Of suckling pig

Today was my mom's birthday. We wanted to make the best of it, so we woke up at 730 and then took advantage of the free breakfast offered by our hotel. That, after we enjoyed what I am sure will be one of THE best showers we will have on this trip. At 930, after some bad coffee and delicious yogurt, a much nicer cab driver was patiently waiting for us. He was obviously much happier about his life choices and was extremely nice and great for some city advise. His name was Vicente, and he was not shy about sharing his life experience with a group of total strangers. He talked to us about the crisis in Spain and about the unemployment conditions in his country. It was one of those cultural conversations one can only have with a local. He dropped us off at the Royal Palace of Madrid. We had been so efficient with time, that we were fifteen minutes early for opening. 

My mom used those fifteen minutes to marvel over the cathedral, the plaza, the people, the weather, everything... Upon our entrance to the royal palace, I was sure to be as obnoxious as possible. People: I am making up for over two thousand pics lost from my last trip!!!

The visit to the palace was wonderful!! There was nobody there yet because we were so early.  We had the whole place to ourselves. I discovered that my student trip had taken several shortcuts of this monument. We did not get to experience the ridiculous greatness provided by the chapel of the palace - a place I am willing to compare to Vatican City levels, the pharmacy of the palace, or the armory!!  These places did add a lot of more context and history to the palace and I am glad we were able to see the, together for the first time. I am still wondering how or why me missed them on our student trip!!

After the palace, we walked over to the cathedral. They were still celebrating mass, so in order to enjoy the cathedral we waited until mass was over. There was a big outdoor concert, so we walked over there and listened to some quality choral music before walking back to the cathedral. As we were walking, I remembered how unusual it was for us to hear Spanish at these tourist attractions three years ago. This time around, one almost hears nothing but. My assumption is that the crisis is indeed so bad, that spaniards are now practicing the ancient "staycation."

The Almudena Cathedral is beautiful. It is colorful, and there are lots of different interesting things. The rooftop looks like a tapestry, the entire cathedral is made up of smaller chapels dedicated to different saints, John Paul II is also a very prominent figure of the place. It was beautiful. We got kicked out right as the next mass was starting. I wish I could have seen more!!

After completing the cathedral and the royal palace tours, we walked to the plaza mayor, the puerta del sol and the ever amazing Corte Ingles. The plaza mayor has some strange yellow and white structure right in the middle. We could not figure out what it was, so we assumed it is some sort of temporary exhibition. The puerta del sol was super busy!! Lots of people and lots of street acts. It did seem a little more run down than last time we were there. The Corte Ingles (the Spanish Nordstrom) is ridiculously big, made up of three separate buildings. The department store building is SEVEN stories high. Seven. Ridiculous. I guess everything is not always bigger in Texas!!

We still had three hours to kill, so we walked back to the royal palace grounds and rested at the Sabatini gardens. We had missed them before because of the massive concert. The Sabatini gardens are right behind the palace and some locals hang out, read, work out, while also overlooking the palace. Not too shabby!

At around 7 pm, we started heading to our restaurant. The restaurant, called El Botin, is located in a street that ends with a staircase. Not kidding. We got in right at 8pm. I wish I had enough words, but I do not. It is an experience that you can't get there unless you do it too!!! We all chose the menu of the evening, which included their world renowned roasted suckling pig, gazpacho, ice cream and HALF a bottle of wine per person. We never drink that much wine. We were all super tipsy at the end of dinner. The restaurant is about three stories high. It is OLD. Well, the oldest one in the world! We were greeted by the owner himself. It was a great experience that definitely lived up to the hype!!!

At around 945, we left the restaurant and hailed a cab on a side street. Our cab driver was another great example of Madrid culture. He was very open, inviting and had even lived in the US. It was raining on our way home, I could barely see anything out the window. We were momentarily lost, but made it back. I crashed within minutes of starting this blog post, so I have just finished it now on our second day in Madrid. Ole!!!