Top 15 Places in Madrid (15-11)

15. Las Ventas -

      

14. Plaza Mayor -

     

13 Tierra Burrito Bar

 

12. Spanish National Archaeological Museum 

11. Cerveceria 100 Montaditos 

The Uncle Drew of Skateboarding

      Yesterday, I decided to go back to Tetuan Skate Plaza for one last time before I leave. This park has been my favorite of the three I have visited here in Madrid and this session sealed the deal on that.

      I was at the park for about an hour or so and was chilling on the bench taking a break, when a group of old people came up to everyone else that was sitting on the long bench. They were speaking in Spanish and I could barely make out what they were trying to say. But basically, they were asking if this old man could stand on somebody's skateboard. All of the skaters were saying that he was "mas mayor" or too old, but eventually someone gave him a shot.

      It was at this moment when he reached out to grab the board, that I noticed the smoothness of his hands. I was still struggling to translate what they were saying and what was all going on, but I had a hunch that this wasn't just some old man.

       After the old man's group of friends helped him get onto the board, he slowly started to ride around with the help of one of the locals. What came next wasn't as surprising to me as it was for others around me. He went up and did a smooth 50-50 on the box and started a line that went throughout the entire park. This is when my hunch was confirmed and I thought that most likely this guy was a professional doing some sort of skit for a video.

      He finished up one of his lines by falling pretty hard, and his elderly buddies helped him up. I am pretty sure that he fell on purpose as part of the video, because it was hilarious to see an old man falling on a skateboard even if he wasn't actually old. 

      The camera crew came out from behind all of the surrounding bushes and started talking with some of the skaters. One of the locals told me that this skit was being filmed for a Spanish TV show that is to be aired next week. It's too bad I won't still be here, because I definitely would have watched it.

     The camera crew and the elderly group hung around for a while and got some more clips for their show. Before they left, a lot of the locals were getting pictures with the old man skateboarder, so I got one of my own.

       I had never heard of the skater's name before, but I found out that his name was Danny Leon.I watched one of his parts on YouTube from last year, and he is super good. He is actually only 20 years old, but you wouldn't have guessed that by the way he looks in this picture, huh?

      There is this viral video called "Uncle Drew" that shows Kyrie Irving, a basketball player in the NBA, going to a local park, dressed up and given make-up to make him look old, and joining in on a pickup game of basketball. I am assuming this video was inspired by that, but it was such a cool thing to experience first-hand. This was probably the coolest thing I have ever experienced through skateboarding, and I am so glad that I went to the skate park instead of taking a nap after getting home from El Escorial yesterday.

Thanks for reading,

      RCE

El Escorial and Valley of the Fallen

      During our class excursion today, we went to the Valley of the Fallen, a huge Basilica that has been placed into the side of a mountain. According to our instructor, 30,000-60,000 people are buried inside the walls of this massive basilica. As we walked in, there was a mass in session and the echoes of soft singing rang off the curved walls and ceilings creating a humbling religious atmosphere. I immediately felt the goose bumps on my arms as I walked down the long hallway that proceeded into the sanctuary. Francisco Franco, one of Spain's most powerful leaders who ruled for nearly 40 years from 1936-1975, was buried here as well. 

       We weren't supposed to take photos inside, but I simply had to take a photo of this incredible place.

      This is the view from outside the basilica. I am convinced this may be one of the coolest places I have visited throughout this entire trip. It's hard to say however, because I have seen quite a lot of cool things during my time in Spain.

       This place was surrounded by mountains and I had our instructor take this group photo of our class. I can't believe this is our final week and I am not looking forward to leaving Spain.

       Afterwords, we got back on the bus and headed into town to check out El Escorial. El Escorial is a famous Monastery and Palace, created by King Philip II in the mid 1500's as a headquarters to run a strong and centralized Spanish state.

     This picture doesn't even begin to show how large this place was. According to our tour guide, this place had thousands of rooms, and we were able to see almost everything. from the previous kings' and queens' burial tombs, to the King and Queen's separate bed rooms.

       This photo is of a painting of the entire structure. It shows how truly humongous this place was. In the past, it would take the King a little more than a week to get to this place from Madrid, but today, it only took us about 45 minutes by bus.

       This is the King's library and according to the rules, if you didn't return a book that you checked out, you didn't get a late fee, but eternal damnation. I guess that was a good way to make sure the religious Spaniards didn't forget to return their books.

      El Escorial has a school with around 700 students placed inside of it, and this is where the kids came out to play during recess. This view was a lot better than the view I had during my recess days back in elementary school and I was a little jealous of the kids that got to see this everyday.

Thanks for reading,
      RCE

A Weekend With Friends

      My friend Ethan came to Madrid from London for the weekend. On Friday, we met up at his hostel which was only like 3 blocks away (in a huge city like Madrid I didn't expect that at all), and after I showed him around a little bit. It was cool being able to tell him about some of the things I have learned and show him some of my favorite plazas, restaurants, and bars.
     First, we went to a little restaurant down the street from my apartment called Traigos Tapas. They have a deal where you get five beers for 3 euros. We split a huge Iberian ham sandwhich and drank some brews. The waiter could tell we were tourists and was trying to really talk up the restaraunt, but he didn't know I had already been there. It's great, but it definitely wasn't what he was talking it up to be.
     After that, we walked towards my favorite bar, Casa Camacho. I showed Ethan the "Times Square of Madrid" called Callao on our way.

    We bought ourselves a few Yayos at Casa Camacho and shared stories from our study abroad experiences. Next weekend, I am going to be in London and it's going to be cool to see some of the things he was telling me about. 

      On Saturday, Ethan, Sirena, Kaitlyn, and I went to Retiro Park and rented some bicycles. If you don't already know, biking is one of my favorite hobbies (also part of my occupation at Jimmy Johns) and I hadn't been on a bike since leaving home. I was so excited when we got our bikes and started riding around the park.

        Retiro Park has a number of gardens, statues, and spectacular views that we encountered during our exploration of the massive grounds. In one of the little gardens, there were a group of peacocks. This little kid kept chasing them around and it was pretty funny.

       The park was once owned by the Spanish monarchy, but was eventually given to the city and opened to the public. Basically, this huge park used to belong to just a few people.

     These picture are of the inside of the Palacio de Crystal. This building is so cool and we hung out for a little bit inside the tapestry tent.

      We hung out on a bench and ate some snacks as we took a break from riding. There were a bunch of birds hanging out and I tried to share this bread with the pidgeon. He bit at it a few times, but another smaller bird flew in and took off with the whole piece.

       We rented our bikes for like 4 hours, so we took a couple rests here and there. When our time was up, we turned in our bikes and went home for a nap.
       Later on, we all met up (including some other classmates) and headed to a Jazz bar. We listened to a band that went by the name of Calle Mora, according to the trumpet player that I talked to after the show, the band name is based on a street in Venezuela. He told me the band has players from Venezuela, Cuba, Columbia, and Spain. I used to play trumpet back in middle school, so I told him he played much better than I did. He complimented me on my Spanish and it was a little bit of a confidence boost.
       I had spotted this really beautiful girl standing alone against the wall looking in my direction a few times, and decided that I would go say something. I asked her, "porque estas aqui y no bailando?" (Why are you here and not dancing?).
      She smiled, but before she could say anything, her friend grabbed my shoulder and yelled, "Que quieres?" (What do you want?). I said I just wanted to talk, but I didn't want this crazy Spanish girl to attack me, so I left them alone.
      We went to a discoteca after and danced to some random electronic music until pretty late. I think this might have been one of the better nights out in Madrid this month. And thanks to Ethan and my friends from class, it was a pretty solid weekend as well.

Thanks for reading,

      RCE

The MicroTheatre

      Last night, some classmates and I went to a MicroTheatre through an optional event that our study abroad program provided.
      Before the shows began, one of the bar workers told us to silence our phones and a bunch more that I didn't fully understand (a theme of the night).
      Down in the basement of this little bar, there were 5 tiny rooms set up for people to come and watch short 15 minute performances. There were never more than 15 people watching a play at one time.
      The first show we saw was in Sala 5 (Sala means room). I thought it was about 2 drunk girls in the bathroom, but after learning what happened from our guest instructor, I found out that it was actually one girl in an argument with her conscience as she struggled with her drunken state.

      The next show was in Sala 3. It was about 2 nuns and 1 sick girl. The sick girl dies and then comes back to life and one of the nuns thinks this is a miracle and the other thinks it is all a lie. 

      The believer decides to kill the girl with a pillow so that Christ could prove his existence by repeating the miracle. After she does this however, the sick girl doesn't initially come back to life and the believer starts to think she murdered the sick girl. She then left the room in distress. 

      The non-believer nun is left alone with the dead girl, but she comes back to life again. The non-believer kills the sick girl again and gives up on being a nun even after discovering the miracle was true. She didn't want to be a nun any longer and this miracle wasn't going to change that.

     The third and final play that we went to was in Sala 4. It was about a man that was contemplating suicide in the bathroom (I think they choose settings like this because it perfectly fit the size of the room the performances took place in). A women comes in and is willing to do it for him. She is a representative of the government that specializes in this kind of thing. She makes him pay for the paperwork for 20 euro, multiple pens at 1 euro a piece (she sold him a green pen first, but then clarified after that he needed to fill out the paperwork in blue or black ink), and eventually 100 euro for the actual act of assisted suicide. The play was a joke on how the government is always getting your money from you somehow.
      Our friend Ryan was given a sticker at the start of the show (we were nervous for him because we weren't sure exactly what this role entailed). At the end, the women took the pistol that she killed the other actor with and shot Ryan. Being the funny guy that he is, he went with the joke and immediately dropped to the ground acting as if he was shot. The tiny crowd got a good laugh out of it.

       Overall, it was a great experience and I think my Spanish listening skills may have improved just a little bit. From the first show to the last, I actually began to comprehend the plot lines a little bit more each time. Afterwords, our group went to a restaurant and grabbed some food and drinks. I am happy to have made some solid friends during my time here. This photo is of Sirena, Myself, Ryan, Kaitlyn, and Bruno (Left to Right).

       This being my last weekend in Madrid, I decided that I wasn't going to go home and went out by myself. I went to the dinky little pool bar that my London friends had shown me and talked with the bartender as a sipped from my Mahou.

      We talked about sports, culture, and women. I was the only person in the bar and he said on many nights this was just the way it is. After I finished my beer (and my corn nuts that the bartender remembered that I love), I payed, thanked the bartender for his hospitality, and headed out.
      I went to Casa Camacho for my favorite local drink, a Yayo. A Yayo is a drink with an ungodly amount of gin and vermouth with a little bit of sweet water and a lemon. It sounds gross, but I actually love them (and for only 2 euros how could you go wrong?). I looked around the bar as I drank my Yayo and learned that Casa Camacho is a bar classified as a traditional establishment of Madrid according to some award that they had won. I can see why this bar would be considered this, because it is super cool and almost always packed.
      After a while, I met an English fellow and his Spanish girlfriend. They invited me to join them as they met up with the Spanish girl's sister at her graduation party at a discoteca close by. She told me she wanted to introduce me to a bunch of Spanish girls (muy bueno, no?) and I wasn't going to say no to that.
      I went to the bar and talked with my new friends for a while as we danced to the most random collection of American music I think I have ever listened to. It went from Chicago to Bruno Mars to Michael Jackson and so on. After a few drinks, I decided to call it a night and said goodbye to my new friends. They put their information in my phone, so maybe I will be seeing them again before I head back to the states.

Thanks for reading,
      RCE

Why Skateboarders Aren't Always Who You Think They Are

      Skateboarders get a bad rap and I think that it's because of the negative connotations people have towards their sport and its reckless nature. However, for the most part, I think skateboarders are good people (maybe a little rough around the edges, but good people nonetheless). Everywhere I have traveled to, I have been fortunate enough to meet some great people through skateboarding and hanging out at the skate park. 

       I think that says a lot about skateboarding as a sport. To me, it shows that skateboarding is a way to make life-long friends just like the way you can through basketball, baseball, football, or soccer (or futbol, whatever you wanna call it). In this trip, I met a friend named Matteo that I have mentioned a few times before and he told me to check out this skate park here in Madrid. It is called Legazpi Skate Park.

       I finally found my way here after asking some people for directions. I skated for quite a while and then sat down on the bench to drink some water before heading out. There were some kids there and one asked me if he could have some of my water. I told him claro (of course) and shared my 1 euro liter water bottle with him (water is so cheap here in comparison with back home, and that's the way it should be). I had some corn nuts left over from the bull fight earlier this week and shared some of those with him and his friends as well. We all talked together in Spanish while we watched some of the other locals destroying the skate park's numerous rails, ledges, and bowls.
      After a little while, I ran out of water and I was pretty tired. One of the kids told me he was about to hit up the bus to go home, so we both headed out together. I asked him where I could buy some water and he took me to a Chinese store. He told me he didn't have any money, which I believed after seeing the condition of his skate board (when you don't have money, you skate on whatever you can get your hands on), and I told him that I could get him something. I didn't have much money with me, but I knew I had enough to buy a couple sandwiches and another water bottle. He was very grateful and so was I, for without him, I would have struggled to return to the Metro station and would not have had any water either.
       On the way to the station, I ran into this cool statue. I don't really know it's significance, but I thought it was cool so I snapped a photo. Madrid is filled with little plaza's like this and one thing we have learned from class is that many of them were created by previous kings as a way to show the locals how well the government is doing, as well as a way to make this city look as beautiful as it is.

       This young Spaniard that I met today isn't one of these life-long friends that I am talking about, but he was a good-hearted kid and he inspired me to write this post. However, I consider my friend Matteo to be someone that I would hit up any time I am ever in Spain. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to go to either of the skate parks I have been to here in Madrid, and I wouldn't have had nearly as many memorable experiences without his suggestions. Skateboarding really does bring people together and I think that stories like this show that skateboarders really aren't who you think they are.

      I have now skated on two different sides of the world, and met great people in both. When the world is yours to skate, skate it.

Thanks for reading,

      RCE

Chipotle of Spain

     During class this morning, my stomach was growling for a taste of home, but McDonalds just wasn't going to cut it. I remembered reading about a burrito place that was supposedly similar to Chipotle on my study abroad program's blog (Accent International), and decided that I would check it out after class. I told my classmates my plans once we were allowed to leave and a few of them decided to follow me on my journey for a burrito. Spanish cuisine is very different in comparison to Central American cuisine and I didn't really know this before getting here. I guess I just assumed because they spoke the same language that they ate the same foods.
      The walk from the study center to the restaurant was rather long and took about 25 minutes, but it was more than worth every step. Some of the people in our group were a little frustrated with me during the walk, but once we walked in all that disappeared. There was a tantalizing aroma that immediately confirmed the legitimacy of the restaurant. As I waited in line, I prepared my order in my head trying to include as much Spanish as I could. I decided I was just going to get everything in my burrito bowl, because I hadn't eaten all day and everything looked so good.

       Basically, I got a chicken burrito bowl with all the extras and salsa caliente. The man that made my meal warned me of the spiciness of the salsa, but I went with it anyway. I have been a little stuffed up during my time here in Madrid, and as I write this blog more than 2 hours after eating, I am still breathing super easy. Needless to say, it was super spicy, but so delicious. I was also excited that the restaurant had 7UP, because all the lemon-lime sodas here are very different than what I am accustomed to back in the states.

      We were lucky, because right after we arrived and got our food, the line shot out past the door a little bit. This place seems to be pretty popular with the local Madrilenos and I can see why that is. It cost about the same as Chipotle does in America, but their servings are bigger and the quality of food is arguably better (No way, right? I love Chipotle as much as the next guy, but I'd rather come back to Tierra than Chipotle anyday).

       I liked this sign they had hanging outside. It seems like almost every restaurant in Madrid sells alcohol, even Burger King and McDonalds. The Spanish know what's up.

     During our meal, our group shared stories from back home as well as our time here in Madrid. It was definitely one of the best meals I have had here in Spain, even up there in comparison with the authentic Spanish lunch that our class had in Pedraza that I wrote about in an earlier post. I think our group has become really close and I really enjoy spending time and learning about each and every one of them. Studying abroad is a great chance to make lasting relationships with people that you might not have talked to if they were in a class that you had at your home university. 

     After the meal, we headed out to the closest Metro station and I took notes on how I would go about returning to this wonderful burrito bar. I am convinced that I will be coming back here many times before my time is up here in Madrid. 

Thanks for reading,

      RCE