All The Pretty Ladies

Last night:
We met two American girls both named Jackie from Pennsylvania who were staying in our room at the hostel. They were friendly so when they invited us out to dinner with them, we replied, well sure! (We did not know what we were getting ourselves into). We walked down a few blocks from our hostel to a tapas bar called Mieras. We ordered a jug of the most delicioso sangria ever (so sweet and fruity) and some tapas dishes...calamarios fritos (fried calamari), queso (a cheese platter), clams, a fish dish and croquetas which are little fried fish balls that are absolutely the most rich, cheesy things ever. The two other American girls did not know any Spanish so Maddie and I were able to practice our Espanol aqui. the food was really tasty and with a side serving of pan(bread), our stomachs were fully satisfied 2 hours later. The girls, Jackie and Jackie were very entertaining and fun to get to know...they sure did like their sangria too.

Organized pub crawl with the hostel, met all these international folks- from Tusnia, Argentina, Canada, the UK, ...and a bunch of other Americans on vacation. We went to three different bars, one was called Sol y Sombra and had a really slick interior, in each bar we got a free drink or cerveza o sangria and unfortunately each place played American music from the 90s, or Lady GaGa and Beyonce, which is just what we hear at every club in the States..so that we dissapointing. The Jackies came out with us tambien and Maddie and I instantly knew that they were going to be entertaining since they were definitely already borracha (drunk) at the start of the pub crawl. As we hopped from bar to bar, the girls drank more and more and became a, excuse my french, a shitshow of sloppy loud Americans, dancing crazily on stage, with strange men, with each other, with no one... they also took about 60 photos of us with them in the bars as Jackie kept shouting, ¨DANISE!!!!!!!! MADDIE!!!!!!!!! COME TAKE A PICTURE!! IT´LL BE ON FACEOOK!!¨

Too bad the Jackies left today and we never exchanged information. So, Maddie and I will be in their Madrid photos about 60 times and they won´t even know who we are or how to contact us. I think that´s okay with us.

Today: Ate our breakfast gratis (free) at the hostel which consisted of corn flakes, toast, jam or butter, coffee or orange juice. What I found surprising is that the milk and OJ were both room temperature and not chilled at all. As Maddie said, ¨Europeans just aren´t into chilling their liquids, it´s just how it is.¨So I had a wonderful bowlful of cornfalkes with warm milk and a cup of warm jugo de naranja.

We got our books and headed toward El Parque Retiro, a HUGE manicured once royal park near the Prado museo, Maddie and I walked around, saw many fountains, lakes, geese, statues, trees, sculpted bushes, and lots of little kids on field trips. We sun tanned and read on the grass, ate fruit and lazed around. Next we visited Plaza Mayor and El Calle Arnesal which has great shopping and many shops and places to eat. We involuntarily ran into our new friend Mike from the hostel in the park and so he joined us in a many hour walk through several barrios, shoe shopping, a delicious lunch of ensalada con garbanzo beans, and rice, and potatoes with lamb, and then flan to top it off. After this we were full, BUT everyone had been telling us about this place called Chocolateria de San Gines which serves cups of melted chocolate with freshly fried thin churros to dip and we just had to go see what the hubbub was about. Thus after our flan, we ate a cup of melted chocolate and fried dough, it was the best decisiom of the day, it was delicioso!

Afterwards, we took a siesta then headed toward the Prado museum which houses the more traditional and classical art of Goya and Velazquez, so lots of Christian motifs, Jesus on the cross, and royal family portraits to look at....it was interesting to see the skill and talent of these artists in real life, BUT Maddie and I both enjoyed the Reina Sofia more since we only have so much tolerance for classical religious art and les gustan las artistas como Dali y Picasso.

Now, we´re back from them museum, about to pursue a night of leisure, good food and relaxation...since last night was a bit tiring and crazy, especially watching over those Jackies...

Anyways, more photos and blogs to come! Hasta luego,

Danise

P.S. The title of this post reflects Mike´s interpretation of the famous Beyonce song...