Madrid Part 1: Jordan

We got off of the train in Madrid and were greatful to finally find Nacho and his car and make it to the house. We go to the house and settled into a nice little room with two twin beds. After about 20 min. Nacho came in and had us move to seperate bedrooms, alright by me! It was actually really nice to have my own room for a couple of nights.

After settling in and getting everything in order we met Nacho's son and went out to see the Madrid gay pride parade which was on the wrong weekend, but still a lot of fun. The streets were packed and everyone, even the cops, were dancing and enjoying the crazy scene of the parade. The music was incredible and we had a good time. Other than the parade we kept the first night pretty chill.

The next day we slept in, had breakfast with the family, and headed out to El Rastro, the giant flea market open on Sunday mornings. It was slightly overwhelming actually. El Rastro is crowded with people and vendors yelling, shopping, playing music, and generally making a lot of noise. The market is also colorful and a lot of fun and sells things ranging from clothes, to music, to old fashioned keys (the giant kind that probably never fit any locks anyway). After the market we stopped off at a bar near Plaza Mayor for a beer and tapas. It was a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday.

After the market we took our siesta in El Parque del Buen Retiro, a gorgeous park about a 15 min. walk from the house. I took a nap and read while Nathan actually read a book!

From the park we headed out to the museums which are free on Sundays. I chose to go the Thyssen-Bornimsza Museum collection intead of the Prado, just to see something different. The Thyssen is basically a chronology of impressionism ranging from early to neo with a little mordern art and cubism thrown in for good measure. There were pieces by Matisse, Picasso, Dali, Miro, Renoir, and so many more incredible artists. After the Thyssen closed I went over to the Prado to find Nathan. I went ahead and wandered around the Prado since it was free and open for another hour. I saw some wonderful pieces by Titian and El Greco that completely blew me away. The El Greco pieces seem almost animated with their futuristic stlye and detail, and the Titian ones are just so beautiful.

We went back to the house and did some things before getting ready to go out. We decided to go to Teatro Kapital, a giant club over by Atocha station. It ended up being more of a trek than we ever thought possible. About three stops from Atocha (on the metro) the trains stopped running because of construction at Sol and Gran Via (other metro stops). We tried to walk, but it was actually really far. Finally we got over to the club and it was.... closed. Frustrated, we continued walking up Calle de Atocha, and found Gran Via, another hot area of the city. We ended up at Joy, a club that has apparently been around for ages in Madrid, and went in around 2:00.

The dance floor was small but the music was good and there were half naked dancers (male and female) up on the stage. I skipped the drinks (too pricy for me) and headed out to the dance floor by myself (hey, I have nothing to lose). About an hour or so in, I decided to just go for it and asked the guy dancing near me if he wanted to dance with me. We chatted a little and had a really good time. He told his name was Antonio (which I later found out its actually Antonin since he's French, which basically amouunts to Anthony). At the end of the night (well morning) he asked for my number. I would have given it to him except I don't actually know it, there are too many numbers and I never have to use it. I gave him my email instead.

After that Nathan and I decided to head back around 5:15. We got outside of the club and had to stop for a minute, confused as to where the metro stop actually was. While we were standing there some very drunk Spanish woman came up to us and tried to get us to the station, which really took a lot more time, energy, and flirting than you normally would have expected. By the time we made it to the station up the street, it was already 5:30 am and the metro started running again at 6:00. We decided to wait. We finally rolled into bed around 6:30.