Madrid: Rough Start

(I'm a little behind...Saturday February 9th)

Waking up at 6 am is never my favorite thing to do- especially when your very sweet roommate has a wicked cold and snores like a lumberjack...making sleep impossible. I'm a trooper though, so when I heard everyone moving around I got out of bed and grabbed my bagel. In the kitchen there was a commotion going on by our door.

Okay....I'm excited to go too, but why is everyone debating whether or not to open the door yet? Lack of sleep left the situation incomprehensible until Lindsey explained that there were drunk people trying to get into our apartment. We finally opened the door and attempted to explain to the couple that the woman did not live in the apartment...they finally got the hint and stumbled away. An interesting start to our journey.

We hop the bus at Plaza Catalunya to go to the Barcelona Airport. We even beat the professors to the bus stop. Arriving at the airport its always amazing to see the hustle and bustle, while the rest of the city is sleeping.

PJ had forgotten his passport, but since he had a copy they let him through security. We found a little cafe once we entered the terminal I had some chocolate milk. Yumm.

Takeoff....Landing...all pretty uneventful, except for a few members of our group who analyze the different plane death scenarios. Everything from terrorists, to aquatic crashes, blowing up the fuselage- they are a little dramatic.

Arriving in Madrid in one, unaltered piece, we trekked into the capital ready for another grand adventure. It was cold, bleak, and the vibrancy that we've seen in Barcelona was gone. Driving into the city on our coach bus was a plus as we crossed through the famous urban housing developments that ring the city. We hoped to visit some of the government budgeted projects to study the ingenuity and creativity of young Spanish architects that win the bids. We passed Coca-cola, McDonald's , Burger King, UPS, and some other familiar logo adorned buildings before arriving at the Zenit Hotel....a 4-star hotel (one of the perks we had in this city).

The Plaza Mayor

It was cold and dull still as we headed out to explore the city. We went to the famous Plaza Mayor has been considered the center of the city since 1561 when King Felipe II made it the site for the court. It was designed as a multi functional space: theatre, civic center, market, housing, etc. The buildings marked by towers (Casa de la Panderia and the Casa de la Carniceria) were apartments for the royal court. Theres a beautiful fresco on the one building that is similar to ones seen in Italy.

A Prima Donna performer adjusting his wig

Instructed to sketch the Plaza and analyze its patterns, conditions, and irregularities, we set out to find a sunny spot since it was cold enough to be distracting. Carnival, a Spanish celebration that seems to be a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras, was going on so we saw little children running around in costume and lots of street performers, typical to public squares (see my music video I post in a following blog). Amused by the children running around, I walked around the square with a smile on my face as I people watched- not quite the assignment.

Finally I settled in near Lindsey, one of my classmates who is also from Riva (small world), and opened my sketchbook. A man playing the bongos near me tryed to start a conversation in Spanish. After shaking my head and laughing, he tried again, this time in French. After laughing at his failed attempt yet again, he looked at me confused on what language to attach to my indecipherable nationality. I finally offered that I spoke English and he asked if I was from England. This guy had no idea. I found the whole process amusing after I finally explained that I was American, although not from California, and was visiting Madrid with my classmates. He ushered me over and we began talking about the history of the city, his hometown Granada, and our shared love for people watching. I finally had to say my good-bye so I could get some work done! He was really funny, and I didn't even remember to get his name, but I did get a sweet picture of us looking like hobos together. I saw him later teachings little kids how to drum.

We sketched, regrouped and talked. Then we were given the rest of the day off to explore the city. A crowd was begging to form around a street performer, so we decided to stick around and see what he would do. He was setting up his act, making jokes and poking fun at his audience. He danced around to silly music as the audience began to build. I left my group to check out a musician positioned on the other side of the square playing "Wonderwall" (one of my favorite songs). After some experimenting, I got a wicked music video of "Runaway Train" that stops short because he was asked to unplug from his amp.

I ventured back towards our acrobatic comedian who had also been told he couldn't use an amp. He juggled, then juggled fire, than rode a unicycle, than rode a tourist (hilarious picture), and climbed a lamppost. Police came to usher him away because he had illegally plugged back in and was making a ruckus. It was pretty funny to see him scramble down from the lamp post and then beg for money to help pay for bail.

We ventured out of the square and realized how tired our traveling had made us. I opted to head home and indulge in a bubble bath, since our hotel room housed a tub. I stopped by the grocery store around the corner first and picked up some lunch food: red wine, truffles and breakfast cookies (similar to gram crackers). I was ready for my bath...except I discovered I had no bottle opener! Since I was dressed in just a towel and my bubbles awaited, I decided to forgo the total scene of indulgence and slip in. It was fabulous and put me in the mood for a nap.

I woke up and got ready for dinner (i love how that works out sometimes :). Finding a restaurant to serve 18 people was difficult since we were in a low density, non-touristy area. After being denied from our first choice, we settled on an Asian restaurant around the corner. The food was pretty good and since I had taken a wonderful nap, I was ready to adventure out past our restaurant. No one else was game, so I admitted defeat and went back to rest up for another day in the city.

Kristin and I (and my new haircut I gave myself)

Sunday. It was drizzly and any joy in the city was extinguished for me. We set off on our walk through Parque del Retiro, soaking in the planning and the vegetation. Eric's wife, Adrian, had joined us on our Spanish adventures, and as an avid gardener and horticulturist she helped identify various plants in the garden. The garden took almost an hour to wander through before we finally broke out of the gated green and into the busy streets.

A view of the gardens

Our next destination was the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (MNCARS), which houses Picasso's famous Guernica, as well as many pieces from Dali and Miro. The museum was originally a hospital in the 19th century and was converted into an art museum to house 20th-century art. Kristin Clancey and I broke off from the group to roam because we're both avid art lovers. We were devastated to learn that since a new Picasso exhibit was going up on Wednesday (and it was Sunday) we would not be able to see the Guernica. After shedding a tear for our loss we decided to start at the top floor and wander our way down.

They had beautiful Salvador Dali work. I don't think I can express how wonderful it was to see. They also had such a large collection of Miro (another Spanish native) and it was amazing. In the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in DC there is a huge, hanging mobile designed by Miro.

My illegally taken picture of a Dali piece

Walking out of one of the exhibits I noticed an obvious group of American guys in front of us, one of which was wearing a Clemson hat. For some reason I felt like they might be part of the Clemson architecture group studying in Barcelona. I decided to test my hypothesis.

"Where y'all from?" I asked. They turned, checked us out and decided they weren't interested. After telling me they were from South Carolina, I proceeded in making the rest of the conversation awkward. I asked if they were from Clemson (he was wearing the hat...I thought it was an obvious assumption). Then I asked if they were studying architecture in Barcelona. They were- and they were obviously creeped out because I knew way too much about them. I thought it was just good logical deduction. After asking if I was Jason Bourne, they made an excuse and bolted. Kristin and I shared a good laugh. I'm sorry I'm friendly and have no respect for comfort zones.

We continued through the exhibits until it was time to met up with our group in an exterior courtyard. We had to laugh again when we saw the group of Clemson guys sketching near our group. We pointed them out to our classmates and in less than 5 minutes we were all friends. Obviously I was too scrubbed out and too abrupt to be interesting...hahaha.

Josh and I with our hoods up....I looked sketchy

The MNCARS closed and so we relocated out in the rain. Everything looked gross. We stopped by the Caixa Forum and the Prado. If the line hadn't wrapped around two sides of the Nacional Museum de Prado, I would've been so excited to go. We stopped and shopped at some street vendors before letting hunger take over. Kristin and I had our first fast food experience. By the way, the sell BEER at Burger King. Blew my mind.

Since it was SuperBowl Sunday and most of our group love American football, everyone was excited to find a pub that would play the game (which didn't start until 1 am in Madrid) until it was over. I was unconcerned because I like the party more than the game anyway.

The hotel concierge had recommended a Brazil barbecue restaurant and we decided to try that before our football adventures. I had overslept and was told 5 minutes before we were to leave, that the group was assembling by the door. I quick threw on some clothes, flats and did my hair. All was for naught because it was raining. My shoes were soaked by the time we had found the restaurant and my hair was...well its never fabulous anyway. The restaurant proved to be pricey and most of our group bailed out. I had never been to Brazilian and I also liked the group remaining, so I decided to splurge.

What's interesting about Brazilian barbecue, is they have a buffet section that serves tasty food, but then they have servers that come around with skewers of meat. They tell you what they have on their stick, beef, chicken, duck, etc. and then slice off what you want on your plate. They guys were really funny when they tried to get you to try the chicken liver and other indecipherable meat. The whole thing was super tasty. And they had live music. Soooo worth it.

The company was great as well. It was a handful of students and our professors. Towards the end of dinner we even got Eric and Adrian to talk about how they met, etc. Eric whips out wedding photos and we were amazed to see them in front of the Vatican. Coolest thing ever- they were married at the Vatican by Eric's father who was a deacon!

After dinner the group headed out to the bar for Superbowl, but because of some miscommunication I just decided to head back and tuck in early again.

Even though the gardens were beautiful, the art collection was amazing, and there was lots of interesting architecture, the combination of the weather and lack of vibrancy effected my perception of the city. I'm not a huge fan, but the rest of the trip got sooo much better. I'm going to do a new post for each city.