket, we had 2 hours of free time for lunch. We were dropped off at St. Martin Bridge and we walked across as we took some photos. It was a beautiful sight. Kenneth got very excited because he saw a zipline. “Julie, there’s a zipline!” Did he think I was someone else?? And when did he start liking heights/ziplines? Haha I let him think I was interested, and I actually considered it, but figured I wouldn’t go through with it in the end.

We decided to find a place to eat first and then try the zipline. We stumbled upon a great restaurant which Kenneth found by using Google Maps and the star ratings. It was called Restaurante Museo de Productos de Castilla-La Mancha and it had 4.2 stars. We sat outside initially and the waiter told us in Spanish that bees would swarm our food and he suggested we sit inside. We took him up on his offer. The place was empty inside so we got our choice of any table we wanted. We ended up sitting at a very long table kind of like what you may sit at for a meal with a king. We ordered from El Menu Del Dia and every single part of the meal was fantastic. This guy was really nice to talk to in Spanish and he was very patient. He enjoyed that I was speaking Spanish with him. I felt very helpful. I had pork cheeks as my main course. They were very tender, very juicy. The salad with goat cheese was also good. We all agreed that this was the best meal we’ve had on the trip so far. Kenneth did a good job finding this restaurant. Kenneth then wanted to go ziplining. I dipped out because I was pretty full and didn’t want to throw up. He went up to the little truck kiosk and asked if it was possible to do it under 10 minutes because that’s all the time we had before we had to meet the bus. The worker said, “Oh of course,” so he set Kenneth up and we all watched him zipline. It was a lot of fun and he really enjoyed it.

We really enjoyed our lunch free time and people on the bus were very jealous when they saw us watching the video of Kenneth ziplining. The bus then drove us to a different area of Toledo where we saw a synagogue and Jewish influence in a particular portion of the city. There were blue Jewish tiles throughout the area. There were three significant ones that had particular

meaning. One was a menorah. These places were interesting. Walking around the streets was still incredibly hot. We were sweating and getting tired very quickly. This lasted about 2 hours. At one point, a vehicle entered the alleyway from a main street. After it passed, Dad walked where it had entered and all of a sudden a bollard started rising from the road right where Dad had one of his feet, almost toppling him over! He (somewhat) gracefully escaped the potential catastrophe and everyone in the group laughed. He had walked over the magic bollard at just the right moment. It must have felt odd to start levitating out of nowhere! The tour finally ended around 4:30pm and we drove back to Madrid. We arrived around 5pm and started wandering around to find a place to eat. Dad had a few places in mind and we aimlessly followed him. This was quite the adventure because we continued to walk for blocks...and blocks....and blocks with no end destination. We kept asking him if he knew where he was going and he assured us that he did. You could tell that the group was getting a little annoyed because we wanted to eat or stop or do something. After about 40 minutes we finally got to the first destination. It was a dud because Dad thought it was going to have an outdoor roof top section. So we went to his next place. That also didn’t work out. Finally Aunt Kathy stepped up and suggested a place nearby, Restaurante El Paso del Tiempo, which was brilliant. We sat down and the waiter gave us English menus right away. I told him that I wanted to practice my Spanish and he was somewhat rude about it, but not as bad as other people. I asked him what his favorite beer was on the menu and he said Grifa. I said we’d all order that after seeing nods from everyone around the table. It said cana doble. I knew "doble" meant double, but couldn’t figure out if it was talking about just double the amount of beer and in the glass or what it was trying to say. We all received our beers and cheered. About 10 minutes later the waiter came back with another round of beers. The looks on everyone’s face were absolutely hilarious. Everyone was very confused and Aunt Kathy’s reaction was the best: “Can someone explain to me why I have two beers??” She’s more of a wine person which made it even more hilarious. Eventually we figured out that cana meant "small beer." So basically, double/two small beers. It was more literal than I thought it would be. It was a really comical surprise. After we ate in the open-aired area, technically inside the restaurant, we walked to the metro and arrived at the apartment around 8:30pm. Mom’s suitcase was at the concierge desk and she was overjoyed. She gave the concierge a hug and he was very happy that she was happy. It was a nice sight to see. We then went to the apartment and tried to open the bottle of Cava (Spanish sparkling wine). This proved to be much harder than we anticipated. There was a metal bar that was holding down the cork which was unusual, different from the normal twist wire setup. We were trying to figure out how to open it by watching videos on YouTube. However, no YouTube video had the same metal bar that we had. We even searched some discussion boards and saw that some people just ended up using a screwdriver or corkscrew to pry off the metal. After trying for about 20 minutes to open it, we decided to use the brute force like we read about. We pried off the metal bar, thanks to Mom, and we eventually got the cork to pop. It was quite entertaining. We sat on the balcony and drank our success cava and it was very nice. I think I got a little tipsy from the two glasses. We also determined that we should go to the Real Madrid Champions League match tomorrow night. After sitting on the balcony and chatting for a bit, we searched for tickets and were successful. Around 11pm we all went to bed and prepared for our next tour day at Segovia and Granja. This was a tiring day and it ended with lots of fun! Time to bring on Tuesday.

October 17, 2017
We left the apartment at 7am so that we could meet the bus at 7:30am near the bull ring, Las Ventas. The bus was due to arrive at 8am. Kenneth, Dad, and I walked to a nearby café, Jarritus, to grab some coffee because we had plenty of time. The place we went to was really cute and the guy at the bar was very nice to me when I was speaking Spanish. The coffee was very good and there were bull fighting decorations everywhere. We then walked back outside and Mom was rushing towards us like the bus was going to leave without us. We had 10 more minutes and so we walked to the bus, got on, and sat there for a bit. I took a little nap on the bus as we drove to Granja. It was an hour and a half drive. Our tour guide was much better than the one yesterday. Her name was Helena and she was very easy to understand in English and Spanish. I could understand almost everything she said in Spanish. It also helped that she spoke the English portion first. We arrived in Granja and walked through the streets as Helena told us a little bit about the history. Apparently, it’s a place that wanted to replicate Versailles and so everything, especially in the Royal Palace, is eerily similar to Versailles. The buildings near the Palace had painted columns and other elements on them so that they looked more like marble instead of stone. When we walked up to the Palace it was really beautiful. There were trees lining the streets everywhere. It was more nature filled than any other place we had been to. I was enjoying this tour much better already. After we got to the Palace, Helena let us wander around on our own. Aunt Kathy purchased a self-guided audio tape and the Trumpoldts walked

 around the Palace without one. Inside the Palace was very beautiful. It was filled with numerous paintings and chandeliers and vibrant colors. I noticed that there were security guards in each room. This was a little intimidating because they kept staring at us like we were going to do something bad. We then walked behind the Palace into the Gardens. The Gardens went on for miles and miles. I swear the king must have hired an army to take care of it all. We could have gotten lost for sure. Unfortunately, none of the fountains were working because it was technically winter time for their schedule. We walked a great deal through the leaves and the trees and it was gorgeous despite the inactive fountains. I liked the sound of the crunching leaves underneath my feet.

We explored for about an hour and Kenneth continually hit me with acorns. Ah, sibling love. I haven’t seen acorns in a long time either. We returned to our meeting spot and Kenneth and I walked around the plaza for a bit. Aunt Kathy, Mom, Kenneth, and I then congregated near a closed restaurant. We started talking and I mentioned to Kenneth, “You’re full of acorns.” and he replied, “You’re one to talk. Check your hood.” So I did and nothing was in there. The look on his face was the most hilarious thing I’d seen a while. His expression dropped immediately and there was a look of confusion. He said he placed literally 15 acorns in my hood while we were walking, and now somehow they weren’t there. He brought this up many times and he was baffled about what happened. Honestly, I don’t know what happened either. I never felt him putting acorns in my hood. I did feel him hitting me with them every now and then. So it was some sort of magic I suppose. It became a running joke for the whole day. We got back on the bus from Granja and drove to Segovia. I liked this tour so much better. First, because of the natural beauty and second, because it’s more self-guided. Once we got to Segovia, Helena told us to break for lunch. We walked to a restaurant nearby, Restaurants Casa Duque, that had a high rating. As soon as we walked in we could feel the snobbish vibe. We were seated at a

table far in the back and the waiter gave us hardly any attention. We were trying to figure out what to order and the waiter literally left us in the middle of our decision making. We decided at this point that we wanted to leave and not be treated like crap. We walked two doors down to another highly rated restaurant, Restaurante El Bernardino, and it was much, much better. The person who sat us down was very pleasant and we started to look at the menu. The guy who was serving us was really funny. He gave Kenneth a hard time the entire time because he was wearing a Real Madrid shirt. The waiter loved Atletico. He and I really hit it off. We would tell jokes to each other because we could both speak Spanish. Kenneth was funny because he said, “Well, I can’t say anything back. He’s just going to keep dishing it out on me and I can’t do anything about it.” We sat and waited for food while having some great conversation. The table had a window next to it where we could glance out over the rooftops of Segovia. The rooftops were very similar to those in Cusco, Peru with the reddish brown tiles. What was different, however, was that the tiles were flipped over to create a U-shape. This allowed the snow and rain to flow off the roof more easily. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the desert was fabulous. Those of us who ordered ice cream actually received what I’d call an ice cream cake. Delicious.

We were cutting it close with the time we had to meet Helena back at the aqueduct. We continued strolling the streets while Helena told us a little bit about the history. We eventually made it to a building, Alcazar, that looked similar to a castle. Apparently this castle is in contention for inspiring Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. It’s got nothin’ on Neuschwanstein, but apparently there’s one more in Netherlands that is in competition too. Guess Kenneth and I need to check that one out too since we've seen two of the three now! We walked inside the castle a bit and then went down to the cellar. We wanted to go up the Tower, but it was blocked off - probably due to the rain today.

We ended up taking a long return route on the back roads which was pretty fun. Aunt Kathy and Mom were trailing behind me as the guys led the way. I was the middle man. We stopped at a place to get some churros and chocolate before we had to get on the bus. The hot chocolate and churros really hit the spot. The chocolate was such a deep, rich flavor. We arrived at the apartment at 7:15pm. The Trumpoldts then rushed to the metro station so we could make the

Real match. We jumped on the metro, transferred lines one stop away, and at that point it was completely full. We walked out into insanity. It was such a mess. Aunt Kathy made a wise decision not to come because she would have disliked this part. We found some beer outside the stadium, only 2 euros each. What a deal! None of the little kiosks were advertising beer, but if you asked for it they pulled out their secret stash. I suppose they could get in trouble for advertising it. We tried to find the gate as we walked and drank our beer until Mom mentioned she wanted to stop and relax. I didn’t blame her. We’ve always been go, go, go! There were big horses with policeman on them and the place was crazy. Not many people were wearing the Real jerseys though. That surprised me. Most were just wearing regular clothes. We finally reached the gate and we went up a staircase to the security line. One of the guys yelled, “Mujeres alli!” so Mom and I waited in a separate line for females which was very odd, but I guess it makes sense in case we needed to be frisked. We passed security with no problems and then started taking a series of escalators to the top. We reached our section and we walked down to our seats. Mom froze on the spot because it was pretty high. I thought it wasn’t as bad as the Atletico stadium because I didn’t feel nervous at all. We sat down at our seats and there were a couple people smoking which was annoying.

 

As soon as Kenneth saw Ronaldo warming up, he got very very excited. It was great that Kenneth was able to see Ronaldo play since he is his idol. We got ready for the match to start when the Champions League theme song started playing throughout the stadium. The orchestral music sent shivers down our spine. It was like angels had floated down into the stadium. It was a really cool experience and I really want to go to another Champions League match because of it. Dad was getting snacks at this time so unfortunately he missed the opening ceremony. The Tottenham fans were going nuts the whole time. They were a really great support system for their team. Tottenham scored first, well technically Real scored on themselves. Oopsies. 1-0. The Tottenham stands went ballistic. They were standing up, clapping, dancing, chanting, and you could hear them over everybody else in the stadium even though they were about 1/8 of the size. Eventually, Real had a penalty kick and Ronaldo took it. And of course, he scored. Kenneth was very excited. At halftime, everyone around us started rummaging in their bags. A few moments later they all (literally all of them) busted out little sandwiches wrapped in tin foil. I glanced around the stadium and as far as I could see everyone had a tin foil sandwich. I felt like it was a tin foil party and we weren’t invited! The match was really good - both teams were doing fantastic. Real should have won because they had more opportunities, but Tottenham was fighting hard.

The match ended in a tie. Tottenham fans again went crazy and stayed later than everybody else as the stadium emptied. It was quite the experience. Football stadium hopping for the win! We called an Uber which took about 20 minutes. When the driver arrived he mentioned that it was due to all the blockages on the street and it was very frustrating. We came back to the apartment around midnight and went to bed. It was a very successful day and so much fun!

October 18, 2017
Today started off very wet. It was pouring down, raining cats and dogs. We were basically crossing streams within the streets to get to the metro stop. It was time for our next tour which would take us to Salamanca and Avila. We were to meet the bus at 7:30am and depart at 7:45am. By the time we got there, our shoes and socks were soaking wet. We ran into our tour guide, Helena, from yesterday in the metro station. We said hello and then eventually walked out of the metro station to find the bus. We stood in the rain for a good 10 minutes. Eventually the tour guide told the group to go inside and she would grab us when the bus finally came. At this point we were all getting a little frustrated with the weather and that the bus was running late. We hung out in the café for a while and I really didn’t want to go on the tour anymore. Finally, the tour guide grabbed us. About an hour later. The trip would go as planned but anyone could choose to get a refund instead. I felt pretty bad for her. This was a horrible start to her day. We decided to just switch to Saturday since there was another option for that.

We all got back to the apartment and removed our soaking wet socks and some other wet clothes. Some of us took naps for a few hours and then got up to find a place to have our menu of the day. These are the best meals while we are here because they include an appetizer, main course, beer/wine/water, and dessert for only 13 euros. We walked a few blocks to this nice place, La Tierruca Taberna, where we had sat outside in a heated tent. I spoke to the waitress in Spanish and she seemed somewhat appreciative, but still kind of snobby. We had a wonderful meal and some good laughs. Kenneth and Mom ordered a salad that was tomato and tuna. Only tomato and tuna. We thought for sure there would be some lettuce involved, but there wasn’t so that was pretty comical. I’m going to miss seeing everyone’s reaction when we receive our food once we get back to the States. My meal had a few tiny bones in it. That’s how fresh it was. After an hour and a half we walked back to the apartment in the rain to sit down and relax.

Aunt Kathy asked me how to get subtitles on the television. I tried several different tactics and had no luck finding subtitles. It was quite the endeavor. Eventually I went to a portion of the television that said “Configuracion” which meant “Settings.” The screen went black for a few seconds and then a cat’s face popped up and started teaching us how to use the settings. The cat had a very deep voice and it was freaking hilarious. He was like a mafia cat and his little paw would touch the remote control every now and then to show us what to do. We were laughing and joking about it, but at one point I noticed that he brought up subtitles. The cat had said, “OKAYYY” then the menu popped up. I pointed it out and Aunt Kathy exclaimed, “How did it do that!” I said, “The cat told us OKAYYY!” It was an OK button on the remote. We went back to the channel guide and we did what the cat told us. And Voila! we were able to get subtitles. Unfortunately there were none in English, but there was an option below to change the audio to English. Thank you, mafia cat! We then watched Charlie St. Cloud for a bit and around 11pm I started getting ready to go to bachata.

Dad and I left around 11:30pm and Kenneth met up with us there. Dad and I rode to the end of the metro green line and walked into The Host. We each paid 8 euro which included a drink. It was a very awesome place. It was glowing red and the dance floor was huge. The ceiling was low and the bartender was very nice. She poured us the liquor into a glass with some ice and then handed us the bottle of coke/sprite. It was a very interesting way of serving alcohol. You could choose to take the shots I suppose or mix them as originally intended. It was quite the deal.

I wandered around for a bit and checked out the scene. I found a guy to dance with and he was very nice. At the end of our dance he went in for a kiss, whoa buddy! I backed away and then realized he was just trying to kiss me on each cheek as a way to say “Thanks and bye.” Whoops. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of dancing. It was so European! And it happened after each single dance. The rest of the night I danced with a series of pretty much professional bachata dancers. None of them tried to speak English to me which was pretty cool.

We left around 2 am and grabbed a taxi to Joy Eslava. This was a hoppin club for 25-35 year olds. We paid the 18 euro cover and it included a drink. I love how Madrid operates with their

cover charges! We stood at the bar for a bit to grab our drinks and watch the craziness. Apparently the theme of that night was Crazy. The club had girls with pigtails wearing very short skirts or body suits who would dance seductively. It was a very elaborate place and the ceiling was very high. It had 3 tiers, but the top two tiers were closed off, I’m guessing because it was a weeknight. It was a fabulous scene and most of the songs being played were actually American songs. We went to the top of the stairs for a bit, watched everybody, and also made some jokes about a tall guy who dressed like a drag queen. He was quite the entertainer. We’re pretty sure the club pays him to do his thing. We returned to the apartment around 5:30 in the morning. But this came after our Fast and Furious taxi ride. He was driving down the narrow streets at what seemed to be 60mph. Dad said he wished he had recorded it. We’d be traveling down the street and it looked like we would hit a dead end, but then, wham! We’d cut a sharp left or right onto another street. Mr. Toads Wild Ride. It was crazy, fun night. One of the biggest clubs in the area, check! We fell asleep quickly and I can guarantee we didn’t dream about the drag queen or pigtail dancers.

October 19, 2017

This was the day after our big night out. Kenneth and I slept in until 2pm. Aunt Kathy went to Prado and Dad explored the area. Mom, Dad, Kenneth, and I decided to take the metro near Parque del Retiro to eat something for lunch and then explore the park. We met up with Aunt Kathy and saw a beautiful set up for a restaurant outside in the plaza. I saw the dangling, glowing light bulbs from the strings above and was immediately drawn to it. It was called Restaurante Ramses Life. We sat down and it was very fancy. The woman who helped us was very nice and very patient with my Spanish. It’s interesting to see how each location treats their non-native customers. We indulged in some drinks (except Kenneth because he was hungover) and enjoyed watching the busy streets and the people walking by. After a long meal, we realized many more people had shown up after we arrived. Starting the trend once again! Aunt Kathy and Dad left to use the restroom and when they returned they told us that we must experience it. Mom and I went down there and it was a unisex room full of mirrors. You go into each stall and the toilet seats looked like they were made of marble! Also, you needed to push your foot on a rubber pad on the floor to get the sink to work. Fancyyy. At this time it was getting a little chilly and so we decided we should do something aside from the park.

We went to a rooftop bar called El Corte Ingles. The waitress who helped us was super sweet and a little timid. I think it was her first day. She was the nicest by far when speaking to me in Spanish. We had some cervezas and then went back to the apartment using the metro. We returned around 10pm. We all laid around the apartment and relaxed. Kenneth, Dad, and I decided to go to Kapital for the club scene. This apparently was the biggest club in Madrid. We would find out that was very true. We left the apartment around midnight and were dropped off at Kapital by Uber. We arrived at Kapital around 12:30am and the place was crazy. The line to get in wrapped around the building! It was 18 euros to enter and that included a drink. When we

walked in, there was a big sign that showed what each floor was dedicated to. They had 7 floors. Mouth drop. They had a main floor dance floor, a VIP floor, a kissing room/cocktail bar, a karaoke room, a Latin dance floor, RB&B and hip hop dance floor, and a terrace on the 7th floor. We immediately went up to the terrace and tried to order our drinks. I wanted to get a Mai Thai - I was reminiscing about my cruise days. I asked the bartender and she didn’t know what I was talking about. There was this ginger guy at the end of the bar who spoke English and he said I had to go to the bar on the opposite side of the room. We walked across the room and there were a bunch of lounge chairs, couches, tall tables, and long columns lit up in red. There were also two tv screens on each side of the floor showing music videos. I went over to the other bar and ask for a Mai Tai and the girl said I had to wait 5 minutes. I’m guessing she doesn’t know how to make it. After 5 minutes a bartender came in and he asked me what I wanted. I responded, “Mai Tai" and he got very excited and immediately started building the concoction.

He spent a good 5 minutes putting the drink together. I can see why the girl bartender wanted to wait for him to make it. I’m gonna have to tip this guy goooood. As time passed, people were gathering around the bar to watch him make this Mai Tai. I think all the Spanish people were curious what it was. He was putting a lot of time and effort into it #impressed. He created a flower by sticking some dried leaves and a cherry tomato through a toothpick. Then he put some garnish on it - he was quite the pro. He finished it up and he looked very satisfied with his job. Holding it made me feel very tropical and very fancy. We then explored the other floors from the top to the bottom. It was crazy how each floor had its own vibe and its own culture and its own music. You couldn’t hear the music from the other floors - it was like you were isolated. There were staircases on each side. We eventually made it down to the main dance floor. Actually, before this, we went to the 5th floor and it had this railing/overhang where you could stand and watch all of the people down below on the main dance floor. It was insane.

There was a light show with bright vibrant colors. The DJ was up on the center stage and all the people below were dancing. There were other floors we could also see that were VIP sections. There were even little platforms that went above the dance floor slightly so that they were practically on top of the dancers. Above us, we could see other people dancing in a glass room. We were surrounded by energy and excitement. We stayed there and observed for a bit and then went down to the main dance floor. Everywhere I looked there were so many attractive men in very nice clothes. They were dressed so well. It wasn’t like they were wearing suits and ties (though some of them were), most of them were just wearing a nice collared shirt was some nice dress pants and looked really cleaned up. Dad mentioned he

wanted to meet at 3am and 5am at the coat check if we split up. We were near the main dance floor and at one point these women in very skimpy outfits started dancing. It was quite the performance. The venue also had confetti falling from the ceiling and a big machine that pushed a lot of cold air down onto the dance floor in a way that made it look like it was all smoke. This felt really good because it was pretty hot in there. Eventually, Kenneth and I wandered around again and ended up on the Latino dance floor. This was my favorite dance floor because it was so authentic. Everybody was having a great time and singing all the lyrics at the top of their lungs. I knew most of the lyrics as well and Kenneth seemed like he was having a great time even though he didn’t know what everyone was singing. Around 3am we went to

meet Dad coat check. We hung out together for a bit and then separated once again. Kenneth and I went back to the Latino dance floor for a while and then the main dance floor again. After some time, we climbed up to the 7th floor because they had pizza available!! What a brilliant idea. There was a mastermind working at this club. I got 3 slices and paid the 5 euro and it was so delicious. We got the pizza and sat down on the couch nearby. It was 4am at this point. We again explored and at 5am we met up with Dad. I was super tired and pretty drunk at this point and wanted to go home and sleep. We left and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out. It was such a fun time! It was the biggest and most exciting club I have ever been to and if I lived here, I would be going there at least every week. This was a Thursday and it was almost completely full. Spaniards really know how to party! Anyway, it was a wonderful day and I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

October 20, 2017
Kenneth and I woke up around 1:30pm. Mom and Aunt Kathy had just returned from a half day tour to another location outside of Madrid. We all swapped stories and Mom and Aunt Kathy were blown away by our experience last night. We decided to order a “menu del día” at the restaurant that the rest of the group had gone to last Friday before I arrived. Apparently, there was a girl named Jackie who worked there who was very sweet. The restaurant was called Frontall87. We arrived and Jackie was there. She was awesome. She was super nice and loved talking to me in Spanish. I could see her and I being really good friends if I lived here. We had our meals which were again fantastic. The menu of the day always blows my mind with how much food you receive. At one point Jackie looked over at Dad’s shirt - he was wearing a Real Madrid jersey. She shook her head “no” and commented on it. We all busted out in laughter since this happened before at the other restaurant in Segovia. Anyway, she made a big fuss and she said “Go Atleti!” and that’s when I got very excited and gave her high fives. The whole table busted out into even more laughter. I was loving this and thinking maybe there were way more Atletico fans than I originally thought. Maybe there is an equal number of fans for both teams in Madrid itself. Because in America there more Real fans for sure. No one really knows who Atleti is in the USA. We were about to leave and Jackie gave us kisses on both cheeks. We then walked back to the apartment which took about 5 minutes. We relaxed at the apartment for a couple hours and then headed to our tapa and wine tour near Opera station. The tour guide, Pedro, began his spiel. It was very obvious he did not support the Catalonia independence movement. It was like a heated political discussion between him and another guy in our group from New York. We started walking around and he gave us a history lesson on a lot of the buildings in the area. I was getting a little bored by it because he kept repeating himself and he got very distracted with other stories. We finally made it to our first destination, La Cruzado,

which had wine and a stew that is well-known in Madrid called Cocido Madrileño. It was very tasty and the wine wasn’t so bad either. Pedro informed us that there are 69 different regions for wine and each bottle had a sticker signifying which region it came from. We spent a good amount of time there and then we walked to another location, Mercado Jamon Iberico, to have top notch ham. They called it black-hoof ham, Iberian ham that is of the highest quality. Kenneth and I sat at a table with a gentleman from England. We had great conversation and sometimes Pedro had to stop us from talking to each other. Pedro showed us a glass bottle that look like a beer bong for wine. Aunt Kathy was chosen as the guinea pig. She

looked a little nervous and Mom recorded a video of her on phone. It was quite entertaining. The wine shot out of the spout and a constant flow of wine went into the back of Aunt Kathy’s throat. Pedro had mentioned not to swallow the wine before he was done. He then asked who else wanted to do it so I raised my hand. It was a very interesting feeling and it was tasty. We were there for about another 30 minutes and we were apparently running behind schedule. I could understand why because like I said, Pedro would get very distracted. At one point he was describing to us electric cars and renting electric cars in Madrid and showing us maps and stopping for 20 minutes at a time! We arrived at the next location, El Pimiento Verde, where we had multiple different dishes and wine of course. I ended up trying some squid ink which was not very tasty and turned my tongue black. Yuckkk! We were late so a big group of people were waiting for our table and we felt kind of bad. We rushed through the meal pretty quickly. The next stop was chocolate and churros at Chocolateria San Gines. We had gone by this place earlier in our trip when the two guitarists were playing Bailando in the streets. Mom and I sat at a table with the two people from New York and we discussed Barcelona and other activities we had all done. The tour ended around 10:15pm and we returned to the apartment. I was on the fence whether I wanted to go on the tour the next day or sleep in and just go to the park. I also didn’t know if I wanted to go out again because it’s getting tiring. Though it is lots of fun. I decided that I would skip out on the tour because it was going to be a 10 hour tour. I realized how bored I get with the tours and that my energy level goes way down. Around 12:30am I made a last minute decision to go out with Kenneth and Dad for a few hours. They were very excited that I was going out. I figure if I’m skipping the tour I might as well stay out late and experience the club culture again. We went to a place called Le Boutique and when we arrived at 1:30am there was absolutely no one there. We were wondering if we had hit a dud. It was only 13 euros to enter, including the drink. I asked the bartender when more people would come or if more people come and she said they arrive at 2:30am. At around 2am the place started getting packed with people. I really liked this place because it was small and intimate. I felt like you could have more conversations with people. It was a fun night once again and it sounds like we’ll be going out tomorrow night as well!

October 21, 2017
I woke up around 12:30pm. Mom, Aunt Kathy, and Dad went on the Salamanca/Avila tour that was to last 10 hours. I was very happy with my decision not to join them. I showered, took my time, and lounged around the apartment. I then decided to walk to Parque del Retiro which took about 20 minutes. The park was amazing. It was so huge. There were many trees throughout

 

 

 

and they all were starting to lose their leaves which gave it a strong Fall vibe. There were also many statues, hedges, park benches, and streetlamps (for the paths). This was a great place to reflect and relax. I spent a solid 4 hours in Parque del Retiro. It was a mix of walking around, sitting, buying coffee, taking photos, and writing in this journal. As I ventured, there was activity throughout the entire park. Whether that was solo musicians, couples laying in the grass, bicyclists, people walking around, park bench dwellers, entertainers performing magic acts or the like, runners, mini marching bands….the list goes on and on. I even saw Spongebob at one point! It puts Wash Park in Denver to shame. I explored almost the entire park – 350 acres of it. It was a wonderful time walking through the Fall colors and relaxing every so often on a park bench. Monuments and water basins were sprinkled throughout the park as well. I even made it to a rose garden which had some small fountains. After this delightful walk, I went to Ramses (the place we ate at two days earlier) to grab some free WiFi. I messaged Mom saying I’d be back at the apartment at 6:15pm and she said I would beat them there. I rode the metro back and relaxed a bit with Kenneth while waiting for everyone to return. I heated up some leftovers since our fridge was overflowing with them.

The rest of the group returned and went out for a bite to eat while I manned the apartment. It was around 10pm at this point and Mom and Aunt Kathy got ready for bed. The partiers hung out, watched some tv, and then started pregaming around midnight. We choose our venue for the night, Opium, and headed out. When we arrived we paid 20 euro each for entrance (includes a drink). Apparently, this was Madrid’s “Most selective and exclusive club.” Guess we passed the test! It was very elegant inside and there were many people dressed to the nines.

There were also VIP sections around, some more private than others. The odd aspect of the venue that Kenneth and I noticed was a VIP section that was placed in the middle of the dance floor. We thought this was a poor layout, so we were interested to see how it played out. We walked up to the bar and ordered our typical vodka/sprites and rum/coke. The glasses were huge. They looked like fish bowls on a small glass stem. They were pretty heavy. We moseyed around a bit and realized how compact the place was due to all the surrounding VIP sections. There were hookah setups in each section as well. We gathered at the front of the dance floor near the DJ. He would blow smoke out of a man cinema every now and then that smelled like fruit roll ups. Ah, childhood. Kenneth joked that it was actually opium. We continued to dance around and the music was fun at times, but incorporated a lot of EDM which is not my favorite. It didn’t seem like many people liked dancing. They all just stood around. It was also ridiculously loud, to the point where Kenneth and I couldn’t hear each other. I looked over and noticed that Kenneth was entranced. He slowly says, “Oh my God that is the most attractive dancer I’ve ever seen.” I look up and there are two women dancing on the platforms in front of us. He was referring the left one, the blonde one. And I must say, she was a very beautiful woman. She looked like the woman in the red dress from Roger Rabbit. Also, the dress left a lot to the imagination. It was classy and slimming, but it had a hint (ok, more than a hint) of seductiveness. It was cut so that you could see her entire leg up to her hip bone, but not the center of her body. Whoever designed the dresses should get a raise. Aside from the greats dancers, Opium wasn’t that great. Kenneth and I decided to leave and Dad stayed. We headed to Le Boutique since we had fun there last night and Kenneth was very successful there (apparently he does kiss and tell!). We walked up and the bouncer had it blocked off. Oh noo. Did it reach capacity and was it closed for the night? I asked the guy if the club was still open and he said yes, and let us through. Phew! We paid the 13 euro cover and walked in. It was packed inside! And already I liked the vibe better than the last place. We grabbed our drinks and hit the dance floor.  The DJ played almost all Latin music (reggaeton and merengue) which was lots of fun for me and Kenneth said he liked it too. Everyone was singing very loudly and the energy was high. Around 5:30am we decided to leave. We walked back to the apartment and passed out. Another fun night out! Trying to keep up with the party boys (Kenneth and Dad) is tough work!

October 22, 2017
I slept in until 1:30pm and then we all (minus Kenneth since he was still asleep) rode the metro to Puerta del Sol to find the good pastry place, La Mallorquina. When we arrived, the place was mobbed with people. There were only two small, narrow entrances into the building so you really needed to squeeze through. I ordered all our goodies for us and the lady behind the counter was very nice. Everything looked so delicious. We grabbed our order and slowly exited. Two parents thought it would be a great idea to bring their children in strollers into the building….Oy vey. Dad wanted to walk to Chueca, an area with many tabernas. I was starving at this point and really wanted to dive into our newly bought pastries, but he insisted it was close by. After about 20 minutes of walking (during which two people yelled “Atleti” to me because I was wearing my jersey!), I gave into the hunger and we stopped at two random chairs in the middle of the alley to sit down. It was positioned in front of a sunglasses shop and Mom needed to replace the ones she lost. Her and Aunt Kathy went in while Dad told me about his final hours

at Opium. After Mom’s sunglass purchase (who now is rocking a very European look!) we walked around and stumbled upon Mercado San Anton which had a nice rooftop overlooking alleys. We arrived and there weren’t many people there. Then about 10 minutes later, it was packed and people were searching for seats. This tends to be a theme with us, we arrive and then it gets packed. Restaurants should be paying us to show up to bring in the customers! :) We ordered some craft beers and enjoyed the nice weather. I got stuck in the bathroom because I forgot how I got into it. Whoops. It was a sliding door rather than a push door. Kenneth met up with us a about 20 minutes before we left at 5pm. He ordered a Mahou, the most common beer in Madrid. Kenneth and I call the Mahou beer “My hoe.” It’s more fun that way. We rode the metro back, changed into our Real clothes at the apartment, and headed to the match. We exited at the second to last station to avoid all the people herding together. This part of the city was very modern and seemed new. Not like the historic stone/marble buildings we were used to. We eventually reached the stadium and thanks to the Trumpoldts’ prior Real Madrid experience, we knew exactly how to attain the forbidden beer. We walked up to a little food stand like we were pros and asked for cervezas. The lady went deep into her cooler and whipped out a black bag and 5 beers. It felt like we were on the black market or something! We finished the beers and walked toward the Real Madrid Official Store. We

soon came upon a mass of people gated away from the streets. We wondered what everyone was waiting for and thought maybe it was because the Real bus was about to drive through. After much anticipation, the guards dropped the tape and everyone pushed through. Well that was a lot of hype for nothing. We then entered the stadium to find our seats. We had an amazing view of the field and there were only two rows in our section. It was the mezzanine area. We watched Real warm up and I think Aunt Kathy was already enjoying this experience much more. Real scored 3 goals - they were playing very well. Eibar played well too, but choked each time they got into the attacking third. The fan group behind the goal was energized, but not as much at Atletico’s was at Wanda Stadium. It made me proud to be an Atleti fan! Aunt Kathy hypothesized that Atleti seems to have more local fans because maybe they have more local players than Real. Once I thought about it, it made a lot of sense. I think most of Real’s team is made up of players from countries outside of Spain. We left the stadium a little chilly. We hung out in a café for a bit to let the crowd for the metro die down. We arrived back at the apartment around midnight. I couldn’t go to sleep until 2am since my body was used to staying up until 6am. Last night in Madrid....check! Bring on Barcelona tomorrow!!