|
|
|
 |
Madrid - Wednesday, May 24, 2006: Arrived at Madrid
at 12:30 p.m. today. Despite the initial morning rush to catch the early
flight from Vienna at 6:55 a.m., the commute was okay and I was excited
to be in Madrid. When I arrived at the Madrid airport, I realized I had
one problem - I speak ZERO Spanish! There are so many ´rrrhhh´
tongue-rolling sound in the pronunciations and when I tried to say it,
my friend said I sounded like I have speech impediment! So much for my
Spanish... although I did figure-out pretty quick that 'Salida' means
exit... he,he. (very important when one is going in and out of Metro
stations!) Since I had a couple of hours to kill before meeting Mar at 9:30 p.m., I decided to venture-out on my own and found the gorgeous Royal Palace, "Palacio Real De Madrid", within a beautiful court-yard. Nearby is the Tetro Real built by Queen Isabel II and remodeled and inaugurated in 1997 as the opera house. Linked to the Plaze de Oriente is the Plaza de la Encarnacion, where the 17th century Monasterio de la Encarnacion is found. This old convent houses an admirable collection of relics and museum with interesting works of the 16th, 17th, and 18th century. Sadly, the tour at 4:30 p.m. was only in Spanish, so I had to pass... Further down the Calle de la Encarnacion to the right of the church, I found the Palacio del Senado (Senate Palace), built at the end of the 16th century for a community of Augustinian friars and recently remodeled. It is now the seat of the Spanish Senate with colorful flags flying high. There were police officers on guard outside the Senate Palace and I was told that it was closed to the public due to private functions being held. I ventured out a little more and found the beautiful Jardines de Sabatini - a beautifully landscaped garden, which loops back to the Royal Palace. I took a self-guided tour within the Royal Palace and took lots of pictures within the palace. After the tour, I tried to buy a Paella from a local Spanish shop, who gave me a strange look when I gestured with international sign-language that I would like to take it "to-go". Later on, I found out why - apparently, it wasn't a 'normal' thing to order paella to go, and so, instead of getting my food in a box, with plastic spoon, I ended up 20 minutes later on a courtyard bench, with a full plate of paella still steaming from the pan that it was cooked in, and no cutlery to eat with! I survived the day and met-up with Mar at 9:30 pm in front of the Opera metro station. We were hysterical to see each other! We haven't seen each other for 1 year, since we both graduated from HPU in May 2005. All was well, and I was glad to finally see my dear friend again. Madrid - Thursday, May 25, 2006: I woke-up at 11:30 a.m. today, and Mar has already long gone to work. She left me a sweet message on a post-it note that said, "Good morning, gorgeous! To get to Museo del Prado this morning, take the metro to Atocha. Give me a call before you leave! xoxo, Mar." After some light breakfast at Mar's home, I finally dragged my lazy ass out the house at 1:30 p.m., and headed out to see some fine art museums. I had wanted to visit all three of the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza today, but realized quickly that it was too ambitious, and that I would have to choose one. I decided on the Museo del Prado. Located in an 18th century building designed by Juan de Villanueva, the Prado is considered one of the most important art galleries in the world. It houses masterpieces by Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Zurbaran, Ribera, Titian, Raphael, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Rubens, Bosch, Van der Weyden, Poussin, Lorrain, Watteau, Rembrandt, Durer and Mengs, among others. As you could probably tell, I spent an entirely blissful afternoon in the Prado, loss and inspired among the priceless paintings and sculptures! As a big fan of fine art nudes, one of my favorite paintings was "the naked Maja" by Goya. Goya also painted a "clothed Maja" later on, but it just wasn't as good as the nude Maja. I met-up again with Mar after she got off work at 6:30 p.m. and she took me on an intensive zip-tour of the grand metropolis of Madrid. "I hope you like walking," she said, "well, at least we'll burn off some calories." She added with a wink. And walk we did. I saw the famous Cibeles monument with fountain, we visited the high-end commercial street known as Gran Via, and saw remaining of old buildings from the Baroque and neoclassical structures of the 17th and 18th centuries at the Plaza Mayor (Main Square). Later on, following our chocolate cravings, Mar took me to a little cafe where we had churro dipped in yummy, thick chocolate sauce! Yum-yum! We end our evening at a bar, with a band playing life music, and Mar promised to take me dancing tomorrow night. She also said that I couldn't sleep in till noon tomorrow (like I did today!) as her friend, Jose, is going to be showing me around, and we will be meeting each other at 11 a.m. I nodded happily and couldn't wait to see more of Madrid tomorrow. Madrid - Friday, May 26, 2006: I woke-up at 9:00 a.m. this morning, and got ready to leave the house by 10:00 a.m. Mar has left me her cell phone so that Jose could call me if we couldn't find each other. Around 10:00 a.m., I got a call from Jose that he was going to be a little late due to traffic jam, and I said, don't worry about it - I was only too grateful that he is willing to show me around. Jose was Mar's friend, who was also a MSIS student at HPU, and we even worked at the same university together for 2 years, but strangely enough, my path and Jose's never crossed in the past. Today will be the first time I'm meeting him. As I was leaving her house, I thought to myself, "Gee, this is like a blind date! I have no idea how he looks like. I hope we will find each other! Should I be wearing something more Hawaiian, maybe like a lei or something???" The meeting place that was agreed upon by Mar and Jose was the Hontanares cafe, just around the corner from the Avda. de America station. I arrived at 11:00 a.m. and kept checking-out every guy who might fit the description of Jose - Mar has said that he is tall, fit, and has short, dark hair (which, incidentally, also happen to be every other Spanish guy!). Around 11:40 a.m., a smart, good-looking Spanish guy in white shirt walked over and said, "Hi, are you Hannee?" Apparently, it wasn't too hard for him to spot me. I had forgotten that I was in Spain, where I definitely looked like a foreigner, and not in Hawaii, where my Oriental look would've blend right in. We took the metro to the Santiago Bernabeu station, where we visited the Real Madrid Stadium. "I'm a soccer player," Jose said, "so this place is like church to me." I could totally understand why. The stadium was majestic and I wish I could watch the Real Madrid team play. There weren't any games playing that weekend, so we just went to the gift shop, where I bought some t-shirts and jersey from my favorite soccer team. I remember a poster of goalie, Iker Cassilas, catching an impossible ball in the last FIFA World Cup 2002 in Korea/Japan, that my sister and I used to hang in our bedroom and drooled over! hah! We saw many posters and memorabilia of other top players, such as Raul, Zidane, Ronaldo, and David Beckham. I was like a kid in a candy store - poor Jose had to wait while I sift through shirts after shirts after shirts... looking for the right ones! After we left the stadium, we headed back to the downtown center. I had to use the bathroom really badly and so, Jose and I sneaked into a public library. We had to go through security check, and then, we were told that actually, the library is open for members only. "In that case, can we use the restroom, please?" Jose asked. They said we could, but the signs for the 'Female' and 'Male' restrooms were in Spanish, and I didn't know which ones to go into. Jose laughed and tried to play a prank on me. I vowed if we ever go to China together and he needs to use the restroom there, it will be pay-back time! Mar and I met-up for a delicious lunch at a place in Anton Martin called "La champañeria Gala", which is lovely and you can eat very economic and amazing paellas... which is a must in Spain. The dish has fast become my favorite dish in Spain! I really like the tortilla with potatoes, too. Jose said he could make really good tortillas. A guy who can cook? Hmmm, now that is a big plus! After the paella, Mar and myself vowed we've just gained 2kg each, and that we should not be eating anything but salad for dinner. We got home, and was really excited about going out that night. I didn't have anything to wear, so Mar let me borrow a nice blouse and skirt of hers. She looked really hot in a sexy bare-back halter top and black pants. We were ready to put Madrid on fire!!! We ended-up in a really nice dance club called 'El Sol' (the sun?) where a live band was playing. The dance floor was jammed packed with party-goers and I have to say, night-life in Madrid is certainly a lot of fun! Since my flight out of Madrid will be at 6:05 a.m. on Sat. morning, we decided to party Friday night away, and just catch the flight from there. After the band stopped playing, Mar told me that it was "socializing time" now. The music became really mellow afterwards, and people started to check each other out and talking/socializing. Jose arrived with his friend around 1:30 a.m. and we were really happy to see them! We talked and hang around till around 3:00 a.m. and left the club for Mar's house. Time flew so fast when one is having so much fun. Before we knew it, it was time to go. My shuttle to the airport was waiting downstairs Mar's apartment at 4:30 a.m. and I nearly missed it. As I hugged my friends goodbye and got into the shuttle, I kept looking back and thinking: "I think I've just left my heart in Madrid."
© 2006 Han Nee Chong
|
