9-19-10 Felicia

Things are good. We're well-rested for the first time since arriving here, we're in a country that speaks our language (enjoy it while it lasts) and we are sitting on a real couch in a quiet room with wireless internet. It's awesome. We're in Ireland at this hostel on Temple Bar, a neat, old downtown section of the city near the river.

We had some issues yesterday with leaving one of our suitcases in Madrid. Hopefully, my friend in Spain will be able to help us out. It's a long story. Short version: they only rent luggage lockers at the airport for 2 weeks, not 3 weeks, which is what we need. We left our luggage there in hopes that my friend in Spain can come down to Madrid and re-check in our bags into the lockers within 2 weeks' time. Otherwise, our luggage will go to luggage heaven. So awful! We couldn't take our bags with us because we had already stated we'd be flying with one bag, and with all the flights we're taking, the fees that we'd get charged for adding another bag last minute would probably equal the cost to just buy replacement stuff.

It was really stressful trying to persuade the keepers of the lockers to let us have the lockers for three weeks. In Spanish. Their boss should give them each a raise for sticking to company policy in the face of naked human anguish and bribery.

Anyway, that was our excitement yesterday. I like to think we handled it well. Sara said, however, that she would have cried if she thought it would help. We amazingly enough did NOT miss our flight due to all the drama, and made it to Dublin and our hostel without any trouble. As we walked off the plane in Dublin and the fresh clean air hit our faces, I got a traveler's rush and thought, You know, it's all worth it. What a good story it will make. :)

Last night they had live performances in the streets by some fairly talented musicians. There was a guy from Tokyo who played electric guitar and he rocked, seriously. I went back and stood by him for a while like a groupie, enjoying his music. He was having a blast, and I think he winked at me a couple times. I didn't really know how to be a groupie. I felt awkward and left, wishing I could have found a place nearby that was out of sight where I could have sat and listened to him.

We ate in a family-style pub and had cider and soup and bread pudding and custard and a pot of tea and bread and butter. It was great, just what we needed after a long day's travel. We slept in a room with three dudes from somewhere in eastern Europe who all slept in their tighty-whities. In the morning, our room
smelled like cigarettes, feet and damp luggage. Just some of the many joys of hostel living. I'm not sure if they're staying another night with us or not. For the record, and for the benefit of all parents reading this, they were polite and considerate and didn't even turn on the overhead light when they came in late so they wouldn't wake us up. Now, that was chivalry, wasn't it? I hope Stacey won't be shocked. Tonight is her first night in a hostel.

TomatoBasil soup

Stacey arrives this morning and we're going to try to keep her awake by taking her all over Dublin. Today, I hope to go to a vespers at one of the churches here and hear a real live boys' choir. Also, I need food! The daily search for sustenance begins.

9-19-10 Sara

Oh my word where do I even begin? Saturday morning dawned bright and clear in Madrid despite the fact that we had gotten maybe two hours of sleep from a combination of the loud partying going on outside and jetlag. Quick side note on jetlag, this time it has been particularly awful. It's like a zombie zone of no sleep and no energy. I'm exhausted so I crash about midnight and then can't fall asleep because my body thinks it's midafternoon. So I toss and turn until around 6am local time and then fall into light slumber until noon when the day is half over and I stumble about the city attempting to understand a language I don't speak and navigate in a place I do not know. This day we had to be up by about 8:45 to check out so the grand total of sleep was about 2.75 hrs. The airline we are flying allows one checked bag weighing 15 Kilos (33 lbs) and one carry-on weighing 10 kilos (22 lbs). Have you ever tried to pack three weeks worth of stuff into one bag for temperatures varying from almost winter/rainy season in Ireland to beach weather in Greece? It's not easy. After madly packing, weighing, and ever more madly repacking, we stored our bags in the hostel and went out to wander the city.

We ended up in Plaza Mayor which we're pretty sure is famous for something but not quite sure what. It's in the old part of the city with cobblestone streets and old architecture. It's a beautiful enclosed square with shops and apartments above it. A big statue of Philippe III on a horse is in the middle of the square. Walking in the cities here is kinda like navigating through a combination of Mexico and LA. You have to be really brave to cross the street and also very fast or you'll be a bumper sticker! The streets don't run parallel either; they sort of branch off in every direction so it is very easy to get lost but with a map and a few stops for directions we didn't get too lost.

Plaza Mayor

Felicia being attacked  by scary Gremlins

The original plan of action was to store our bags in a locker at the airport while we traverse Europe for three weeks. Upon arrival at the consigna (storage place) we found that they don't store for more than two weeks with no exceptions (they were very firm about the no exceptions part.) After Felicia's negotiating and renegotiating with them to no avail, we sat down on our luggage in the middle of the consigna and started contemplating options. There weren't many. I was kinda hoping that if we sat there long enough they would feel sorry and help us out. I even considered crying (which, after multiple days of travel and only 3 hours of sleep wouldn't have been that hard). We considered bribery as well but since they were security persons as well we reconsidered that option as I'd rather end up on the plane than in a Spanish jail cell. Time was rapidly passing and we had a plane to catch so we decided to say our prayers and leave our stuff there in hopes that Felicia's friend could come re-check it in for the remainder of the three weeks. (We still haven't heard back from her though=(. If worse comes to worse we loose the clothes and have to shop for news ones. There worse things than having to shop for new clothes!

After waiting in the check-in line for a long time and holding our breath while they weighed our bags (mine was 1 kilo over which they're supposed to charge for but they were in such a hurry they skipped it.. yay!) we ran through security and to our gate where they measured the carryons to make sure they adhered to airline restrictions. This airline is incredibly strict! They did not, however, weigh the carry-ons because it they had they would've found that my carry-on weighed more than my checked bag did. The amount of electronics I was carrying (because they put me over my baggage weight limit) could have powered air force one. I was incredibly happy to put the bag underneath the seat in front of me on the plane and just sit. I'm surprise no-one asked about the giant red mark I had on my neck from the strap (or the potential carotid artery damage I will have from the prolonged compression!) Irregardless of the many complications and the hour wait on the tarmac, we safely made it to Ireland where we promptly got really lost, got rescued by a really nice taxi driver, and were delivered safely to our hostel and I finally, finally, got some sleep despite the loud live band and the off tune baritone horn playing in the alley just below the window. Next adventure, look for a wee Irish leprechaun!

09-17-10 Felicia

Friday, September 17, 2010

Madrid

5:00am

From my room at the hostel while my roommates are asleep

It thunderstormed last night as we were drifting off to sleep. I thought immediately of bombs going off during the Spanish Civil War, and wondered if that's what it had sounded like. Every time a flash of lighting would come, the people out in the streets would yell or cheer, and then the boom of thunder would seem to rattle the walls. I felt Sara turn over in her bunk above me, shaking the whole bed. I wondered if there was an earthquake. Really, I woke up rather apocalyptic. But I heard the comforting sound of rain falling on pavement and cars splashing as they drove by, a sound I hadn't heard for months. So I fell back to sleep.

I woke up three hours later. Unfortunately, I have pretty impressive jet lag, and can't really sleep any longer until I've written something. I'm too excited. Then maybe I'll be able to sleep a little more. My head will be empty.

We arrived by taxi at our hostel, which is right in the middle of a pretty, old part of the Centro. Our driver  hauled our bags out of the trunk and waited as we fumbled in our purses for our money. We were in the middle of the evening rush, and a steady stream of people flooded around us, paying us no attention. I asked the driver where our hostel was, and he pointed up the narrow street about 50 yards. He then went back to the driver's seat as a woman hailed him loudly from the other side of the car. So, we were dumped down in the middle of Madrid with two huge suitcases apiece, forming an island in the middle of a swift moving river. We might have lingered there a moment longer if I hadn't been nudged from behind by the bumper of a car easing past us. Somehow, we wrangled our suitcases into the hostel and up the stairs to our room at the end of a dark hall.

Odd, but I don't feel threatened or worried about Spain now that it is a reality in front of me. Even when we were standing like deer in the headlights in the middle of town with our mountains of luggage, I felt more at ease on that foreign cobbled road than I feel when I head down to Stater Brothers and pull out a shopping cart. No one was watching us. At home, anywhere I go, I look up and someone is staring at me from across a parking lot or down the street or at the mall. I am always on my guard in So Cal. So, it was a wonderful feeling to not be anyone's object of interest. Amazingly enough, people could care less about us. They must be very used to tourists. Also, it seems like the culture here is more polite than back in California.
Our room looks out over a narrow cobbled street, and we have a small balcony on our second-story window that we can walk out on and look down at the people passing. Life appears to happen in the streets
here. It was 10:00pm and the streets looked like noon. No cars were allowed on the road under our window, it was only foot traffic. We could look across the street about 50 feet into the windows and
balconies of the 4-story houses. One of those buildings has a garden on the top. I didn't notice it until this morning, when I peeked out our window to try to figure out what time it was.

There is so much detail here, everywhere I look I am overwhelmed by everything. It is all new and overstimulating and loud. There are old streetlights lining the roads and plazas and squares every few blocks
here. People come out of Tabernas and clubs and restaurants and invite you in. If you refuse, they respond with a wink or a nod. I like that. I don't feel harassed.

We wound our way through these streets with a little map and found La Tosta, a small restaurant/bar. We squeezed ourselves in front of the bar and ordered, with a lot of help from the bartender. He was very
patient with us and our newness. He gave us a meal for two for 13 Euro. We ate eggs and mushrooms on a thick piece of white toast, picking out the shrimp and ham (I tried a shrimp . . . still think they taste like giant bugs). That was a tosta. We were so tired and dazzled by the beauty and lights and sound I think we were pretty dazed-looking as we ate. We pinched ourselves and tried to realize that we are really here. I don't think it will sink in for a few days.

It is heaven to feel the Spanish words in my mouth. It's like a sleeping part of my brain has woken up again. I've been doing most of the talking so far, and I'm amazed at how natural it still feels to walk up to someone and start a conversation in Spanish. I've had pretty good success with getting people to understand me, although I do use some words and phrases they don't say here. One man laughed at me and then apologized for his rudeness when I said “ahorita” for “now.” He said, “Mexico, right?” “It's a Hondurasism, I think,” I said. He said, “They say it in Mexico, too.” He looked at me again, evidently trying to trace my Honduran ancestry. I let him try.

We took some pictures of the night on our way back to our hostel. I remember a giant, purple-lit, white gleaming old hotel, and a dark night garden behind wrought-iron fencing. Everything had a surreal quality to it, as it will have when you're jet-lagged and in a new place for the first time. I can honestly say nothing prepared me for the reality of Madrid on my first night. I am somewhat enamored. It is 5:45 and people are still just coming home from the bars. Amazing. It's an entirely different place.

09-17-10 Sara

Madrid. What can I say except it's amazing! After an incredibly long but not too awful plane ride from LA to Zurich, Switzerland, a 1.5 hr layover, and an arduous flight to Madrid we arrived jetlagged and travel weary. The Madrid airport was a little confusing but we followed the crowd and somehow missed customs. I am really unsure of how we did it but everyone else on our flight did as well. We didn't have anything to declare so I guess it's alright. We'll be in and out of Spain several times in this journey so we'll get the stamp eventually. After collecting our luggage and catching a taxi we arrived in scenic downtown Madrid. Let me describe: cobblestone streets, romantic lighting, people walking up and down the completely safe streets despite the late hour, small shops with friendly people manning them, it is, indeed, amazing! The hostel we're staying in is eclectically painted with very bright colors of lime green, deep purple, vibrant red, sunshine yellow, neon blue, and Nemo orange. It's fun although I'm pretty sure we're the oldest people here as everyone else seems to be currently enrolled in one college or another. But the fact that they ask us where we go to school makes me feel better as we appear youthful apparently=)

Last night as we went to find something to eat after settling in to our room and it was incredible the amount of people out on the streets and eating in cafes. Dinner here starts about 1030p so we were barely fashionable late. The town plaza is full of people of all ages, from teenagers to grandparents, out living life, eating dinner at open tables, listening to live music, and just enjoying themselves in general. There is definitely a much slower pace of life here. The language is not quite as much of a barrier since Felicia speaks Spanish but still last night for dinner we ended up with Tostas (any number of food items put on toast). It was good but we ordered, sat down, and re-looked at the menu and realized we'd ordered a scrambled egg tosta with mushrooms, ham, and shrimp. Oops. Being as everything is in Euros we couldn't waste anything so we picked out the superfluous parts and ate the rest. Shrimp is a little squishy! Branching out.. trying something new. We then discovered that it's a little hard to sleep here as downtown is filled with party-ers and is quite noisy. Even though we didn't crash until about midnight here (which is 3p at home) the noise continued till about 6am. Lets just say I'm thankful for earplugs!

Today we went to the Museo del Prado, a very large and architecturally beautiful museum. The contents, however, were much more dark. Spanish art is rift with war, killing, and awful paintings to go along with it. We did see a few Rubens and a Velasquez (the one of the little princess with her parents reflected in the mirror in the background and the author who painted himself in off to the side.) That was a little on the lighter side but I guess you paint what you know and Spain has a very war-filled history that is reflected in its art. But yikes!

We haven't done anything truly exciting yet as we're a little jet-lagged. We spent the afternoon in a park absorbing the culture of the people that walked by and taking pics (which I'll post later when I figure out how.) My brain is a little overwhelmed trying to absorb and learn Espanol. It's a pretty serious crash course! But the people are friendly and appreciate when we use their language. We wandered into a bakery this afternoon and met two ladies who explained the differences in Spanish coffee, the language differences between Madrid and Barcelona, and a few verb conjugations. Random I know but for the low price of E1,75 we got four baguette rolls and a vocabulary/punctuation lesson. Tomorrow morning bring on the Spanish coffee... I'll keep you posted=)