MADRID, SPAIN
2015-11-08, 20:03, JASON
STAY: MAYDRIT HOTEL
At time of writing this, it's been nearly 2 years since the actual trip itself. Most of this was pieced together retrograde from the pictures.
We planned to meet with my mom and stepdad for Christmas in Spain. They thought it'd be fun to get out of the U.S., and, since we were so close to Spain, we figured, why not. We went around Christmas. Also, it was very cold at the time, given the month of travel. As Madrid is a bit more inland, it gets chilly.
Most of the sight seeing we do in Puerta del Sol is decked out in Christmas stuff. There is this strange phenomenon in the Plaza: there where people dress up as pseudo Disney characters -- like the ones you see in Disneyland but less legit -- and ask for money for you to take pics with them. There is also this goat thing, where the person is hiding under a sheet and the only thing showing is a goats head. The goats head snaps at you occasionally, manipulated by the person hiding it. It's really the strangest thing.
The city is grandiose. It has a lot of European-style architecture and there's a huge utilization of space. There are a few 'small streets' you can get lost in, kind of like in the Italian style, but not as much.
The most memorable portion of this holiday was what we did for Christmas Eve and Christmas. My mom had booked a hotel that was far out from the city center, and, being older folks, they went back to the hotel early. My brother and his then-girlfriend, Stephanie, were there as well, and staying in the city center near Puerta del Sol. What we did then, was walk out of their hotel, walked literally 30 seconds to the left, and popped into a restaurant for a bottle of wine in a restaurant. I think what we intended to start as a brief night out turned into a legitimate all-out bash. We started drinking wine there, and as the Spanish do, they include a bit of bread or some tapas. Did that, chatted with the waiter who was Filipino but spoke fluent Spanish, and then bounced. We walk across to the next street, and order another bottle of wine, order some tapas, and then finish up. It was so fun: all within 2 minutes walking of each other, we managed to eat and drink very well. It was freezing cold outside, but we were surprised people were still working on Christmas Eve, especially in such a Catholic country. Then, we end up in the last bar.
The guy working there was from near the Galapagos Islands, and we were communicating with him in Spanish. He gives us some olives along with our next bottle of wine, and some free bread as well. We end up overstaying our welcome there, and he says to us to go across the street and continue drinking there. We walk in, and it's this really huge popping bar. It's already 22:30 or so, and it's still going. So, we continue to eat a platter of food there, have some more to drink, and just catch up.
We then did the same again on Christmas Day. Surprisingly, they were open! I think Madrid will always be very fond for us, it's the first trip we took in Europe, and sparked our interest in traveling more. Thorin and I had always promised ourselves to do a bit more of it, but it's difficult to take the initiative. Madrid really changed that. I'm very glad we went and caught up with the family.