FEBRUARY
So the official half way point of my stay, and quite disappointingly the only month of the 8 that I am working, without any fiestas! Thankfully it is only 28 days or I don't think I could cope!! Having said that the fiesta in January and the one that is coming up in March are on days that I don't normally teach anyway - bad planning there - so it won't be that different really. Gutted!
Anyways, I have now moved. Think I should start with that, and a little HURRAH!!!!! It hasn't all been plain sailing, but I am now nolonger stuck in the quaint little backwater, I have joined the city-slickers, which unfortunately means I have also joined the bus queue in Moncloa (not so-good), but you have to take the bad with the good, and life is so much better when it is taking place 10 miles up the M-40!
However, I celebrated my moving in weekend, in one of the strangest ways - by going out of the city!!!! Random! IN fact I actually spent my first Majadahonda free day, by going back to Majadahonda, on the way to Manzanares el Real - a really gorgeous little town in the Navacerrada mountains, just outside of Madrid - where we went skiing last month! As you can see we were blessed with a gorgeous day, and on the ramble it actually got quite hot, although we were trampling at some points through frozen ground - v random! But, it was a really enjoyable day, and so worth the 1hr journey in the car, a well-guarded little secret I do believe!
Now, this month, I have really started to begin to see improvements in my Spanish, which is v pleasing - not only because my English is going so badly down hill! But it has improved so much so, this month I went back to the cinema - as there are three just round the corner from my new flat - and watched the first film that took my fancy.... and you know what - I understood it!!!! YAY I really did! WOw, it gave me such a buzz, hurrah!!!!!! I will have to do that again!
2nd Parental Visit
So, now for more touristy shots as my Mum and Dad are here for a second time, HURRAH!!! It is really good to see them, though sad to think that the next time I do will be in London, and I will have finished my year abroad. Now I have moved, time is flying by so fast, I don't actually think I will be ready to go home... I mean it is already almost the end of February, which means I only have 3 1/2 months left!!! And in those I have to fit in 2 sisterly visits, hopefully a trip to Valencia and another to Morocco... as well as maybe a little bit of the Camino de Santiago..... there is NOT enough time!!!!!
But anyways, back to this week. Mummy and Daddy arrived on the 15th, and after a little hiccough in the meeting - not quite a big a hiccough as last time - there are two arrival lounges in Terminal 1 and I was waiting at one while they were waiting at another, because their flight wasn't even on the board! It was comical really. However, having said that, Wednesday wasn't the best day I have ever had in Madrid, despite parental visit, as it was also the day I lost my mobile phone. I left the house in a bit of a rush and slipped my phone into the pocket in my bag, but by the time I got to Moncloa (the bus station) I didn't have it.... Now I don't know if it dropped out, which is possible, or someone robbed it - also possible - but the end result means that I have lost all of the numbers I have collected since arrivieing in Spain - MORE THAN ANNOYING. So after going back to the flat to see if I had accidently left it there, or dropped it en route, as well as ringing it... I had to go out and buy a new one, and I am slowly trying to recover some of the numbers that I have lost. But the most frustrating thing is that on Sunday, I thought I had lost it as well, and I then thought to myself, I should back up my numbers on to my computer again... but obviously me being me, I didn't! GRRRRRR.
But anyways, no need to relive old frustrations, more of what we have seen and done
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Well
first things first. Finally this month actually found the
centre of Spain - which is good going after 5 months
looking for it! The Puerta del Sol in Madrid, is the official heart of Spain, and now I know where the plaque is - it is on the floor!!! Not on the wall, where I had been looking! Also, it is a popular meeting place, because technically everyone knows where it is! So, it may not be only acase of that I am completely nlind and cannot see for looking - a common feeling at the moment - it may also have been that someone was standing upon it! |
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month really was a month of firsts - first time I went to
the Palace, first tme I ate Chocolate con Churros in San
Gines (have done that twice though now!), first time I
have been to the Rastro market! and also the first time I
have been to one of the many art galleries in Madrid! I know, I know, how heathen of me, to be in the city (or near enough to the city) for 4 months, and to never have been! But anyways, our chosen museum was the home of the Guernika, the Reina Sofia! and this is a view from it's upper gallery looking over towards the South with the Greenhouse of Atocha Station in the foreground! (Altough you cannot see it, it was also raining - v unlike Madrid) The museum was actually quite fun, and I fell in love with one Pop art picture by Michael Craig-Martin, which was absolutely BRIGHT pink, I mean you needed sunglasses on to actually look at it. SO COOL - if I ever win the lottery that is the picture I will buy!!! |
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More
wandering around Madrid this month, revisting old places
as well as finding new ones... one of my personal
favourite golden oldies, is Retiro Park, my favourite
view being this one - especially now they have replaced
the water in the lake, ready for the rowers in the
Summer! I am so looking forward to it getting a little warmer, as I can see myself spending quite a lot of time here, reading my book while sitting on those steps over looking the water and the park in general! HEAVEN! |
Like last time, to commemorate Mummy and Daddy's visit, we went on another little day trip out of the city - this time to San Lorenzo El Escorial, the seat of an absolutely HUGE old monastery built by Rey Felipe II. The day was so sunny, though it was quite cold, especially as there was a wind coming straight off the mountains, and the inside of the monastery was so cold - granite generally tends to keep the heat out!!!! But anyways, here are some of the photos......
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Mummy and Daddy enjoying the sun, outside the monastery |
| I'm sure it was
bigger that this! In fact the place was so big, there was no way I could get it all in, so you will have to content yourself with this model! |
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The monastery and the plaza, San Lorenzo El Escorial |
The place was really beautiful inside, though I did get rather creeped out when we found ourselves in the crypt...... and surrounded by the remains of all the old Kings and Queens of Spain! What, was even more creepy were the empty ones! In the main tomb chamber there were 3 empty sarcofigi.... presumably awaiting their occupants.... it creeps me out to think of it. I mean imagine being alive but knowing exactly where you will be laid once you have died.... even worse that there are 3 empty ones, one for King Juan Carlos, one for Prince Felipe, and unless they have a son, one for the new-born Princess Leonor. Eugh! But anyways, enough morbid talk.... I have had quite a regal month........
So, finally got to the Palace this month, which is about time to, and it was actually quite interesting y'know. See how the other half live, or at least lived. One King, cannot remember who now, had a seperate room for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!!!! And that is not to mention the thrones, new for each monarch, that have never been sat upon - apparently they tend to stand at the bottom of the stairs rather than taking their places at the top of them! So anyways, here are a few of the photos that came out... not all of them worked as we weren't allowed to use flash photography.
 Not the nicest day I know, but still a very impressive prospect. Do you not think? |
 The main banquet hall... and this is only half of the table! Can anyone pass me the salt? |
 The royal punch bowl! Bit different to the plastic washing up bowl we used at out party! LOL |
And
the royal sweetie jar, well chocolate jar to be more
correct! |
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