Out and about in Madrid
Yesterday Antonio and I explored Madrid a bit. First he showed me his hometown, Pozuelo, a suburb of Madrid where Nuria also happens to live (small world, no?)...It's so cute, reminds me a lot of Bethesda in that it has italian restaurants on every corner and a Ben & Jerry's...it happened to be a gorgeous day weather wise, so I could see the snow-capped mountains from the top of Pozuelo...beauutiful.
Picturesque Pozuelo
Ok, so this is a newly built cathedral in Pozuelo that, in Antonio's eyes, is hideous and way too big (it's true, we could see it from Palacio Real). You can never win with a snobby architect...
Next we went into Palacio Real. It's horribly tacky - soooo overly ornate. The walls are covered with carpet of random designs, and then the floor carpets are something other design and the colors don't match at all. And then to top it off, there is gold carving everywhere and obscenely large chandeliers. The palace is also still in use, so half the time it is a museum and an active venue the other. So the parts we could walk on were covered by a frayed brown carpet and then parts of the royal carpet were rolled up. Some of the rooms were interesting though - for example, an entire room made of porcelain!
Outside the Palace. Apparently the prince got married in the Palace, and there was a massive thunderstorm. So, instead of braving a few hundred meters to the cathedral across the plaza, he had to be taken by car. Gotta love spoiled rich people..
The Porcelain Room
That night we went to a sidraria, a place that serves cider. Apparently if it is natural cider, it isn't carbonated, so you have to carbonate it yourself. There are pumps in the walls of the bar...or, you can do it sheerly using gravity. What's great is that you have to drink the cider immediately or else you'll lose the carbonation. You can only imagine what problems that could cause...
mad cider-making skills
Next we hit up a cheap concert at Sala Sol, a pretty happening place for local college students. My friend Evan from IES has a friend who was in the opening band. They were pretty much jazz and funk, only instrumental, but really well put together. The feature band was this amazing rock/flamenco band. They also did a lot of popular covers, so the whole venue was singing along a lot of the time. Man, I missed live music. Everyone was so full of energy and so into it...makes me miss being in a band too!
me and Evan
The opening band
I need to have more days like this...I'm beginning to feel I won't have enough time here :(
Oh yes, and I'm also considering taking a weekend trip to Budapest. Hooray for the travel bug.
Picturesque Pozuelo
Ok, so this is a newly built cathedral in Pozuelo that, in Antonio's eyes, is hideous and way too big (it's true, we could see it from Palacio Real). You can never win with a snobby architect...Next we went into Palacio Real. It's horribly tacky - soooo overly ornate. The walls are covered with carpet of random designs, and then the floor carpets are something other design and the colors don't match at all. And then to top it off, there is gold carving everywhere and obscenely large chandeliers. The palace is also still in use, so half the time it is a museum and an active venue the other. So the parts we could walk on were covered by a frayed brown carpet and then parts of the royal carpet were rolled up. Some of the rooms were interesting though - for example, an entire room made of porcelain!
Outside the Palace. Apparently the prince got married in the Palace, and there was a massive thunderstorm. So, instead of braving a few hundred meters to the cathedral across the plaza, he had to be taken by car. Gotta love spoiled rich people..
The Porcelain RoomThat night we went to a sidraria, a place that serves cider. Apparently if it is natural cider, it isn't carbonated, so you have to carbonate it yourself. There are pumps in the walls of the bar...or, you can do it sheerly using gravity. What's great is that you have to drink the cider immediately or else you'll lose the carbonation. You can only imagine what problems that could cause...
mad cider-making skillsNext we hit up a cheap concert at Sala Sol, a pretty happening place for local college students. My friend Evan from IES has a friend who was in the opening band. They were pretty much jazz and funk, only instrumental, but really well put together. The feature band was this amazing rock/flamenco band. They also did a lot of popular covers, so the whole venue was singing along a lot of the time. Man, I missed live music. Everyone was so full of energy and so into it...makes me miss being in a band too!
me and Evan
The opening bandI need to have more days like this...I'm beginning to feel I won't have enough time here :(
Oh yes, and I'm also considering taking a weekend trip to Budapest. Hooray for the travel bug.
posted by J at 1:31 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry, Jess, that looks nothing like Bethesda..(but way to go Ben & Jerry's!!)
Pozuelo! Haha. People make fun of it for being full of "pijos" (preppy snobby people and their offspring), which is half-true. In the "old" part (what they call "Pozuelo pueblo") you actually have average people (as in, real Pozuelo natives and not Madrilenos who settled in the 90s looking for a quiet suburban existence) as well as many Latino and Morroccan immigrants. That "cathedral" is just a pompously built oversized church - do not ever walk by it on a Sunday morning, or you'll find yourself amidst "pijos" dressing and behaving at their most "pijo"! (ps. I still can't believe Antonio is from Pozuelo, small world indeed - my street is just off a roundabout a bit further down from the "catedral". And yes, my family, we are part of that suburbanite sector - except we're not "pijos", heheh.)
Post a Comment
<< Home