Day 2 in Madrid!

Yesterday evening was as wonderful as the first night in a city can get. Katie and I found that we actually recognized much of mainstream Madrid and wandered down checking out statues and beautiful buildings. We stumbled upon the entrance of a park called El Parque del Retiro, which we soon decided must be the equivalent of the Spanish Central Park. It was extensive, had multiple ornate fountains, a lake with an old structure overlooking it, street music, and an incredible playground that I had a blast trying to understand. In my defense, there were a lot of confusing pieces of equipment….

Trying to work the park equipment.

When we finally found an exit, we walked miles lost in the city (so much fun) and eventually did right as we were tired enough to sit down. We stumbled upon a café and sat down around 6:00PM to eat, but ended up finishing a bottle of white wine and making friends with a Canadian woman who encouraged us to try the olive oil drenched olives and a spirited couple in their 70s that shared all of their Europe travel stories with us in the two hours we spent sitting outside chatting about life. After a nap, we ate dinner at an unknown café.

Our first bottle of wine in Spain!

During the night, I slept with earplugs to try to block out the noise of the Spaniards having a grand ole time until about 4:30AM in the bar five floors below us… When I awoke this morning, I was sad to hear that poor Katie had food poisoning from the sketchy café we ate at the night before. After an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., some Wheat Thins, a shower, and some fresh fruit, she was ready for another day of adventures.

Katie was excited about the fancy bathroom and our bidet
before she knew she'd spend most of the morning sick in there. :(

We took a taxi to the hotel we were to meet our ISU group at in the Salamanca area of Madrid (for those worried, it’s called Hotel Zenit Abeba). We ditched our things and enjoyed trying to communicate with a waitress at a café where I had an interesting version of chicken caesar salad.  When we arrived in our room, we were pleased to find a big open window and two beds…however, the two beds may as well be one kind size bed because they are pushed together in front of a giant headboard (interesting).

Hanging out of our hotel's window that overlooks the area. 

Tonight, Katie and I went to find red wine and found it at simple outdoor restaurant only blocks away from our hotel. When the waiter approached us I said, “Vino por favor” (Wine, please) and proved that I know as much Spanish as I need to know. ;) We sat on the sidewalk sipping and people watching for almost two hours and were shocked when we asked for la cuenta to see that five glasses of wine cost us only €4.50.

One of my delicious pastries. Half chocolate filled and half cream filled!

After wine we found a great pastelería and I picked up some pastries for snacks (I honestly just love pastries). After searching the area for credible ATMs and finding a cheap bottle of wine, Katie and I headed back to the hotel for the program’s dinner. It got us very excited for the weeks to come with ISU on the Mediterranean! :)