Madrid

This past weekend I flew into Madrid, Spain and dove right into authentic Spanish culture. It was quite a challenge to communicate with the Spanish speaking crowd, but I did my best and learned a few words along the way. The weekend was filled with all kinds of thrills. After hopping from one train line to the next, we finally ended up at our hostel in the center of the city. The buildings were old and beautiful. The streets were a bit 'rougher' then the other cities throughout Europe in terms of bustling people, street vendors and beggars. The streets were always full no matter what time of day and the atmosphere was alive. On Friday, we visited sights such as the Royal Palace and statues and one of my favorites, a temple. The temple was fragile and precise, the weather was great and this added to my photographs. That night we checked out early but only after joining a local crowd at an Irish pub for a few hours.
Saturday morning I rose and was anxious to get moving on the day. There was a lot to see including a park with monuments and landmarks as well as a Real Madrid soccer match in the evening. We trekked around all day on Saturday and saw all there was to see, taking pictures and enjoying the weather. Around 4pm, we hopped a train to Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and bought our tickets for the night's match. The next 5 hours were spent walking around the streets near the stadium browsing through vendors selling replica gear and candy. We stopped in at a pizza restaurant and had a pint and a pizza. The crowd was getting ready for the game and began hitting the streets around 7pm. The streets were full of horn blowing, flag flying Real Madrid fans. The occasional Espanol fan would wander by only to be tormented for wearing the wrong color. After much rallying and much waiting... the gates opened and the rush began. One hour before game time and the stadium was filling up. People on every set of stairs, escalator and lift. The atmosphere was amazing and the game was about to begin. At 10pm, the whistle was blown and we were off. It was as if I was right down there on the field with the players... angry at the referee for calls against Madrid and as eager as anyone to see them score. The game was dominated by Real Madrid and the final score was 3-0. I was so happy by the end of the night and so satisfied with the team's success. It was a really great experience and I enjoyed every minute of the game. The stadium began to clear and the train station was filling up. It took a good hour to get back to our hostel where we passed out until Sunday morning.
Sunday was a bit of a long day and the city seemed to be getting smaller. We had seen a lot of sights and some of them twice. That morning we went back to the stadium and browsed around the fan shop for Real Madrid gear. We also found the Athletico Madrid stadium and hoped that they were playing that evening. It turns out they were but not at home. We went to a bar and watched the game play out. Around 2 am we headed to the airport and relaxed for a few hours before our plane was boarding. It was a long and tiring night and I'm still trying to catch up on sleep. Overall, the trip was very satisfying and I'm thrilled that I was able to see and do as much as I did.