July 2015: Trip to Madrid!

Hallo! Today I offer you another AroundtheWorld post. This time I went to Madrid with my parents and sister Erin, a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

As I’ve previously said, I’ve been to Madrid a couple of times before. Mostly because to get out of Tenerife and go somewhere else you usually have to go to Madrid first, but we’ve also been there on holidays of course. This time we went for five days and stayed at a super cool and spacious flat in Chueca. Honestly, it was awesome: the flat itself, the location, the AC. The AC though, completely needed because of the heat wave. What is the matter with Spanish weather this summer?

Anyway, we woke up at half past four on Monday the 6^th and got ready to go to the airport. We left the car with a new parking service for civil servants which is a lot cheaper than the airport’s parking, and that was a plus! We took the 7am flight to Barajas, and I slept and read most of the way. Once in Madrid, we took the metro to Chueca and found the house without a problem. While my parents went to get some shopping done, my sister and I just rested for a bit. And then we all took a massive nap after lunch, because the early start had left us knackered! In the late afternoon/evening, we went out for a walk, although it was still pretty hot. We walked down Fuencarral to Gran Vía and then got to the Temple of Debod, which I had never seen before. The views were pretty cool too. We then returned via Plaza de España and Sol, and stopped for a merendola involving pancakes at El Corte Inglés. Once back home, we just had an early night to regain strength for the next few days.

On Tuesday we got up late and sang Happy Birthday to my uncle Pablo, with some technical difficulties included but we finally managed. We then took the metro to the Reina Sofía Museum where there is currently an exhibition with pieces lent by the Kunstmuseum from Basel in Switzerland. These included works by Picasso, Munch, Warhol, Van Gogh, Gaughin and many other greats. However, it so happens that the Reina Sofía is closed on Tuesdays, so we ended up having to come up with an impromptu plan instead: we went to the Caixa Forum and visited two exhibitions, one about animals in Ancient Egypt and another about Pre-Columbine cultures. And we also visited the shop which is one of the best museum shops I’ve been to; there were so many cool things! I have to get my hands on a couple of books and a French magnet poetry set I saw there… We then had a late lunch at Los Rotos, a restaurant you will remember from my previous post about Seville. Then we headed to the National Archaeology Museum that had been closed for ages but is now reopen and renovated. It was funny because there we met a Norwegian family we’d seen in the metro that same morning. All the tourists go to the same places! The museum was also good, but after a while I just get bored because the amount of things starts to be overwhelming. We saw the Dama de Elche and many other treasures. And there was info on the Cordoba Mosque, how about that? Nothing in Cordoba, but there is in Madrid. We then came back home and just chilled. I attempted to read more on the driving manual, but it is taking forever.

On Wednesday we got up and this time did go to the Reina Sofía Museum. It is great because we don’t pay entry to the museums because we are either students, retired or civil servants. Perfect. The exhibition was split into two: White Fire, which was my favourite, with a limited but very important collection of artworks; and another collection about war. We also visited the rest of the museum, including the Guernica and another exhibition by Ree Morton. It got a little bit too much at one point, even though we stopped and went out for lunch (the parents had squid sandwiches, which are very typical of Madrid), so at the end Erin and I were literally just skimming through the rooms, as much as it embarrasses me to admit that. In the evening, Erin and I went shopping and I found some sandals and a gorgeous new eyeshadow, both things I had been looking for. That night we watched Cara Delevigne on El Hormiguero, she is such a funny and beautiful human being!

On Thursday we took the metro to Pinar de Chamartín to visit Oli and Gabi. Erin met Tula (she is still really cute, but getting bigger) and we literally spent the day playing Monopoly. I swear, I had never got so far in a Monopoly game! Erin got bankrupt and Olivia, by some occult means, ruled the game and got multimillionaire and won won won. I request a rematch! 

At around six we just had to wrap the game and we came back to our flat to get ready because that night we went to watch the Lion King Musical! It was awesome! I have never really liked the Lion King but the puppets, lighting and makeup were breath-taking! I really enjoyed watching that and if I were home for it, my Carnival costume would be sorted! Definitely recommend going if any of you have the chance. On the way back, we bought some really pretty watercolour illustrations from a man selling in the street. Mine will be hanging from my bedroom wall at some point.

On Friday Erin and I slept in while Dad and Mum went to a couple more museums. We went out instead and continued with our shopping and found a couple more bits and bobs. We all had Chinese takeaway for lunch and then Erin and I went out again to the few shops we had left. We tried some Wowble Bubble Tea, mine was mojito flavoured and omg it tasted so goooooooood! We then went back to the flat to leave the things we had bought and walked to Puerta de Alcalá where we met with our parents to go to Carmen and Alfonso’s house. We had tea there and then came back, picked some really yummy Italian pizza takeaway and packed our bags to leave them ready for the next day. That night I finished the book I was reading, The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. It was a very strange and unique book and I still haven’t figured out if I liked it or not…

On Saturday we came back. Erin and I slept in but my parents went to a market. Apparently it had vintage pieces so I regret not going, but it sounds a bit more like there were only charity-shop-style pieces, so it’s not that bad… This time, no flights got delayed and all went fine. Erin and I were sat together next to two Israeli brothers who were so weird. I mean, the guy next to me barely spoke English but asked for a headset three times to three different airhostesses, even though they all said none were on sale on that flight, and then pulled out some binoculars and started looking about in the plane, and then started playing with some plastic glasses. Erin and I had to restrain from laughing! We both watched a couple of TV shows on my tablet after our failed attempt at watching The Voices because the film hadn’t downloaded properly. The plane was so full the suitcases took forever to get dropped off but we finally got our hands on all three of ours and headed home. I hadn’t eaten since eleven in the morning and so by seven I was starving but I waited until after going to the supermarket and then enjoyed my feast of nachos and beer at home while watching Lost in Translation. It was good.

Hope you’ve liked this new post. My family from Switzerland arrived that same night and have been staying in Tenerife since then on holidays. I don’t plan on blogging about that but I still have to write my Freshers’ Advice post, so keep tuned for that one!