Never a dull moment

Madrid Winter, 2012

Now, I've been writing up a storm about my travels around Europe thus far, but I can't forget about all of the local adventures we've been stumbling upon here in Madrid. These next tidbits are from the second half of winter- spring stories coming soon!

Margaret's best friend, Caitlin, came to visit for winter break and we took a little night-trip to Alcalá de Henares on New Year's day to hang out with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. When she's not working during the week, Margaret attends University classes in this small historical city/college town, so she wanted to show us where she disappears to every other weekend. It's just a 30-40 minute train ride away from Madrid Centro and it's famous because Miguel de Cervantes, 

the author of Don Quixote, was born and raised here.

What's up, DonQi?

On January 6th, Spaniards celebrate Los 3 Reyes Magos, or the three wise men. This day is when the most important Christmas celebrations take place including a big parade, fireworks show, and speech made by one of the three wise men himself. So naturally, Ester and I went to Plaza de Cibeles where all the action happens.

For Andrea's birthday, we stopped at Chipotle for a quick margarita before hitting the town.

Why is Ester in an abyss?

Here's a group shot from more birthday festivities at one of our favorite bars, Tupperware, in Malasaña. The night got progressively more and more epic as it went on and I'm quoted on camera saying "You guys, this is one of the best nights I've had in Madrid!" 

That good.

double trouble

And Michael was in town, so the duo being reunited helped make it even better!

All good things must come to an end...
until next year.

One last girls' night out before it was back to work for the Spring semester.

Spring was teasing us again one afternoon in January so we spent the afternoon in Retiro picnicking and crying tears of laughter at the photos and videos from the night before. Normal behavior.

These next few are from some explorations in the Tabacalera in Embajadores. This place used to be an old tabacco factory of sorts before the hipsters took over. Now it's just awesome. We go there on Thursday nights to practice aerial dance. 

The usual.

Here we are again at our favorite Mexican joint- Chipotle. They know us.

Who am I? Miss Piggy and Belle (Beyoncé not pictured)

Nothing weird happening here
...just having a zumo natural

New favorite possession

Ice Skating Field Trip

                                                         The Chaperones

Ladies' Night... again!

Valentine's Date: Star Wars Episode I in 3D
Then a romantic pizza for 2!

Albert's Birthday night!
Garth and Cat made an appearance, as usual

Megan's Visit!

At the beginning of March, Megan came to visit me in Madrid from Italy! We had so much fun. 

Biblioteca Nacional

First we stopped in the National Library for a quick look since it just happened to be the 300th anniversary and there were loads of interesting exhibits por dentro. 

Then we made our way towards Plaza de Cibeles, where I always take my visiters. The Palace was beautifully lit at twilight that evening and Megan said it looked like a delicious piece of cheesecake. Which it did. I love having her around- come back!

While walking down Gran Vía, we decided to stop at any 'ol place for a drink and some tapas. Of course the random place we chose happened to have the best Tinto de Verano this world has to offer. At this bar, Mercado de la Reina, they make the Tinto de Verano with a little vermouth, red wine, and here's the kicker: Lemon slushy. Brilliant. 

Like I always say, the best things in life are stumbled upon.

... I just made that up, actually. But it's true!

A quick stop at Casa de Sorolla is always in order. I think by now I've visited that museum 5 times. It's one of Madrid's best kept secrets and a must-see for sure. 

Having a rooftop drink at Mercado San Antón in Chueca

LA love in Malasaña

Somehow, so many nights end with us singing this song. It got so intense that we went home and looked up the lyrics.

Well Herro 

Making our way to the Indian Food district on Calle Lavapiés... there's always a photo opp or two happening on this street at any given time.




This one is from our first time to the modern art museum of Madrid. The most famous masterpiece here is an anti-war painting called Guernica by Picasso. It's a depiction of the bombing of Guernica, a village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War. It is said that the bombings were ordered by Franco himself and partially a Nazi experiment to observe the consequences of bombing civil populations. Crazy, right?

Guernica, 1937

French Macaroons and Arroz con Leche

[Abrupt change of subject]
Then we went for some tapas and sweets at Mercado San Miguel, officially declared my favorite dining spot in Madrid.

Here we are at Parque Retiro in front of the Palacio de Cristal- a beautiful building within the depths of the park that hosts different installments throughout the year. When we visited, the inside of the building had a giant blue plexiglass interior perforated with millions of tiny computer symbols (like ? > @ ! # and so on). It was really unique!

Take a look...

Palacio de Cristal

Matt, Albert, Ronaldo, and I grabbing a drink after Matar- the independent theatre piece that Ronaldo worked on.

So that's it for the winter in Madrid!

Up next, Las Aventuras de la Primavera...