The Busy Capital
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2006
1
16
29
Trip End
Jul 22, 2006
Madrid, Spain
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The only way I can describe walking through Madrid is that you feel like a mouse in a maze. Many tiny side streets as well as many tall buildings makes it a bit difficult. After exploring for a while at night we could tell that the locals love to shop. The shops seem to be open late most nights and they aren't the top notch shops that were in Barcelona. These were more common shops like department stores. Madrid was definitely more active than Valencia.
The next day Richie was departing for Paris so I was on my own. First off I went to the Campo Del Moro, a park that is next to a palace. All the parks in Madrid were not as nice as any of the parks I saw in Barcelona. I was actually quite bored walking through as there wasn't anything of interest there. These parks would be much nicer in the summer when the trees are in full bloom. Then I went to another park called Parque Del Retire. I guess it must be called Park Retire for a reason because there were a lot of old people. The unique thing about this park is that the seats have bikes pedals on them so you can exercise while sitting down. Other than that the sheer size of the park is amazing. You could walk through there for hours.
Most of the attractions in Madrid involved seeing artwork and this isn't really my cup of tea. Basically walking around the city was the most exciting thing for me to do and this isn't so much fun by yourself.
Friday night was a good change though. St Patrick's Day! I found a good Irish pub in the city and I was glad to see that most people spoke English. I met an English guy called Ben and an Irish guy called Hamish. They were a good laugh for the night. Drinks were a bit on the expensive side but it was a good night. Best St Patrick's Day I have had.
I had to check out of my hotel by midday but my flight back to Cologne was not until 7:30 at night. Since I had seen most of the sights I was pretty bored. It also didn't help that the weather decided to turn nasty. It poured down rain and hail that day so I think I left at the right time.
All in all I loved Spain and would definitely return. My favourite city is Barcelona but Spain as a whole would be a nicer place to visit in the summer. There are many more events and festivities but with that comes many more tourists. I have no idea where my next entry will be from. I start University on April 1st and I want to settle in before University starts. Then again, I have had offers to visit people in Berlin, Toulouse and Prague. Who knows!
