Rogers girls' adventures: Part 1 (Madrid)

MY FIRST VISITORS HAVE ARRIVED.

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The Rogers girls in Retiro

First off, let me tell you that Mom and Ali are champs. But really.

I picked them up at the airport around 3:00 on Thursday, and didn't even begin to take it easy on them. Rather than suggest a taxi, or the bus that would drop us around the corner, I suggested the cheapest option: the metro. This involved a line switch, a number of escalator rides, and us all squeezing into different doors of the car that was packed and about to leave the platform. Oh, and a nice 10 minute (at a brisk pace) walk from the metro stop to our airbnb. This was just the beginning.

Our first day consisted of: a nice long stroll through El Retiro, a visit to la Reina Sofía (the national contemporary art museum), a drink in Plaza Mayor, and a full-out Spanish dinner (gambas al ajillo, paradilla de verudras, moriclla, queso iberico, and patatas bravas) with 6 of my friends from church/Fulbright. Not too shabby for the first 7 hours in the country!

Postcard day 1: A painting (found in la Reina Sofia) of a popular anis flavored liquor that the farmers used to put in their coffee in the morning. The bottle also served as a musical instrument in parades!

Last but not least, Ali bought an orange digital watch for 5€. This was momentarily the highlight of her trip so far ("I love this country!")... I had hopes that something in the next 13 days would top it.

Friday was just as busy. I'm now quite confident that if someone really wants to (and if they have an excellent guide... cough, cough ME), they can see all of Madrid in 2 and a half days. Here's a summary of what we did on Friday.

First, Ali and I went on a run in Retiro. Yes, 4 years later, here I am training to be a Messiah Women's Soccer player once again. (Bringing things full circle!) We took a leisurely 20 minute run, checked out the peacocks, and then headed back to one of the big empty paths in the park so that we could do the Speed and Agility workout. We got lots of nice looks (First off, girls running? Second of all, sprinting figure eights around small sticks?), especially when I tried to run backwards and fell flat on my butt. Good thing I'm over trying to blend in all the time.

After a shower and some breakfast (where Mom drank Spanish coffee... no Starbucks!!! OMG...), we continued on with our day. Before lunch, we stopped by the Julián López fabric store, walked over to Plaza de España, and then to el Templo de Debod in Parque del Oeste. For those of you that don't know Madrid, that means I walked them pretty much the entire width of the inner city. Good job guys!

After lunch, we checked out the Royal Cathedral and Royal Palace. Both were a hit.

The beautiful ceiling in the Royal Cathedral

 The cupola in the Royal Cathedral

 Guard outside the Royal Palace

Windows outside the Royal Palace

In the Royal Plaza

Obviously, we're the national guards...

 
Postcard day 2: The royal guard's get-up

After a full afternoon, we felt we had earned a bit of rest and relaxation. So we hung out in the apartment before heading over to Mercado San Miguel. Mercado San Miguel is a market that used to sell fruits/vegetables/meat/etc., but now has vendors and restaurants set up so that you can try small portions of a bunch of different things. My favorite morsel that I tried was fresh artisan Mozzarella with salmon.

Our last adventure for Friday night was to go to Casa Patas, so Ali could have her first flamenco experience. Casa Patas is an extremely well known place to go to see for flamenco, mostly because they clearly stick to the improvisation element of flamenco. Throughout the entire show, it was obvious that the musicians and dancers were taking turns following each other, giving each the chance to be in the spotlight. To see art being created on stage was awesome. It was also the most intense flamenco show I had ever seen; the energy level the dancers and musicians maintained throughout the show was impressive!

Here's a video (not of the performers we saw, but other performers at Casa Patas) to give you a taste of the show...

And a few pictures..

He managed to sweat through 3 shirts. He was incredible, but after a while we were were happy we were experiencing it from a few rows back, avoiding the "the splash zone."

Dancing with the mantón de manila

After the show, inside Casa Patas

Not full from our snacks before the show, we decided to stop by 100 Montaditos (The one right in between Sol and Gran Vía... on a Friday night. Oops.) to grab a quick bite to eat. One of Ali's favorites was the tortilla and ali-oli montadito... how Spanish of her!

Saturday, our last day in Madrid, we started off with a morning run at Canal de Isabel (Ali and I got some more inquisitive looks while we did her Messiah workout) and later headed over to my apartment so I could show off my Spanish home. We then spent the better part of the afternoon walking around Salamanca, a pijo (posh) neighborhood in Madrid.

What did we eat? Well, we went to Mama Frambroise (yesssss, it's a French bakery but it's awesome and we aren't going to France so I figured it was okay) for a light brunch. Then we hit up Bazaar, part of the restaurant group that Napala and I fell in love with because it serves Spanish food with a bit of a modern twist. We didn't order the pulpitos (little octopi), but we enjoyed a classy Mediterranean meal before heading home to pack up our stuff to head out!

Postcard day 3: Kilometer 0 (in Sol), the point from which the mileage of all major roads in Spain originate. All street numbers in Madrid also begin at the part of the street closest to Kilometer 0.

Well, my friends, this is the first edition of the Rogers' girls adventures. Stay tuned to hear about our journey to Rome and our experiences in the Eternal City!

Much love,
Amber