We then mostly wandered and went to two gift shops inside the museum and I finally bought Violet the coolest book. I can't wait to read it to her, although I will have to look up some of the words lol. (It's in Spanish.)
At some point that day, we wandered toward the Palacio Real, which is the palace where the king lives. Devin and I got sidetracked at la cripta, the crypt, and paid 2 euro to see it. The Palacio wasn't open because it was new year's day so we took pictures of the outside and then went to the jardines (gardens) beside it, which were beautiful and smelled of herbs. There were really steep steps that had no traction at all that I nearly slipped down so I was very careful and climbed down them gingerly like an old woman. And then we walked down the Gran Via to make a giant loop home. Devin pointed out the National Geographic Cafe, which was to play a later part in our adventures in Madrid.
Later in the night my hostel was getting to hot and noisy for the others, so we walked in the direction of the museum again and stopped to sort of relish the cool air. We wandered a lot through parky areas before heading back to my hostel for the grapes and cava. The new year's tradition in Spain is that for the 12 strokes of the new year you're meant to eat a grape on each one and drink cava, which is a sort of sweet wine. We got to Puerta del Sol just before 10pm and stood there for two hours talking and waiting. Sam and I kissed Devin at midnight. The crowd was so thick it took us 15 min to get to my hostel whereas normally it would take like two. I didn't sleep well because everyone in the hostel was up and people kept coming into the room and not shutting the door.
I finally climbed out of bed just before 11, having tentative plans that Devin and Sam would show up around 2pm. From Devin's status on fb, I learned that they got very, very lost until 3am so I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing them. The two Swiss/Swedish girls who shared my room and were very nice literally watched movies all day so I alternately sat with them and did sudoku or went on the computer in hopes that I would catch Devin or Sam. Come 5pm there was no word so I went to El Taurino for dinner. I had a weird salad that had Spanish feta (not salty enough) and was covered in yogurt. It was ok. Then I ate a whole piece of chocolate cake and felt kind of gross and not well. I sat in the hostel when at about 8ish, Sam and Devin walked in, Devin having waited for me there JUST after I left for dinner. They wanted dinner so we went to a restaurant up my street where I could only manage half a glass of sangria and left early because my stomach was gross. I changed into PJs and was on the computer chatting with people until about 11, and then I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time because there was a person out on the street who would not shut up with one of those squeaky mouth instruments. It was awful.
Yesterday morning I had to get up before 10 so I could formally check out of my room. I stored my things and then sat on the computer because the others were supposed to show up. Around 10:40, I remembered the "always check facebook" rule and learned that they were in dunkin cus they couldn't get into my hostel so I met them there and we went to El Rostro, which is a HUGE street market. The sun was actually out, too. I ended up buying a carpet bag which I'm really happy with. From there we walked in the direction of the Palacio again and stopped at a place for tiny ass portions of food to tide us over. Then we went to El Templo de Debod, which is an Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain. We weren't allowed in cus it was Sunday and they were closing early, so we wandered around it. It was situated in a park area so it was just gorgeous. And it sat overlooking part of the city. We made our way up the Gran Via again, and decided to eat a better lunch at the National Geographic Cafe. What a cool place! Our waiter was the nicest guy, we spoke in a mixture of Spanish and English, and we all were a bit smitten. He asked us where we were from and told us he was from Argentina and then he was like, "So we're all Americans!" Soooo adorable. Sam was finally happy with food, Devin got mint tea and found some peace, and I got a chai latte. The warm drinks were presented in little teapots and we were given cups to pour into. The chai was not spicy exactly, but it was milky and spicy enough and comforting. Sam and Devin went to the bathroom and our waiter asked me if I lived in Madrid and I told him I was studying in London for a year. At the end, he asked us if we had facebook (this was so not creepy, I promise), and said we didn't have to if we didn't want to, so I wrote down our names for him. I think he was just networking a little bit. It was just a really nice end to the outings, and it left us all in rather a good mood and giggly.
We hung around my hostel until about quarter to six when they got gelato and then saw me off to the metro station. I did so much better this time. I bought a train ticket and only mildly freaked out waiting at the tracks for the train. I got on the right one and then eventually found my way to the metro and took that to the airport. I was walking through, sweating augh, and the first bank of tvs the 2 in 20:55 (my plane's departure time) was cut off so I had a panic that my plane had been severely delayed. I checked at the next tv station and found that wasn't so. Then I waited in the heinously long check-in lines, worried that I was going to get to the front and find out I'd been in the wrong one. When I finally got to the desk, the guy asked me in Spanish where I was travelling to and I spluttered for a second before I said, "L-Londres." and he asked me sort like what?? And then it was straightened out and I was like, "Oh thank god, I thought you were going to tell me I had been waiting in the wrong line or something" to which he just responded, "Oh no. Don't you worry, Elissa Zimmer (Spanish accented!)." It was just really cute and funny....ahhh traveling. So I then down half a litre of water before security and went all the way to my gate.
On the plane I sat next to a really nice Spanish couple, though I only really spoke to the woman. She was terrified of taking off and descending, like breathing really hard and sweating. She was kind and gave me a mint. I panicked, too, because somehow I had not done the time difference correctly and booked the wrong easybus time home!! We got in like 15 min after I was supposed to leave!! So I was freaking out and got my bag and was literally on and off running to the bus stop because my ticket was good for an hour after the scheduled time but I wasn't guaranteed a seat. The gods smiled upon me though because I waited like two minutes for the bus and there were maybe five of us total. I booked another minicab because I didn't want to worry about the tube and I got home only half an hour after I had planned. To some disappointment, I wasn't greeted as thought. I was too tired then to be really sad, so I just ate some peanut butter and bread, watched Peep Show and then went to bed. I woke up sad though. And I've lost my phone. Nina says it goes straight to voicemail so no chance of finding it in my room that way. Now I desperately need a shower (MY OWN SHOWER). And some milk. And my phone. AND ESSAYS AUGH.
You can find pictures of Madrid here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=321880&id=552508884&saved#!/album.php?aid=321880&id=552508884
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