El Sol en Madrid es Muy Bonita!

Hola! Yo estoy Madrid con muchos nuevos amigos. Y comida. Mmmm. Im in Spain!

First a bit more of France. I had escargoe. Um, amazing.




I passed an old woman in a red coat walking alone down this boulevard. This may be one of the ones to frame later on.






SPAIN!


So, Im writing this at the end of my time in Spain, just about to get on a night train to Portugal. It's kind of difficult to sum up these three days here...Ive felt like its been two weeks. In a good way. Everything is so rich here, and people really enjoy their lives in Madrid. My Spanish has rolled of my tongue here in Spain. I've had many conversations completely in Spanish, which really amazes me. I can't believe how much I actually know - but of course, I'm mainly conversing about food, traveling, where i live, what i like, what i do, etc. Not exactly pontificating on the meaning of life or politcal climates in Madrid. But then again, not many people do here I think. It's all pretty chill.

I spent three nights in three different places. The first was the hostel. Then from there, since the hostel was full, I went to a guys place on a moments notice. I got there at 11am, and this Spanish playboy informed me that he had just gotten home from the disco (club, haha) and that i needed to be quiet and take a nap because he had done a lot of drugs that night and needed to sleep. Haha, I'm sure I just made my family jump. Not to work though - dont forget in addition to my keen sense of judgement, im also a black belt and my Swiss Army knife has a toothpick. But in the end, he did my laundry for me while I was exploring the city, so there you go.

Then the third day and night I came over to Mike's place, an older gentleman from England who now teaches English here in Madrid (picture to follow on the next blog.) Very proper and English, he greeting me with breakfast and a refreshing conversation in English. It's been fantasic staying with Mike - many short conversation about fables, culture, and the many differences between men and women (and the art of wooing).

Now, come with me on a pictoral journey through Mardid. A few short videos await you and the end of this post...


Check out what i saw in the train station...



The first thing i did was seek out tapas, which are small plates of awesome food, usually some sort of meat, cheese, and or calamary. Or basically anything. Just grab a toothpick and eat something!




Spaniards love meat.



Sometimes a simple table in a square all to yourself is the most romantic thing.




Check out that refelction.





Yup, Im ridiculous.





A favorite people watching moment. A dad teaches his son to walk amoungst the flowers.




Here he shows his son some flowers.




Ole!





A famous tapas bar. All these bulls fought and died in the sqaure outside the restaurant. There are gory pictures on the wall of bullfighters encountering the bad end of a horn.




Check out all the people relaxing in the sun and enjoying food and drink.




Some friends from the hostel. I went up to each one of these people individually and got to know them, and then kind of brought them all together in this group. I was kind of the Kevin Bacon here (finally, haha)




Here's the common room of the hostel. Just imagine a bunch of drunk, smoking travelers from different countries watch TV, and possibly looking for a hookup. hahaha, that's traveling!




The hostel kept all there wristband keys on this huge stick, which I just thought was so cool. Hahaha. This girl was a little embarrased I think that more than one person wanted to photograph this cultural artifact.





This one needs no explanation. Im just a doofus.




Check this out: there's a projector TV inbetween subway tracks. People can catch up on current events and news by staring straight forward at this screen that just barely fits between the trains. Also a good distraction for pickpockets.




The 2nd and 3rd of May are big days in Madrid. There are even twin paintings of the same name showing their revolutiona and independance from the rule of Napoleon. This year marks the 200 year anniversary. So it was basically three days (culminating on the third) of events and fesitivals to celebrate. And I just happened to be here on these days by chance! Awesome, huh?




Check this out: they had a violinist standing next to this guy who cranked a wheel and spunt these guitars. Each one was tuned to a different key, so when spun it was sort of a Jack in the Box sound.








This was sooooo cool. They were using industrial instruments that made some sort of sounds when you hit or plucked them. Click on it for more detail. There was a symphony in the background, and in the foreground, factory type workers making music on forklifts.





It's funny what you see and remember on a trip. The first month or so of this trip I will remember many things, but one stands out: The movie 'Fools Gold'. Panned in the U.S., this movie just hit Europe. I've seen this dumb poster in three different languages now. I love it and hate it: Love it because it reminds me of something familiar, but hate it because I can't escape it. The title kind of changes to with the language. I dont have to worry about being lonely though: Wherever I go, Kate Hudson and Matthew McCaunaghy are with me.




This is part of the festivities! Children had built this huge puzzle of a famous painting next to this huge church.





I happened upon this mock wrestling match. Very Venice Beach style, but family friendly. These two guys had the crowd in the palm of their hands. They also liked to flirt with any women, which always equals good times in big crowds.





These guys were so funny. They had put the George W. Bush mask next to my one a kid at one point to illustrate that he was the villian of the wrestling match.






Life is a bit slower here in Madrid. Another favorite people watching moment.



Something with Sacramento in the title! Huzzah! It's the name of the street here. All the street signs here have drawings on them so that before the majority of the citizens were literate, people could still get around.




Selling stuff on the street here is apparently illegal, but shifty guys still try to get away with it, with one eye on the cops (which is easy because cops here wear reflecting neon yellow), and one eye on your wallet. Click the picture for a close up look to see the strings attached to all four corners of the cloth so they can pull it up and make a getaway at a moments notice.



In the evening, I happened upon these evangelists doing street evagelism in both English and Spanish. They've been here for over 20 years. Much similiar to the evangelism I did in India. This was so great!





In the evening, there was this huge fiesta in a major plaza with people suspended from cranes and inside huge hamster wheels in the sky. "Hampster Wheels in the Sky" - the next Radiohead song I assume, haha.




The crowd was worse than Disneyland on New Years. Not kidding. Ive been there. Maybe not as many strollers as Disneyland though, thank goodness.



Today I was sitting in the plaza reading, writing, and just generally people watching, and here are these old guys just chewing the fat. One of my favorite people watching moments so far. Almost as many canes as dogs in this plaza.







These stores are everywhere. They're kinda the Target of Madrid. They have everything you need, except instead of having them all under one roof, they're all spread out. So you may be shopping for clothes, but if you need toothpaste or a radio, you'd have to go to two different stores around the corner.








Madrid is very aware there are tourists, but also just very proud of their heritage. A perfect storm for scenes like this. Much like when I saw the Scotsman with bagepipes in Edinburgh by the train station.






Here's me introducing a fine, Spanish institution.






Here's a bit of the musial festivities to celebrate "3 de Mayo"!

Off to Portugal!