La vida en Madrid...in summary

Hello lovelies. I have fallen behind on the blogging haven't I? But it is challenging to blog in between all the fun and all the late nights. I must say, I love Madrid and the different layers of the city. From the art, architecture, food, the people, it has been a remarkable experience.

More and more food
Let me just say Spanish food is incredible. Truly amazing. Oh, but my waistline. I joined an awesomely wonderful couple - the amazing Nicolsons - for a late breakfast on Sunday. God help me, but chocolate for breakfast is just plain wrong. Delicious, tempting, but goodness - where do the Spanish put all this food?

Gay Madrid

It being a girls' weekend, of course, a major part of the fun was market research, as we call it - the sometimes earnest, but most times, idle man hunt. Lol. I know I will draw the ire of many, but the market research in Madrid was poor and bore no fruit worth picking. If the guys weren't hobbit sized, they were not that appealling. Until...gay Madrid. So after a day of shopping, we headed to Chueca for cocktails, Chueca being a very modern, chic hub for the local gay community. But while clearly it was the wrong target audience for us girls, the eye candy was considerably better, as was the company. Very amusing, very enlightening, and with the best sangria blancas ever. Great time!

Parque de Retiro
Beautiful. I love green spaces that are also great communal spaces. I love London's parks for example. Retiro Park is stunning. Besides that, if you are looking for free amusement, this is a good place to start. From puppet shows, to musicians, you name it, and it is sure to be there.  Post-shopping lunch break and conversation went down well here.

The Prado
I know. I know. It is surely sacrilege to mention gay cocktail hour with the almighty Prado, but blogging on this touch keyboard is a real pain, not to mention the Blogger app is junk and maddening. I had some "me" time and used it wisely to explore Museo Nacional del Prado. There are just certain things I must doin any city, and museums are always on the list. Prado certainly did not disappoint. Impossible to do it in a day, so I selectively explored the vast halls of the museum, including Goya, of course, Velazquez, Titian and El Bosco (Hieronymous Bosch), and discovering new artists I, carefree art lover, did not know of before. It was a great outing, one I truly enjoyed. What was also amusing is this chick and her daughter who were visiting from Atlanta,  who came over to say hello, simply because she has made it her mission to say hello to the handful of brown people she ever sees.

So what next? After what seems like tonnes of tapas, great girlfriend time, lots of halting, non-existent Spanish, I turn to pasta, pizza, Michelangelo, ruins, penpal adventures, the Pope. Ciao Roma!

Next - Sights, sounds and smells of Rome

Churros and rich milk chocolate - breakfast of sinners

Beautiful lake in Parque de Retiro

The fantastic Prado museum

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Another one, please - Foodie adventures from Madrid

Madrid is super hot which for a Caribbean girl like myself is saying quite a lot. We did quite a bit of walking through this beautiful city yesterday, going the Royal Palace and surrounding areas. Just beautiful. I will share some of the photos of the sights later.

But yesterday was all about the food. Tapas. Oh, the tapas. I am actually rushing out to meet up with some of my friend's friends but will share some of the delicious highlights from yesterday. While I cannot remember all the names, they were all very delicious. The first is really some Iberian ham on toasted bread. The second was a bit of a venison dish, which was very well seasoned and went nicely with some bread.

The third photo below is of migas which is a mixture of bread fried with onions and herbs. The final photo is of a serving of morcillas on toasted bread. I had actually enquired about this earlier in the day while in one of the city markets and decided it sounded like something I would not eat. It is made using pig's blood and is pretty much black pudding, similar to what we have in Trinidad, but much tastier. We had two servings of this cause it was so good. And of course,  many many drinks. Loving it all, my friends. Loving it all.


Next - La Vida en Madrid - in summary

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Who needs gym when you can go on vacation!

Sweet Lord!  So I am sitting in my seat on Iberia Airways, heading to Madrid,  Spain and what a morning it has been already. With a 9.00am take off, I unwillingly got off the bed at 4.45 since of course, I take ages to get ready and my bags were also in a bit of a helter skelter. Now it was my misson to pack one medium sized bag for this 10 day excursion and lemme tell you, it was a challenge. In the end I did manage it but squashed as much as physically possible in this poor pink contraption.  Being stylish is a bit of a headache when travelling.  

Then try travelling in London peak time - morning rush hour. With a heavy suitcase and cute purse. With changing temps as you move from ground level where it is chilly - jacket needed; to tube level where it is warm - lose jacket; to ground level on tube - scramble to get jacket back on. Then factor in the long walk between trains and no escalator but awesome flights of stairs where you lug the pink burden up what seems like 1000 steps, with the jacket now off, dragging on the floor, and rush hour London hamsters not giving a rat's ass that your bag is heavy and you are doing the best you can. Hell no. They bump into you, and scowl at you and your now evil bag. Who needs a gym membership at this point? I worked my arms, glutes, my core in one walk through Green Park Station with my adventure bag. Last night's rose' is now in a puddle of sweat near a staircase. Lol.

Of course, you then get on the train and there are no seats so you stand while balancing the adventure bag and yourself as the train turns and lurches. What fun! Of course at 6-something in the morning, some guy gets on in what looks like his pyjamas sith a jacket thrown over it, smelling like dried sweat, testing your already strained tolerance as you concentrate on not falling and now also on not passing out from the stink. There is also the smack smacking of soon to be separated lovers kissing for 5 stops - yes, I counted. All good fun, right?

But I got to the airport, got a full body massage from airport security and I mean FULL! From ears to boobs to ass to little toes. Do they hide weapons between toes now or is it just me? Massage over, I grab a coffee, scamper to my gate, get on my plane and "eagerly" await repeating this nightmare at a tube station I do not know in Madrid.

Next - Another one, please - Foodie Adventures from Madrid

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