8/20 Madrid is getting better

Got to admit things are getting better, getting better all the time.

We woke up early (7am-ish) to pack up our bags and look for a hotel or hostel. The only way we made it through Friday was the promise of a bed and wi-fi. Don't get us wrong, it is nice to have some disconnect, but not knowing when you can connect again or being able to call anything or anyone or even know what time it is is a bit stressful.

We took the train into Atocha, the only sure place we knew, since we will be leaving from that station on Sunday 8/21 to head to Barcelona. Once there, Alli purchased UNO caffe de leche and Kait opened up all the maps she could find. (this is where that foreign map reading course would be helpful). After careful twisting and turning of maps, and discovery of some landmarks (like 2 giant stone baby heads) we found where hotels were marked in then local area. We wondered done a street that looked promising. Kait looked up and saw their first ROAD SIGN! We took it as a sign and walked down that side street where we found 2 hostels.

The first hostel we buzzed to get in, dragged out luggage up one story and entered the door that the old man beckoned us into. With Spanish phrasebook in hand we attempted to ask about an open room and wifi or Internet. He said no wifi (wee fee). And we said, gracias adios! and proceeded to lug everything back downstairs.

The second hostel was 'Hostal Argentina'. (www.hostalargentina.es). Where again we buzzed ourselves in and lugged everything once again up one story. We opened our phrasebook to ask the same questions, and the woman asked, "you speak English?' We laughed and said yes! Once we found out they had a double room with free wifi (weeeee feeeee!) We rejoiced and gladly handed over the €50 for the room. She even offered to lock up our bags for us until our room would be ready at noon. Rejoicing we locked up our bags and headed to the corner cafe for brunch.

La Ochava was the name of the restaurant we had brunch at. Alli had her favorite meal thus far: "Boquerones" -anchovies marinated in lemon juice with olive oil and garlic served with cut up baguette. Kait had the No*6 Jamón Ibereo with eggs and fries. We sat there relaxing eating our food with joy, sighing with relief. We also ordered more coffee. The coffee is absolutely amazing here, we have no idea what that stuff is we drink back at home compared to this.

During this time we also came up with Kait and Alli's Hierarchy of Needs:
1. Wifi - we need to know we can connect to home base to feel secure
2. Water - it is crucial to survival, in so many ways
3. A place to sleep/rest - we need to feel like we have a home base in a 
 foreign place
4. Food - we get crabby when we do not eat
5. Shade -it's hot here...and we have Irish skin
And with all of this we need laughter, because that is our key to survival

At noon we squared up with La Ochava (side note, they didn't pressure us at all to leave that whole 2 hours, we like how much slower everything seems to be here). Once back at the hostel we checked into our room, which was amazing to us.

We oooed and awed over the double bed, tiny window, shower, sink, private toilet, tv, and air conditioner. It felt like our little slice of heaven. We watched Spanish music videos, blogged, checked email, relaxed on the bed, and took turns using the shower. We weren't tired enough to sleep just needed to relax, de-swell, shower, and reconnect. After a couple skype calls and emails we decided to venture out for some dinner.

We ducked into the nearest little convenience store bought some water, wine, sardines, meat, cheese, croissants, oysters, and cups... All for under €10. We knew from our amazing newly acquired foreign map skills that there was a park near by. We wandered over towards that area and saw a high fence. Determined to eat in someplace that's green (plus noticing that there were some kitties in there) we followed the fence for a long while until we found the entrance. For a moment we were sad that their was an admittance fee, but then realized it was a botanical garden and it wasn't out our price range. We went for it!

Inside the garden were lush plants from all over the world. We found a secluded spot with a bench and opened up our spread. Slightly sad that the wine was trapped (no corkscrew! What an oversight!) we decided that we would drink it in the room later. After we ate our fill we decided to wander around and have a Kait and Alli photo-shoot. This was so much fun, definitely worth it for you to check out our pictures. As Kait sat waiting for Alli to use the restroom before our jaunt home, she reflected on this thought, "I think I am actually relaxing.....that's what this foreign feeling is..."

We raced the looming ominous rain clouds home (trying not to get too off course by shiny objects and 10 story buildings covered in moss art). We keep looking in the windows of stores trying to find a cork screw...but no one had one. The last place we went was right beside our hostel. There we saw wine bottled and tried to ask(with various pantomiming) if they had a corkscrew to open our wine. The woman said no.... But then lit up, pointed to Alli and frantically pulled her over to the shelf and pointed up at a wine bottle. We were very confused, and Alli politely grabbed for her what she seemed to want. And lo and behold there was a tiny plastic wine opener attached. The woman took the wine with the corkscrew from Alli and our bottle of wine from Kait and took them behind the counter. The woman laughed as she took out a utility knife, removed the casing from out wine top, put our bottle on the floor and uncorked it for us, handing it back to us open. We said gracias! And joyfully returned to our hostel for more blogging, wyd watching, foot propping up, and wine drinking



We were very glad to not to be in that rain!

<3 Kait and Alli