{travel} touring the city

Hola from Madrid!

We are quickly getting used to the area around us. We live in Tetuan, a barrio north of the center of the city. It is much slower paced around here, but there are still some fantastico cafes & bakeries.

viernes - 3, enero 2013

Breakfast with some of the girls in our class at Uvepan. 

I ordered the empanadillo con carne y un cappucino con leche. 

The meat department at one of the nice grocery stores nearby.

Here is our escuela for the next month!

Drinking vino on our terrace at 3 PM Spanish time. Why not?!

That night, we decided to head to the center of town, where we all eventually want to live. It was the first time I truly felt that I was living in a big city. 

You guys... Madrid is seriously BEAUTIFUL.

Calle Gran Via

Pedestrian walkway in Sol.

We went to a cerveceria called El Tigre with some of our new friends in our course. One of the girls told us to order a "tinto de verano," which is what locals like to drink instead of Sangria. It is red table wine and lemon Fanta mixed together, and is absolutely delicioso! It cost 3,50 euros, but came with an entire plate of free tapas. My kind of place!

After El Tigre, we walked around the Sol, La Latina, & Opera areas. We took pictures at the 'origin of Madrid,' and saw the pretty Christmas tree in Puerta del Sol.

Speaking of Christmas, the Spaniards celebrate Christmas through January 6th because they celebrate the Epiphany, when the three kings brought presents to Baby Jesus. They all eat "King's Cake," which has a special little token in on of the slices. Whoever gets the token in their slice is said to have good luck for the rest of the year. We ended up buying one from the bakery around the corner from our apartment and cutting into it with girls from our class. So fun!

Later that night, we went out with one of the girls in our course and some of her roommates. We ended up at an Irish pub, where we drank Irish beer, and listened to American music, and hung out with British people, ....in a Spanish city. It isn't so different over here after all!

sábado - 4, enero 2013

We woke up Satuday with every intention of getting things done before our 1 pm walking tour booking that started at Plaza Mayor, but staying out until 4 am the night before really put a damper on that! Oops. We managed to get out of the house at a decent time and grab a croissant on the way to the metro, but the metro workers are on strike. It is currently only running at about 30%, so we missed our tour! Better luck next time.

Extremely excited for this buttery & flaky piece of joy.

We still walked around Plaza Mayor without the tour.

Our friends were all getting pretty hungry so we hopped on over to the tourist hotspot Museo del Jamon. It was definitely an interesting experience. I love jamon, but my sandwich was just so-so.

After lunch, it was back to Plaza Mayor.

There are lots of creepy American cartoon characters & street performers in Plaza Mayor. Like this poor Spongebob, who apparently only has one tooth?

I am in constant awe of the beauty around me. And hello... gelato!

Today we have to unpack some & get ready for our course tomorrow. We might go over to our friends' apartment and read through the course pack together on their terrace.

Ciao, Jen