Hmmm Hello out there

Does anybody still look at this?
Man. Spain time seems like forever ago.
If anyone reads this.
Hi.
We are having a Lumberjack Christmas party on Sunday the 12th up in the Salty City at my apartment.
I wouldn't mind seeing you hooligans again.

That's it.

El fin.

1. Yes, I believe we got everywhere.

2.si

3.Claro

4.
a. When there's a statue of don quijote, you just have to get a picture...
b. Because there are mcdonald's everywhere and they are always part of the walk...
c. Because fountains are just so purtty.

Que lastima pero adios, me despido de ti Madrid y me voy.

1. Yes

2.Yes

3. Yes

4. Grand via is where the best shopping is I realized. Everywhere I looked I saw some article of clothing that I needed to have. I wanted to go down the street that was forbidden but I realized getting raped might not be worth it. Sad and glad to be done with you Madrid walks, you've taken me to a bunch of cool new places. I'll never forget what we had.

Siete y Fin

1. Yes.

2. I ordered an ice cream, I offered to take someone's picture, and I said goodbye to a friendly old man. That makes three, so yes.

3. Sí, hablabamos en el Español durante el paseo.

4.

Wow, wicked sweet hair, huh?

Fancy McDonalds... yes, I'm lovin' it!

Who honestly puts a flowing liquid symbol and 'Cibeles'

on an add for alcoholics?? I'm just saying...

El último.

1. Sí sí sí.
2. Por supuesto. One conversation was with an adorable old grandpappy who wanted me to snag a picture of him and his mujer, whom he later told me is from France.
3. Sííííííííííííííí.

4.  Herrrr ya go.
I looooved the buildings on this street. Every thing was muy elegante y fancy-nancy and all, and it just felt like a classier part of town.
Then Katí y yo purchased a mango-coco-fresa smoothie....great life decision.
Also we saw the Temple of Debod and surrounding park area, which was marvelous. The sun was out, the people were frolicking, the birds were singing, the couples were snogging.....really, fun was had by all.
Funny story occurred on the train ride home: after spending hours in line at Chamartin station to get our Eurail reservations, we were so stoked to be heading home. We had some lovely conversation and I did a sudoku puzzle to pass the time. All was well, until we reach La Garena stop (the closest one to Alcalá). Some crazy hombre started waving his hands and saying "hallo, hallo, HALLO", and I, thinking I was being sly, replied in Spanish "no entiendo, blah blah". But alas, brilliant plan was foiled when he said "I heard you speaking English". Shucks. Then I ignored him and he hit on Katí for the whole 10 minute ride to Alcalá, begging her to let him call her sometime. We literally jumped off the train and all but ran away, until we recognized some black suited men in front of us as the missionaries, so we awkwardly ran up to them. What a day. 

Mas helado por favor

1.Si, did I really know what all of the places were? No, but I walked by them all.
2. Si, I even fake asked for a picture to be taken to get my last one in.
3. Si mas o menos.
4. My pictures are of:
Our absolutely delicious stop for 1 euro icecream. I must say the addition of a stick of kitkat is a nice touch but a little random.
Adorable old men playing bocce ball in the park. I love the way they dress.
A plaza I thought looked cool.

Going all the way to Spain for a McFlurry? Por supuesto

1. yes, and even on to the temple de Debod (just trying to make it full circle ya know)
2. technically yes
3. i think we did pretty dang good
4.
that building w/ the cool roof on Gran Via

I like me some MJ

How do you say "Spring has sprung" in Spanish? Because it definately has


cool story: nothing super exciting happened, we did see a group of mayores playing bocce ball. I got a toblerone McFlurry, when in Spain right?

The last of them!

1. Yes we did. Hallelujah!
2. Por supuesto
3. Claro
4. This is the prettiest and most fancy Mickey D's I have ever been in in my life. I'm sensing a McDonald's theme in my posts...

Hello awesome church. I'm not quite sure how exactly this place works, because I'm not sure what part is the church, however it is still cool.

Just Adri shaking her thing in the mirrors at the place where we got the most delicious smoothie of my life! Note to self: mango, strawberry and coconut is DIVINE!


So sidenote/funny story: Going home (later at night because of our ticket-buying fiasco, but that's another story) Megan and I encountered this man from South Africa who felt the need to talk to us (darn those English-speaking Africans who we can't play dumb with or ignore!). This man could not take a hint that I DID NOT WANT TO HAVE COFFEE WITH HIM (what part of I can't hang out alone or date people while on my program or I don't drink coffee do you not understand man?). And he also did not understand that in order to talk on the phone you need to have one, which I don't (at least that's what he thinks). So Meg and I high-tailed it out of there and seeing salvation ahead (in missionary form) decided to talk to these elders that we do not know and probably thought we were creepy weird BYU girls. Probably one of the most awkward conversations in Spanish yet. Sorry missionaries-I was not trying to hit on you, merely trying to escape the grasps of the creeper Afican.

The Last Madrid Walk! Que lastima!

1. Yup. All the sights were seen, especially easy as it only covered one street.
2. I forgot to go out of my way to talk to people, but if I remember correctly I did have some brief natural interaction with 2 or 3 native.
3. Yes sir. We did great on this one.

4. Adri, Hayley and I went on this walk together. It was SUCH a glorious day, I couldn't have asked for more. We stopped in at a super cute internet cafe, and were tempted so much by the fruit smoothies that we caved. It was a piece of heaven, and worth every centavo of the 3.95 price tag. We made it to the Plaza de Espana, and I actually wish we could have had more time to explore the surrounding streets. I had a great time and was more than happy to have the excuse to be out and about in the sun.

Plaza de Espana was such a romantic spot, we had to contribute what we could.

Monument to our very own Cervantes

Haha. Super awkward candid shot.

this is HOWIE do it.

Well, it was a beautiful walk down that Grand Way. We saw all the buildings we were supposed to plus hundreds more (1). We had good conversation cruising the Via and even cracked jokes. All in Spanish mind you. I felt that we were butta (3). We stopped at a really cute and tasty cafe that reminded us of the delicous sweets that can be found back home, we ordered from a stranger or in other words the waitress (2) and shared a cold pink drink of heaven(4-1). Adri wore her same shoes (4-2) and we arrived in the Plaza de España which was a dream. There were many photos to be taken in such the romantic setting. But this wasn't all serious, we also managed to capture the most awkward jumping picture ever imaginable(4-3).

Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks

1. Yes!

2. Yup.

3. This one was a wee bit in the grey area, but I would say it was definitely more towards the talking end of the scale. (Does that make it more white, or more black??)

4. Errm, about that... my camera cord seems to have mysteriously disappeared and seeing as I'm leaving for school in 10 minutes, we'll have to leave those to your imagination until I find it. Sorry pals, I know you are all deeply devastated ;)

Story: Afterwards, we went to the Institute Activity for "gofres con chocolate". Let me just say, I have found something new to smother in chocolate. YUM.

2 for the price of 1

1. yes maam
2. si si si
3. yup 3 hours worth. couldnt be more proud
4.

Whats not to love about a street named "A fist in the face"
I love me some Moorish doors

this'd be cool if my camera liked me aka would take nice pics in the dark

and some ivy

cool story: i found the best bakery on Calle Mayor.

1. Si

2. Si, one to buy a pastry (mmm the delicious Spanish version of French toast), one to a homeless lady by a Cathedral, and one to a sales clerk that ripped me off. Seems like a common theme on my walks. We went to this way overpriced market and saw a jam stall. They had taste testers so I went for some wildberry. When its already in my hand the lady is like "Cuesta 50 centimos" En serio? You are going to charge me for half a cracker and some jam? I could buy a loaf of bread for that! Ridiculo.

3. Si, and let me tell you that Rebeccah is a Spanish talking fiend. Turns out when you go with only two people you get a lot more out of it and you practice a lot more Spanish!

4. I loved the houses with the weird windows trying to make it look like there isn't two levels in the house. Very clever. The second picture is me being sad because I really want Mexican food here and that place was all locked up and closed permanently I believe. The third is of the gorgeous balconies you find all over Spain!

i'll mix it up a bit and go with....fünf y sechs.

1. Why yes, we surely did!
2. Yes indeed. I asked the woman at the tapestry museum if we could go inside, and she said "no."
3. mmm...A for effort?
4. I especially enjoyed walk number sechs. It was in a really beautiful part of Madrid that we haven't seen before, and I liked the low-key atmosphere and beautiful colors of the buildings.

 I thought this building was random, funky, and fantastic. 

The adorable little shop selling "dulces de conventos"

I love all the art vendors in Plaza Mayor. Whenever we pass by and glance at their art, they invite us to check it out. This time, Hayley and Megan accepted.

Thinco y Seis

1. Check
2. Check Check Check
3. Mas o menos. We kind of sucked this one up at the end.
4.

I love the all the paintings on the buildings in Madrid, as well as the amazing blue/yellow color combo on this building. Spain you inspire me for my future residence.


Thank you older gentleman for letting me go in front to take a picture. And thank you Senor for informing me that they are government people, and something about Columbia. And thank you idiota for getting your large head in my picture.


The Mickey D's we were supposed to take note of. This is also reminiscent of a certain fantastic night...

2 walks= one good of a time.

1. SI

2.si

3. Si

4. The first picture is a nameless building that had a bunch of cool windows everywhere, so naturally we had to do some serious model pose by it. I love taking mirror pictures, it's just what I do, my signature so to speak. We found this way delicious looking candy shoppe that had these foot long rope candies, along with other tasty looking things inside. It didn't disappoint.

Blur 56

Done and Done.
1. I have seen every destination/sight to be seen on these two walks.
2. I talked to some strangers. I told a man that we were leaving the metro as well so that he would kindly get his paws of my friend Katie. I also got a new bus pass from a mean ole metro worker woman. etc.
3. I will go with a mas o menos on this one. There was definitely a valiant effort given I daresay.

The first walk was a bit of a dud, if I do say so. But the second (6) was in a beautiful neighborhood and I was loving the paintings and color combinations of the buildings. We also so the oldest restaurant... of something. We will just say in the world. Well, the man decided to smoke in the window because smoking is not allowed inside (a real plus for my dining pleasure.) Speaking of old stuff. I sat in a real old barbershop chair, and behind me is a barber in his barber shop barbering a man's beard.

cinco & seis

1. Yes, we did visit all the stops except the ones that we had already visited
2. Yes, i spoke with several natives (mostly at institute but i'm counting it)
3. I spoke in Spanish for the duration of the paseos, expect when it came to directional debates.
4. I loved the 6th walk, it was in a super cute part of town that we had never visited and it made me realize that there is so much more to see and experience in Madrid. And time is dwindling!!

I had a great time going on these walks, while we were in the Plaza Mayor there was some band from Columbia that was really fun to see and hear. There was something different about Madrid this weekend. The streets were crowded with all the people that have come out of their winter hibernation, and I think tourist season has officially opened. It gave me a glimpse of what a true Madrileno summer must be like when the weather is good. I'm beyond excited to enjoy the good weather!

the band from Columbia

a cool mural + Hayley and Megan

the Plaza de Villa

walk 4

1. Si, we visited every spot.
2. Si, we spoke el castellano.
3. Si, we spoke to locals.
4. The funny part was that we had a few run-ins with quite a few amiable asians. One took a picture of me in front of a bank. One chatted with us and showed us around for 20 minutes. Jimmy was his name, and he was a real gentleman. Spoke perfect english and spanish. Needless to say, this was my favorite walk so far.