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.

..And we became instant friends

1. Pues si

2. We have people's emails even

3. Venga si

4. Here we have Meredit and her asian friend that thought she must have looked like someone famous, because he asked to take a picture of her. I loved the banco Banesto, reminded me of good old Gringotts. Obligatory pic with the art that was pretty sweet.

This was probably the most fun I've had on a walk thus far. I saved the best pic for last, here we have our new friend(email and all) jimmy. He came up to us as we were looking for one of the banks, and gentlemen that he is asked us if we were lost. He then proceeded to basically tell us his life story and took us around the neighborhood. He introduced us to his Egyptian friend that owns a souvenir shop (and let's just say I can get you a great deal on a Matador outfit). We have new friends all over the financial district. Don't be surprised if either Riley, Meredit, or I start ditching on excursions to hang out with our new posse.

Why, you don´t eat?!

Yes, we did the walk without a map, too thank you very much!

Yes, we spoke to quite a few strangers, but some of them were speaking to us in English, but we tried to just Speak Spanish.

Yes, other than when strangers would talk to us in English.

So, I´m not really sure if this is going to work with the whole picture thing, BUT...

The first one i of Nikki and Meredith walking with our friend Jimmy who is an old Philippino man who showed us around a little bit.

El segundo es de mi novio y yo. This was the Russian guy who is about 8 ft tall and tried to hand Jimmy a flyer for comida, but Jimmy said no, so mi novio said, in a Russian accent of course: Why, you don´t eat?!

The third shows my new fear for basically any and all animals, but especially dogs and cats. I saw this cool tree and thought, wow i should go sit in it and take a picture, then this dog decided to come out of no where and try to kill me.

The funny story from our walk would have to be when we met Jimmy. He came up to us because he thought we looked lost and then showed us around for about 30 minutes. We learned that his wife is in the military, he speaks about 7 languages, and he´s a boy scout!

Financial District, Shminancial Shmistrict

1. Por supuesto.
2. Indeed. I bought postcards and the man tried to speak to me in English but when I replied in Spanish he said "mejor" and commenced in speaking Spanish. Gracias hombre.
3. We try so dern hard. Pero es dificil decir palabras como "fuzzy" en español.
4.

I love the architecture and detailing on the buildings here. It seemed like every building was HUGE and had such incredible detailing, and I loved all the different styles and elements.

How on earth would you describe this dog...en español?

5. I have a story. It may be funny now, but at the time I did not thing it was very comical... There is a beautiful gated plaza near our house with gardens and fountain in the middle. As I was sitting there sketching, a creeper came and sat on me. Well, close enough that he practically was. He asked me all these questions, and then asked if I would meet him back there in a couple of hours to have "cafe y zumo" with him. He was very persistent, and after running out of excuses I finally just pretended like I didn't understand what he was saying. Then he proceeded to steal my sketchbook and pencil, draw a circle and some lines, return the book, and set his hand on my thigh. I was highly uncomfortable by this point, and I abruptly stood up to leave. He did not seem to get the discomfort vibe, and gave me dos besitos and left. I hid behind a bush and called Katie to come walk home with me. El fin.

Había cuatro personas, come el numero del paseo

1. Los destinos: absolutamente!

2. Los desconocidos: sí, es la verdad :)

3. El Español: más o menos; nos daría "10" por esfuerzo (creo que esta frase ha estado perdido en la traducción... discúlpame)

4. Las fotos mejores:

Group: Well that's weird, it doesn't look at all convex to me.

*moment later* "Oh, maybe they meant the curved

building across the street... " ^_^

Ministry of Education. It's pretty darn cool 'cuz

1) Ministry of ANYTHING makes me think of Harry Potter,

and 2) Because if I had a door like this on my office, I would think better too.

Nos gusta helado... muchísimo!

Interesting story, sheesh, many come to mind, but I still think my favorite moment was when--after several minutes of staring at the BBVA building trying to figure out how anyone could even possibly think "convex" when they saw it--we realized that the real building was across the street. It was a really big, really curved building. Go figure. :P

Heeeey

1. Oh did we ever.(that was a yes)
2. Man in souvenir shop-check, guards at the army place-check. (that was a yes)
3. I left being quite proud of our Spanish-speaking effort. (that would be a yes)
4.



3. big roll of some red tubing or something. I like to call it art
2. guy on a razor
1. elephants: there were elephants on a building-so cool

Funny Story:
Nothing happened that made me, or anyone else keel over laughing, but one time, Katie and I crossed the street, leaving Megan and Haley on the other side. We were taunting them, it lead to very embarrassing pictures being posted on the internet. I learned my lesson

El estacion del tren tiene mi amor

1. Si
2. Yes and if you are looking for proof look below.
3. I wouldn't have it any other way.
4.

Hello street of awesomness. This calle had some of my favorite buildings in Madrid and was so awesome to just cruise up and down the streets.

These men were kind enough to tell us what was up with the building they were guarding and about one of their Texan friends (yeah we totally know her because we're from the US too!). After before I'm pretty sure I heard me some kissing noises (Proof that we hot...or they just love the American girls).

Rebecca and I risked our lives crossing the street very late and left Meg and Haley in the dust. Then we celebrated our victory by dancing for them across the busy intersection.

Funny story of this walk: Well it's not exactly that funny, but rather intensely passionate. Man with the beautiful eyes me and Meg met on our way in to the train station. "Will you attend an economics lecture in Spanish and vote for this one man?" he whispered delicately into my ear. "Will you be there to enchant me with those deep blues?" I affectionately replied. "Para ti, claro." he muttered, his voice dripping with something that can only be described as overwhelming joy. You are all invited to our wedding, aka: celebration of love.

Maybe eating out in Madrid just sucks

1. Yes we did
2. Sure did, my personal favorite was trying to be nice and donate to help the deaf and the girl stealing five dollars for me. New rule of life, get your change BEFORE you give them the bill. I also went back to La Finca de Susana with Adri for supper and talked to our waiter there. The food was good but the portions were a little small, and they didn't have the ten dollar deal that the walk boasts about. The place was packed and had a huge line up before it even opened so it's pretty popular. However, I've decided if you want to be full AND have a cheap meal in Spain your options are shwarmas and McDs (as much as I hate to admit it).
3. Yup
4. You have heard of the legendary dancing that occurred on this trip and now you can witness it yourself, starring Megan and Hayley!

Adri looking oh so chic in our favorite tree.

Really cool visiting artist that has decaying sculptures all around Madrid.

Summertime...and the livin is easy

1. We reached all the points of interest, although most of them weren't extremely captivating. "the building across the street used to be a bank..."
2. I had a harder time finding people to speak to on this paseo than on the others. But I did manage to talk to 4 strangers, if you count the creepy boy on the train.
3. We did speak in Spanish for the duration of the trip, expect when it was absolutely necessary for directional purposes.
4. I had a great time on this Walk. My favorite happenings consisted of dancing swankily on the street to the smooth, jazz tunes of Porgy & Bess' "Summertime" (and then singing the fragmented Spanish translation the rest of the day). As well as seeing the really cool collection of sculpture all along different parts of the walk. Another memorable happening is when Angela lost 5$ to the UNICEF girls. we had a little too much fun with this tree...

cutest old man in the world who was rollerblading and covered with every protective pad imaginable. props old boy. props.

I mostly just love this picture because of Hayley's face. It is an accurate depiction of how we felt when we looked in at the Haagen Daaz store.