Madrid Forever Has My Heart

 Its funny to me how I feel about Madrid vs. Valencia. Madrid feels so much more like home to me. It kind of feels like I am in college again, living in Valencia, and get to go home once a month to Madrid. I have such love for the city, and nothing can be wrong with it in my eyes. And no matter how long I leave for, it still feels like I know it like the back of my hand, better than I know Valencia where I now permanently live. I feel a sense of comfort being in Madrid, even if I'm alone.

So it was about that time again for me to visit home. The girls and I packed our bags after the Nou d'Octubre celebration and headed over to the Valencia Airport to hop on our cheap flight to Madrid.

In regards to Ryanair, you get what you paid for. You stand around forever with your overpacked 1 piece of luggage within a small size limit, not your standard carry on. They then make you shove it in this little rack to make sure it meets requirements. Then your flight gets delayed between 30 minutes and 3 hours (Margaux and I got lucky with a 40 minute delay while Nora was stuck with a 2 hour delay).  Then, you try to sleep on the plane, but the crew are walking and talking advertisements for everything from snacks and drinks, to cigarettes, lotto tickets, and cosmetics. Next, you have to get off the plane and walk through the rain to the terminal. How nice.  Also, if you for some reason cant print your boarding pass, it costs 40 EURO to print, 40! I paid less than 40 for the whole trip!!!

Anyway, we get to cold rainy madrid, and this is not something Im used to! I am used to sunny never rainy madrid, with desert like weather conditions! But what can you do besides get out your umbrella and run through the puddles?

That night the girls and I went out to one of my old favorites: El Chapandaz, where the leche de pantera falls from the ceiling and the music is awesome!
Of course, I did not take pictures of this again, but here is one from last summer of magic in the making

Here is one of the shots a photographer took of the gang upon arrival and completion of our leche

We danced the night away. And then my madrileños made an appearance: Esteban and Juan Luis! I always love to see them, and it is has been almost a year since i've last seen Juan Luis! But 2 hours was not enough!

As promised Esteban- a special Shout out to my number 1 reader!

Sleep did not occur until about 430 that morning, and rise and shine was at 9 am to hit the rastro where I purchased a sweet pair of shades, a fancy ring, and a pretty scarf! I thought because it was not tourist season anymore that the rastro would be calmer than what I remembered, but I was wrong.
After the rastro, we met back up with stephanie and ate at Museo del Jamon, a touristy must-do!  And horray for our friend Chris the researcher meeting up with us!

Afterwords, it was siesta time for myself while Margaux and Stephanie went to the Museo del Prado. And as much as I love Las Meninas, I've been there done that, and big classical art museums overwhelm me. And siesta was much needed!

Later we ate at a great famous restaurant called Casa Mingo, which is a traditional Asturias restaurant where the staples are Sidra (hard cider/beer) and their roasted chicken- it really was the best chicken I've ever had.

Sidra at Casa Mingo- so delicious!

Later, Esteban picked me up and him and I went into his neighborhood Barrio el Pilar, where there was the Festival de Pilar, to celebrate Saint Pilar. What was going on was like a carnival, but better because it was Spanish! There was a concert, paella, tapas, chocolate con churros, mojitos, and standard carnival games and rides that everyone likes to walk by, but not ride/play for fear of your life. Something that also amazed me, right in between some carnie games, was a bingo stand! Spaniards sure do love their bingo (and not just the senior citizens!)

The next morning was another rise and shine morning, with less shine, but high hopes because we were on a mission for Chocolate con Churros from the famous San Gines chocolateria!  With the thickest chocolate and the freshest churros.

After filing up on the breakfast of champions, we headed over to my favorite Madrid Museum: La Reina Sofia where you can admire the works of Dali, Miro, and Picasso as well as many more. The highlight of the museum is Picasso's Guernica. I could sit and stare at Guernica for hours, but because I only had about 1 at the museum, I bought a copy of the print in the book shop to hang in my room!

All in all, another successful Madrid weekend! Can not wait to go back again when more friends will be around for double the fun!

me being a tourist in my fly sunglasses- in the center of Spain