Madrid
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Madrid |
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Thanks to "Big Mike" Szudarek and his digital camera for the images.
We went to Madrid this past weekend (March 31 - April 3 2000). I've always wanted to visit Spain since I was a wee young lad under the tutelage of Senora Lucas in high school. Actually, Spain is the only place in Europe I had a desire to visit before moving over here. It just seemed to magnificent, and I love the language (but have no idea why: maybe I listened to too many Gerardo [Rico Suave] songs). In any event, I finally made it there, and it was awesome.
We left from Copenhagen airport late Friday afternoon and arrived in Madrid around 9 PM. Besides Lisa, two friends that I work with came along: Mike Szudarek and Marty Speranza. The flight took about 2 & 1/2 hours (no movie or entertainment, though). We got there and waited in the mandatory long customs line (every airport seems to have a nice long line to welcome you) at Barahas Airport. Better yet, we got to wait in it twice (since we hadn't filled out the proper form the first time [Disclaimer: we're not your average dumb Americans-- there was no sign in English or Spanish telling you the form was necessary -- I looked]), but finally made it into the country. Bienvenidos a Espana!
Fortunately for us, we were met at the airport by a friend from home who happens to be spending a semester abroad in Villadolid, Spain, which is an hour and a half outside of Madrid: Erin Zaney. She's a great girl and I would hang out with her anytime, and most importantly on this trip, she is fluent in Spanish. My Spanish isn't bad, and I can convey any message I want, I just don't do it in nice, grammatical sentences. I understand most of what is said, except when the person speaks really quickly. And only 98 out of 100 people in Spain speak quickly, so I should be ok, right? Anyway, Zaney saved our asses as she explained the currency (the Peseta, of which there are 166 to the dollar) and herded us into two cabs for the ride to the hotel.
We made it to the hotel, and fortunately only one of the two cabbies (not mine) screwed us on the price (congrats to Mike & Marty for this dubious honor: they were overcharged by 2000 Pesetas -- Isn't it nice to know that cabbies are crooks everywhere?). We stayed at a five star place, not because we're all fancy these days, but because we waited to long to make a reservation and it was really just about the only place available. Wow, was this place nice, though, but at $150 per night, it oughtta be!
After checking in, we went out for a walk to find some food and drinks. We eventually made our way to Gran Via and found a little cafe that would fit our needs. We ordered up a round of Cruzcampo cervezas (Spanish beer) and some appetizers. Well, there's a reason you've never heard of Cruzcampo (or the other Spanish beer Mahao). It was ok, but not anywhere near as good as their European competition (we switched to Carlsberg for the next round). The food was excellent. I had Lardinas, which was shrimp wrapped in cheese, bacon & breading and then deep fried. You can just feel your arteries hardening as you eat them, but wow, are they tasty! We also had some crab salad on bread, which was also very good. We made it back to the hotel about 1:30 AM.
On Saturday, we started things off by ordering our tickets for the bullfight on Sunday and then had a quick breakfast at ... Dunkin' Donuts. Yeah, it's right next to the McDonalds and Burger King. After a quick bite, we were off to find transportation to Segovia. We eventually found our way to the proper bus station, despite getting bad information from one of the desk employees at the hotel. After the misdirection and an hour & a half bus trip, we made it to Segovia.
First of all, there is some terrific scenery surrounding this old town as it is up in the mountains. The views from this city are awesome. We started our tour by visiting "La Catedral" -- a Roman Catholic church (in Spain, no way!) built in the 15th century (I think). It was really beautiful, humongous, and neat to see, even if you're not into that sort of thing.
Our next stop was the "Alcazar." No, that's not a big island prison: it's a huge, ancient castle built into the mountainside. Very impressive, especially since this monstrous structure was built at least in the twelfth century (the first reference to it was in the twelfth century, but they are not sure when it was actually constructed). We took the tour and checked out all of the fountains, cannons, armor, and of course, the throne room. Anyway, we definitely saved the best for last: The view from the tower of this castle was magnificent, even if getting there did involve climbing 140 stairs up a very small and steep spiral staircase. There's barely enough room for one person on each step, and the same staircase has people going up and down. I guess the fear of tumbling to your death helps you enjoy the view at the top a little more. Even Lisa had to admit that the trek up was worth it one we finally made it. the snow-capped mountains in the distance behind the town of Segovia was a sight to behold. Add that view to the size and incredible architecture of this place, and you've got a house worthy of a guy like me.
Alright, it was then time for some more Spanish grub. We picked a decent looking restaurant in Segovia's Plaza Mayor (which is like a town plaza). The service was about what you'd expect from a European restaurant (which is a nice way of saying nothing like what you get back home in the States since they're not working for tips). We only got two menus for five of us. I had a shrimp omelet (apparently omelets ain't just for breakfast to the Spaniards) and Lisa had some garlic shrimp. The food was pretty good, especially for the price (Spain is a very cheap place compared to Copenhagen). Mike & Marty both ordered the special which involved soup, wine, and a rather large hunk of pig that they don't even bother taking the skin or hooves off of. I'm not kidding at all when I say "hunk of pig." It looked kinda disgusting to see a real pigs leg just sitting there on the table, but hey, they seemed to enjoy it.
Our final stop in Segovia was the Roman Aquaducts. Now, there's impressive architecture. This aqueduct was built 2000 years ago (yep, Christ could've checked this baby out had he come to Spain), and it still functions today bringing water from the mountains to the town. It's so amazing to me that the Romans built an aqueduct that has worked for 2000 years, yet Penndot rips up the same section of I-79 every other year. Anyway, I wasn't prepared for the height and magnitude of this structure, and it's hard to understand unless you see it. It is a testament to the power and ingenuity of the Roman Empire.
We made our way back to Madrid then, most of us enjoying a little siesta (when is Spain...) on the bus-ride back. We then walked around Madrid, checking out El Palacio Real (The Royal Palace) and surrounding garden, as well as Madrid's Plaza Mayor. Both were neat, but we were all pretty beat, so we ducked into a nice little Irish pub for a few pints of Kilkenny Irish Creme Ale and some rest. Following these and some appetizers, we made our way back to the hotel and crashed.
We got out of bed on Sunday to find rain in the forecast. Bummer. We went down to check on our Bullfight tickets (the Bullfight was scheduled for 18:30, so we thought it might be ok). They told us to check back later, so we headed out for the day. We checked out the Puerta Del Sol (which is another plaza which would have been much more impressive in better weather. We then decided to head over to the Hard Rock Cafe to have a few drinks and a bite, get some souvenirs, and wait out the rain. It was there we discovered why Spanish beer sucks: the hard liquor is so plentiful in the drinks. The bartenders put ice in the glass and then proceed to fill it halfway with Rum before adding the Pepsi. Wow! That's just the way I like 'em at home, so I was a happy camper. After two drinks and some nachos, we decided to brave the weather and head down the street.
Well, after a few blocks of walking through the rain, we then ducked into the Planet Hollywood for another drink and a shot (both to avoid the weather and get another souvenir). After that, it was time to head back to the hotel to check on the bullfight tickets and meet up with Mike and Marty who spent the day at the Prado museum rather than boozing it up like the heathens that Zaney, Lisa and I must be. As it turns out, there were no bullfight tickets due to the rain (I'm still not sure if they cancelled it or the hotel just knew we wouldn't want them). So we all ended up taking another siesta as the rain was coming down pretty hard.
After an hour nap, the weather appeared to be clearing, so we headed over to Retiro Park. This is a huge park that was given by one of the Kings of Spain to the people for their enjoyment. It's filled with statues, fountains, and trees (in a park? What a surprise). There's also a statue that I really wanted to check out. It is called "El Angel Caido" which translated means "The Fallen Angel." This is the first statue known to exist of the devil. I had to check that out . Well, as if on cue, right after we checked out that evil statue, the clouds rolled back in and the rain began to fall. Being in the middle of the park, there weren't too many places to hide, so we got soaked in no time. The weather cleared briefly when we got over to the lake in the park, but that was very short-lived. I'm just glad I got to see the monument by the lake as I remember a picture of this from my Spanish textbook from high-school. It's just neat to see sights that I never thought I'd get to see in my lifetime.
Anyway, by this time we were pretty well soaked, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a shower and warm clothes. Following that, we went down to the hotel restaurant, which was full since everyone decided to stay in, so we settled in to wait at the hotel bar. After a few rounds of drinks there and no tables opening up in the restaurant, we decided to eat there off of the sandwich menu. Not being able to get into the main restaurant turned out to be a huge stroke of luck: I had the best club sandwich I've ever had in my life in that bar (no, I wasn't that drunk). It was awesome. I'm not sure what made it so good, but there were diced, hard-boiled eggs in it and that might have been the difference. Nonetheless, the food was great.
Well, Marty decided to call it a night, and Lisa decided to follow suit even though the rain had finally subsided. Mike somehow talked me into going out with him to the local strip joints (ow, twist my arm) to check out what they were like in Spain. We arrived at the right place (someone on the street had given him a flyer earlier in the day) only to find the door closed and locked. There were several other bars of the same ilk in the area, but they were all closed.
We ended up spotting a little pub that was open, so we decided to have a drink there. We ordered up a couple cervezas (Murphy's Irish Red) and they put some random appetizers in front of us. We were trying to ask what some of them were (my Spanish is passable, but not great and I couldn't figure out what they were saying). They end up calling someone out from the back to translate for us. So here we are, two Americans in an Irish pub in Spain, and they bring out... a Russian girl to translate. As it turns out, she had lived in Mississippi for a year (as a student), so she was fluent and we had a nice conversation with her and she helped us with our Spanish. We had a few more pints and then headed back to the hotel.
On Monday we made our way back to the airport for the flight back to Copenhagen, this time opting for the Metro system (now that we understood it) rather than the crooked taxi cabs (although Mike did want to find his previous cabby). The ride took longer than expected, and we ended up having to almost run through the airport to catch the plane, only to find it delayed. First the excuse was that the plane had been late arriving. Then they needed to re-fuel and the re-feuling people were late. Then, the flight was more full than expected, and they had to order more food: of course, the food people were late. Finally, there was "too much air-traffic" around Madrid, so we were delayed a little more. I say it was because of the engine that was burning on the wing, but no one else seemed to be concerned. Anyway, we finally got off the ground and back to Denmark.
All in all, it was a great trip. Spain is a very beautiful country, and I would still love the chance to live there for a few months so that I could become fluent in Spanish (as there's a much better chance of that than Danish). I wouldn't mind going back some day, but next time I think I'd like to check out Barcelona or Sevilla. Well, that's it for now: hope you've enjoyed the story!
Here are a few more pictures:
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