Let my journey begin - 11th Sept (Sat)

Here I am, 2nd day in Madrid - my very 1st stop in my long trip. It´s 3.20pm now (local time) and I´m hiding away in the comfort of my hostel room, away from the blazing heat and sun.



I think I got a slight sun burn on my hands already. You see, I was having lunch alfresco-style (see below) and the umbrella wasn´t huge enough to cover all of me. So I ended up eating my tortilla espanola (spanish omlette with bread) under the hot sun. Ouch!



I also ordered the patatas brava (fried potatoes spiced with chilli and paprika sauce - see above right), but i haven´t managed to eat it yet. I was so full from the tortilla espanola (see above left) that i had to ask the waitress to help me pack it for dinner later tonight. And i think with immediate effect i´m "allergic" to potatoes now, with such overdose. I shall stay away from potatoes (torilla & potatas'related dishes) during the rest of my stay in Spain. And I need meat! I should also try Sangria (one of the famous local alcoholic drinks) soon.

Speaking of which, I´d paella (and a little bit of tortilla) yesterday and it was good - except the rice was a little too hard for my liking.



Apart from food, I´d also joined the local tour (3hrs of non-stop walking) that was organized by the hostel I was staying in (Way Hostel). The tour´s free but tips to the tour guide was greatly appreciated. It was kinda cool to learn about the golden age and the stories behind some of the attractions from a local´s perspective. Well, almost local. The guide I´d has been staying in Madrid for the past 6 years. He was from Argentina and had stationed himself in Madrid because of his girlfriend, who´s a local. That´s kinda sweet.

Anywayz, through the tour, I got to know some fellow backpackers from other hostels as well. But sadly, we´re off to different locations after that. We´ll keep in touch. Somehow.

Had been to a couple of places since yesterday:

1) Palacio de Real Madrid



2) Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almundena
P.S: Almundena is the name of of a girl who looked horrible from the front but looked damned good from the back. So because the catedral is right next to the palace, its front view is awlfully plain while its back view looked way grander. This was sort of a political & religious power struggle at that time. The catedral´s front was simplified, to show respect to the king.



3) Gran Via Street



4) Plaza de Cibeles

5) Museo del Prado



6) Mercado de San Miguel





7) Plaza Mayor



8) Monumento en recuerdo de las victimas del 11-M @ Atocha Renfe station



9) many more that I had passed by but had either forgotten their names or didn´t know where it was in the first place :P But I do have pictures on some of the interesting ones...











And I was very happy that I got to see the actual works from Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro in the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía today! I´d seen and did a bit of background study on their works back in my secondary school days. So it was kinda great that I finally got to see them from real, and not from books. :)





The only downsides in my trip so far are:

1) backpack too heavy - it´s currently weighing 13kg, which is slightly more than a quarter of my weight.

2) sling bag - too heavy as well

3) got pickpocketed yesterday - he got away with my moisturizing pack. Think it happened on the metro when I was travelling from Anton Martin station to Tirso de Molina station during the peak hours.



4) limited Spanish vocab - i only knew a few words such as Si (yes), thank you (Gracias), aqua sin ga (water without gas aka mineral or tap water) and of course those¨"potato" words that I now fear

5) jet lag - still recovering but getting better. Damn tired siah.

6) The heat!!!



7) overdose of potatoes - need I say more?


end: 4.10pm (Madrid)