So, my posts are going in a bit of a random order this week, due to the fact that a) I am lazy and it’s just taken me awhile to get up the ganas to write about Madrid and b) the snow and cold in Burgos was just so much more pressing to write about, but I am finally getting my act together! So here goes, the post about Madrid that should have happened last weekend when the trip itself actually happened!
I went to Madrid last weekend! This in and of itself is not particularly interesting, as I have been to Madrid many times over the past year and a half, both to visit friends and to catch airplanes, but this time had a purpose: we went to see Real Madrid play a soccer game (or football match, if you want anyone here to understand what you’re talking about). SO FUN. But I’ll get there.
I arrived on Friday afternoon, and met up with Abby and Marcos who had come from Logrono to spend the weekend and watch the game, as well. We found a yummy place for lunch and then spent the afternoon enjoying the sunny, relatively warm weather. We met up with my friend Chris, who lives in Madrid, for drinks on a patio on the top of a hotel on Gran Via, a main street in Madrid. Gorgeous, truly. We then ended up at TGIFriday’s for happy hour (we’re American, get over it) and some amazingly good and insanely cheap drinks. By that time, The Boy (who has now become The Boyfriend; but more on that later) called to say that he and his friends were in town, ready to pick me up and take me to where we were staying for the weekend. So I said goodbye to Abby and Marcos at the metro, grabbed my bag, and was off.
So, the other reason we had planned this Madrid trip was because The Boy had decided we should go see a Real Madrid soccer game, since he loves the team. I personally wanted to go because Iker Casillas, the team’s goalie, is my boyfriend.
Me and Casillas
(This photo was taken in a bar, with a poster on the wall, which makes me a huge nerd, I realize that, but it just shows you the depth of my devotion.)
Anyway, so The Boy’s friend lives just outside of Madrid with his wife, and we stayed with them for the weekend. So Friday night we went out to dinner in the suburb they live in and then spent the rest of the evening looking at photos from their honeymoon and other silliness that their friends get up to. They were so incredibly nice and friendly to me, and I felt really comfortable with them immediately. I love Spanish people.
Saturday, the day of the game, we went into Madrid around lunchtime and met up with Abby and Marcos again for lunch, and then again spent the afternoon wandering around Madrid in the sunshine (are you noticing a theme here? The Spanish loooove their paseo, or afternoon walk). The game didn’t start until 8pm, so we eventually bundled ourselves into a bar and had a drink while waiting for gametime. Once we actually arrived at the stadium, the three Americans were stunned: this stadium holds 80,000 people and is full on a regular basis. I know we have football stadiums in the States that are that big (I feel like if I didn’t mention that I knew this, my Wolverine brother would kill me), but this was just impressive. I don’t know that the following pictures do it justice, really.
Excited about the Game!
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
Anyway, to sum up the game: it was kind of crappy, since Madrid has been sucking lately due to a lot of injuries to some of their best players, and they missed a lot of scoring opportunities, but we had a really great time just being part of the atmosphere. But Real Madrid ended up winning, which is always a good thing. Plus, I learned a lot of good swear words listening to all the disgruntled Madrid fans, haha.
After the game, we headed back to the center of Madrid and went out to a couple of bars for a little bit, and then everyone went off to their respective casas again. Sunday was pretty mellow, eating lunch at The Boy’s friends’ house and then heading back to Burgos for the night – lucky for me, he has a car AND Burgos was on his way home, so I didn’t have to take a bus back! Woohoo!
Now, to the promised “boyfriend” part of the post. I unfortunately do not have an interesting and cute story about how we became novios, but we kind of decided that that’s what we wanted to be, so I’ve spent the whole week trying to get used to the notion that I have a boyfriend. It’s still weird to say, and he pretty much is still “this guy that I met in Logrono and who I like” when I talk about him to people here, but I figure I’ll become more comfortable with it in time! I could honestly go on about how great he is, but I will spare everyone that ickiness – ask if you have questions, how about that?
So, as it turned out, the weekend was pretty great. AND it wasn’t snowing!!
