Madrid

Well it was certainly a MAD weekend with Vicky in Madrid.
After both of us traveled for what seemed like a lifetime we made it to the Stansted Hilton and spent a really comfortable 4 hours sleeping before we had to catch our early early flight (after a fry-up and a pint of cider at the airport wetherspoons of course).
The first thing I noticed about Madrid was that everyone spoke Spanish and nothing was easy to understand but we still managed to find our way into the heart of the city and to our hostel. It was right in the middle of the main pedestrian street so we just had to stroll in whatever direction and we could find something to do.
We spent the first day getting our bearings and wound up in the Retiro park which is HUGE and absolutely stunning, there is something for everyone there (not kidding even beer). Then we wandered around some more and found our way back at our hostel. That night we went on the MADrid pub crawl which was heaps of fun for the time we were there (another story). The next day we had a late brunch and headed in the direction of all the art galleries only to find them to be closed due to it being a national holiday (just our luck) so we ended up having a pint in the park and went to explore the streets around Plaza Mayor and tried to find a bit of authentic Spain (which we did and it was awesome). That night we had tapas(small savory foods) and cana (small beers) with a few new friends from the hostel proceeded to get lost only to eventually find a metro station and get back to the hostel again. Later that night I went out and sampled some more bars and pubs with people from the hostel. There is such a wide variety of European beers in Madrid and it was great getting to try them all for really cheap.
The next day we had a ride on the Telefrico (cable car) which took us over the country side where we saw the royal palace from afar and snow capped mountains as well as lovely gardens and the Spanish suburbia. Afterward we said goodbye to our new friend Rick from Holland and we found out way onto the open-topped tour buses that went around the city. This was a really great way to see everything we had been walking past and find out what they actually were. We also stopped of at the Museo El Prado (historical art museum). That night we went to try and see flamenco dancing with Lindsey from Canada, we didn't end up seeing any (another story for another time) so we ended up in another bar having tapas and cana.
We got up early on our last day in Madrid and went to check out the famous El Rastro markets where you can buy anything and everything (it's true). I picked up the cutest handbag and a few bracelets as gifts for people. Then we headed to check out the Museo Reina Sofia (modern art museum) where Picaso's Gernica was on display. The line up for that particular painting was way too long so Vicky and I had a look at everything else and stopped off to have some Paella before heading to the airport to catch our cheap cheap Ryanair flight back to London.
It was a great weekend and we were sad to only have such a short time there. There is so much more to do and explore and I will definitely being heading back to Spain many times in the future.
In London we were kidnapped by our bus driver and then left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and still managed to find our hostel. After a lovely dinner pad Thai for dinner we had an early night before checking out a bit of the Science museum the next day. It was so weird that everyone spoke English. Unfortunately as the tube was so slow and there were tons of delays we didn't get to spend much time there and had to head to paddington to catch our trains back home.

Stay tuned for the next installment titled: last few days in London.