"in madrid, anything is allowed..."
well, as you might have guessed, we´re in madrid...
we´re taking our time here and starting our adventures slowly...after arriving and pretty easily finding our hostel (which is even better than our hostel in barcelona since it has a private bathroom), we started out looking for a laundry place because scott ran out of clothes...the receptionist at the hostel told us that there used to be a laundry place on the same street, but it had moved...she also suggested stopping by its old place and seeing if they have a note about where they moved...we did exactly that, and, indeed, there was a map posted on the window specifying their new location...scott drew the map and we went to find the laundry place...
after looking for it for quite some time, we failed to find it, and decided to make a second attempt the next day, thinking that maybe they were closed anyway...
instead, we went to get some food...it was after 11pm at that point -- perfect time for some spanish dinner...
it turned out that our hostel is located in a very happening part of town -- right next to puerta del sol, which, apparently, is the center of spain: the city was built aound it, and all the distances in spain were calculated from puerta del sol...
there are lots a lots of restaurants, bars, tapas places, etc. around...lots of people on the streets, beautiful buildings around...a "moviable feast", as hemingway had put it...
after glancing at menus of more than ten places, we finally settled on one, ordered some grilled brie with raspberry sauce, crispy mushroms, grape juice, and a glass of sangria, and sat there enjoying madrid´s atmosphere...
at a table next to ours, there was a group of three friends...at some point they asked scott to take a picture of them, and then offered me a cigarette...i obviusly replied that i don´t smoke, but one of them responded: "neither do i, but in madrid, anything is allowed"...
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we took a train to madrid from barcelona, and it was pretty cool...looking out the window, it was amazing to see how much the landscape was changing over the course of four hours: first it was green with trees and bushes and the sea on the left-hand side, then it turned into a desert, then the short rocky mountains appeared, and, finally, there were yellow-with-brown fields...too bad, scott had his camera hidden away somewhere in his rucksack for most of the trip...
the train had nice reclining seats, music and video programs available, and the headphones were distributed for free, unlike the airplanes...
----------------------------
on our last day in barcelona we went to the beach and saw mediterranean sea with our own eyes...it seemed too cold to swim, so we didn´t...however, we did wet our feet in the cold waters of the sea...
we decided to get back to the hostel where we left our bags, by way of the cable car: bought tickets, got to the top of the tower, waited in line for about half an hour, and then were informed that the cable car had some technical difficulties and would now be closed for at least an hour...we coldn´t wait because we had to catch the train, so we went down, got fully refunded for our tickets, helped some russian tourists understand what was going on, got kebabs and last-minute souvenirs on the way, picked up our bags, and headed for the train station...
----------------------------
scott never mentioned in his posts anything about the food that we ate...maybe because he was not impressed by it? i don´t know...we definitely think that the best food we´ve had during our travels was still in japan...
we did have lunch at a traditional catalonian restaurant recommended by our guide book, and it was good...i´ve discovered that i very much like their cold tomato soup...
we had tapas at some point, which were good, and i attempted to have sangria...i made a huge mistake by drinking it on an empty stomach...it was quite good though...
----------------------------
scott is finally done doing laundry (we did find the laundry place this morning) and taking a shower...now we will probably eat and, if we still have time, go to prado...
by the way, this morning we did have traditional spanish breakfast of chocolate with churros...apparently, you´re supposed to dip churros in your chocolate drink and eat them like that...
we´re taking our time here and starting our adventures slowly...after arriving and pretty easily finding our hostel (which is even better than our hostel in barcelona since it has a private bathroom), we started out looking for a laundry place because scott ran out of clothes...the receptionist at the hostel told us that there used to be a laundry place on the same street, but it had moved...she also suggested stopping by its old place and seeing if they have a note about where they moved...we did exactly that, and, indeed, there was a map posted on the window specifying their new location...scott drew the map and we went to find the laundry place...
after looking for it for quite some time, we failed to find it, and decided to make a second attempt the next day, thinking that maybe they were closed anyway...
instead, we went to get some food...it was after 11pm at that point -- perfect time for some spanish dinner...
it turned out that our hostel is located in a very happening part of town -- right next to puerta del sol, which, apparently, is the center of spain: the city was built aound it, and all the distances in spain were calculated from puerta del sol...
there are lots a lots of restaurants, bars, tapas places, etc. around...lots of people on the streets, beautiful buildings around...a "moviable feast", as hemingway had put it...
after glancing at menus of more than ten places, we finally settled on one, ordered some grilled brie with raspberry sauce, crispy mushroms, grape juice, and a glass of sangria, and sat there enjoying madrid´s atmosphere...
at a table next to ours, there was a group of three friends...at some point they asked scott to take a picture of them, and then offered me a cigarette...i obviusly replied that i don´t smoke, but one of them responded: "neither do i, but in madrid, anything is allowed"...
----------------------------
we took a train to madrid from barcelona, and it was pretty cool...looking out the window, it was amazing to see how much the landscape was changing over the course of four hours: first it was green with trees and bushes and the sea on the left-hand side, then it turned into a desert, then the short rocky mountains appeared, and, finally, there were yellow-with-brown fields...too bad, scott had his camera hidden away somewhere in his rucksack for most of the trip...
the train had nice reclining seats, music and video programs available, and the headphones were distributed for free, unlike the airplanes...
----------------------------
on our last day in barcelona we went to the beach and saw mediterranean sea with our own eyes...it seemed too cold to swim, so we didn´t...however, we did wet our feet in the cold waters of the sea...
we decided to get back to the hostel where we left our bags, by way of the cable car: bought tickets, got to the top of the tower, waited in line for about half an hour, and then were informed that the cable car had some technical difficulties and would now be closed for at least an hour...we coldn´t wait because we had to catch the train, so we went down, got fully refunded for our tickets, helped some russian tourists understand what was going on, got kebabs and last-minute souvenirs on the way, picked up our bags, and headed for the train station...
----------------------------
scott never mentioned in his posts anything about the food that we ate...maybe because he was not impressed by it? i don´t know...we definitely think that the best food we´ve had during our travels was still in japan...
we did have lunch at a traditional catalonian restaurant recommended by our guide book, and it was good...i´ve discovered that i very much like their cold tomato soup...
we had tapas at some point, which were good, and i attempted to have sangria...i made a huge mistake by drinking it on an empty stomach...it was quite good though...
----------------------------
scott is finally done doing laundry (we did find the laundry place this morning) and taking a shower...now we will probably eat and, if we still have time, go to prado...
by the way, this morning we did have traditional spanish breakfast of chocolate with churros...apparently, you´re supposed to dip churros in your chocolate drink and eat them like that...