Museo del Jamon (aka Valentine's Day Weekend in Madrid!)

Excursion to MADRID Y EL ESCORIAL.
13, 14 y 15 de febrero de 2009


VIERNES 13 de febrero

1. Left Salamanca at 7 .00 a.m.
2. Visited the Museo del Prado at 11.00 a.m. This is probably the most famous art museum in all of Spain. It is home to pieces by Goya, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Velazquez to name a few. An extremely cool experience, but we were given waaay too much free time. Very quickly, Alexandra and I become tired, hungry, and cranky. I really needed a McDonalds and a play area to regroup.
3. Arrived at the hotel (Meliá Galgos) at 2. This looked like a 4 star hotel from the States, wow so nice. Here, we ate the lunches our madres had made for us. Asencion packed Allison and I (each) a Spanish tortilla on a baguette (essentially a potato carbohydrate-overload sandwich), an entire sleeve of cookies, four pieces of fruit, and a pastry the size of a brick. This woman has a heart of gold.
4. At 4.00 p.m. we visited El Museo Thyssen, which held pieces by Degas, Monet, Kandinsky, and others. I liked this museum a lot better; it was so cool to see familiar paintings up close.
5. Free time until 7.30 p.m. when we met up to go to a show called Mayumana Momentum. This was SUPERguay! It was a group much like stomp. They sang, danced, beat-boxed, played instruments, and created insane beats with just about anything (boxes, bars, even water). I couldn't stop moving in my seat, and then continued to dance and stomp for the next hour and a half after the show.
6. JMU gave us money for dinner afterwards. A number of us went to Vips (pronounced "Beeps") for an upscale Silver Diner dinner.

We came back to the hotel about 12:15 a.m. where I enjoyed a bubble bath WITH JETS. Jeannie (my trip roommate) and I watched a little Spanish TV and went to bed. As I slipped under the starchy white sheets and my head melted into the pillow, I couldn't help but think how incredibly delicious my life is.

SABADO 14 de febrero

1. Breakfast in the hotel at 8.30 a.m. It was even semi-American! Blissful scrambled eggs, yogurt, and cereal, oh how I had missed you all (still no chocolate chip pancakes though, mom).
2. At 9.30 a.m. we left to visit El Palacio Real, which was absolutely beautiful. It was complete with 2,800 rooms, each with its own unique theme: breakfast room, lunch room, coffee room, even clock room (totally necessary).
3. Next, we visited El Centro de Arte Reina Sofía at 1.00 p.m. Here we saw pieces by Salvador Dali, Picasso, Miro, and others. Way cool, but we really weren't given enough time here to look around the massive museum.
4. At 2.30, we enjoyed a private gourmet meal back at the hotel with the entire group. We walked into the dining room to see glass tables ornately set with various bottles of wine and glasses. Jesus had a mini freak-out and had to tell the servers to immediately take all the alcohol away because JMU won't pay for any alchy. I can't say I wouldn't have enjoyed having a glass of wine with Jesus and Professor Don Corbin though, haha.
We started with a caprese salad (with shrimp), which was heavenly. I miss real salads. Next, we had fried duck and baked apples. Then it was tiramisu and cafe con leche for dessert. Did I mention that I ate two small baguettes as well? I never wanted to leave!
5. Finally we got some free time. As tired as I was, I forced myself to explore the city a bit. Several of us girls braved the Madrid metro and got off to see La Plaza Mayor (Salamanca's is better). This having been said, I WAS impressed by the number of things going on there. In Spain, if you dress up/paint your body and stand still for inordinate amounts of time, people will take pictures of you and give you money. That's normal, right?
After being followed by a strange whistling man for several blocks, we walked around La Plaza del Sol, and went to rest in El gran Parque de Retiro. It's huge and full of very openly-affectionate lovers, both hetero- and homosexual. Welcome to Spain. It felt so nice to lay down in the grass for a while (without a jacket, I might add). The weather was perfect...mid-fifties with a clear blue sky. After we enjoyed a breathtakingly beautiful Valentine's Day sunset, we made our way back to the metro and back to the hotel.
Hannah, Angela, Kristina, Jeannie and I visited the local grocery store to get an economical dinner of baguettes, cheese, salami, and fruit for only 3 euros each...de puta madre. We all took crucial after-dinner naps in preparation for the inevitably long evening ahead. Originally, everyone had been super excited about the famous Kapital, a SEVEN-STORY club in Madrid. But as 12:30am rolled around people ended up scattering and going their separate ways. I chose to go with Tori, her friend Mike who is currently studying in Madrid, Alexandra, Colleen, Leah, and Emily. Mike got us into a private party even though we weren't on "the list" (made me feel extremely guay). It was fun, but there were waaaay too many people. I couldn't move, which was a problem because I still hadn't recovered from my dancing fever from the night before. Colleen said she didn't even have room to blink, ha.
Met the only existing Spanish prep, named Carlos. It's really a shame Spanish men think that if you talk with them for more than 30 seconds you want to go home with them. I always forget this. When we left at 3:30, Carlos proceeded to follow Alex, Colleen, and I out of the bar, hoping that we'd come dancing with him at a different club. Yikes, had to say a strong ADIOS to 'los.

DOMINGO 15 de febrero

1. Breakfast again in the hotel at 8.15 a.m. I tried to grab a few less pastries this time around, but failed miserably.
2. At 9.15 a.m. we left for El Escorial, a quaint town about an hour outside of Madrid.
3. At 10.30 a.m. we visited El palacio-monasterio de El Escorial. Definitely the most boring part of the trip. I have nothing to say about this place other than that I had at least seven laughing attacks thanks to Alexandra. She had been doing this to me all weekend in every single museum at times when Jesus or the tour guide was talking and it was entirely inappropriate. I hate her.
4. Lunch time at 2.00 p.m.! Sasha, Colleen, and I found a really cute cafe where we ate outside with a beautiful mountain view. Sasha ordered croquetas (fried potato, ham, egg mixture of heaven), Colleen got a plate full of french fries, topped with two fried eggs and bits of ham (wow who thought of this dish!?), while I enjoyed fried sausage on a baguette. This was one of the funniest meals in my life and I wish I could better explain why. We are so foreign and experience more awkward and confusing situations everyday than you could possibly imagine. Sasha spotted a hometown hottie, Colleen found a math textbook model, I noticed the extremely tight pants of our waiter, we were brought small forks with in the bread basket, and once again we couldn't read over half the menu. Did I mention that we didn't even know the name of the city we were in until 20 minutes before we had to leave? What a joke.
5. At 3.30 p.m. we left for Salamanca and arrived back about 6. Felt good to be home:)

Back at the madre's house, we returned to an immaculate room, complete with clean laundry and new pillows (yes!). This was actually pretty embarrassing considering the condition we had left our room in. I have become significantly lazier since being in Spain. Our madre does way too much for us. Allison and I showered, unpacked, and enjoyed a dinner of salad and tuna pastry thing? (actually delicious in a bizarre way). I did a little reading and went to bed early.
This morning, I had my independent study "class" at 10 (the four of us talked for 30 minutes and called it a day). At 11, I had short stories, and headed home for siesta soon after. Siesta lunch was cheesy multi-colored pasta, salty fried chicken with onions, bread, fruit, and Lucia's amazing chocolate truffle birthday cake. After lunch, I unbuttoned my pants, read for lit., took a short siesta nap, and headed back to the University for my last 2 classes of the day.
Not much else to report...are people even still reading this? I wouldn't be.