metro madrid: a love story

A few days ago while skyping with Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa, I talked for a bit (more like 20 minutes...) about Madrid's wonderful underground system. In typical fashion, they encouraged me to "write about it!" I was so unsatisfied with my earlier white-bread post that I just had to supplement it with something a little more piquant.

So here it goes: I love Metro Madrid. If you live in Manhattan, you will probably scoff in my face and/or challenge me to a breakdance fight, but I'll stick to my guns. Madrid's got NYC, Boston (puh-lease) and DC (is that a joke?) handily beat. In my experience, Madrid also beats the pants off Barcelona, Budapest, and Paris in terms of subway systems. 

In Madrid, the subway is:

• Clean- I think I've seen graffiti twice. The floor is white. There are not dripping pipes everywhere.
• Well-lit- a few sketchy tunnels at some stops, but for the most part it's cheery and safe-feeling. 
• Easy to use- here's the clincher: each direction of each line has its own platform. Before you take the stairs down to the platforms, there are LISTS OF STATIONS so you know exactly which direction and which line you need. This means that you never have to worry about catching an uptown train when you really want a downtown train, which is often an issue for me in NYC. This was quite the revelation when I arrived in September. 
• Pretty colors- Each metro line has a number, but they're more generally referred to (at least colloquially) by their colors. This is not a big deal, but the colors are all very pleasant shades (aqua, light green, red, yellow, etc.). 
• Cheap- costs less than 1 euro per ride. I don't even have to think about that, though, because I have a monthly abono juvenil pass that costs 30 euros and is good for unlimited rides. Suck it, Metrocard. 
• One-speed- sometimes the trains run faster (i.e. during "rush hours"), but there aren't separate express and local trains. Every train stops at every station it's supposed to. To someone who's accidentally ended up in Queens more than once, this is a big deal.  
• Hi-tech- Each platform has at least 2 electronic signs that counts down the minutes until the train is in the station. Super convenient for determining whether you have enough time to snag a bench or not. 
• Speedy- takes me 15 minutes to get to the center of Madrid's downtown. What else could I ask for?

In fact, the only thing that KILLS me about this glorious wonder of public transportation is that it closes at 1:30 a.m. and doesn't open until 6 a.m. But then again, nobody's perfect. 

Hope you enjoyed my Ode to Metro. If you ever have the opportunity to visit this lovely city, make sure you experience the Metro at least one time. You won't regret it! 

Besos,

S

un poco enfermo, but also un poco lame

This week's post is a bit of a let-down. Sorry! I was supposed to go to Valencia with some friends this weekend, but my friend Carmen was feeling a bit under the weather so we postponed it for a later date. This turned out to be a good idea, because on Thursday I started feeling icky as well.

Weirdly enough, I'm already halfway done with my time in Madrid! Crazy! To prove it, I had mid-terms in two of my classes (i.e. my only two academic courses) this week. So, this week instead of going to museums and cafes, I spent a lot of time catching up on reading, making study sheets, meeting with friends to discuss notes, etc.

All in all, not a very exciting week/weekend, I'm afraid. This is my last weekend in Madrid for quite a while, because I'm going to be traveling to Venice, London, and Amsterdam in the next few weeks. I will definitely have more to post after that!

barTHelona

Since I just got back from Barcelona, the Spanish capital of art, culture, and design, I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves. I also realized that not everyone could access the Shutterfly photos so here are a few vistas:

Barcelona has outlawed bullfighting, but not Correbous, an equally gruesome "sport" where torches are attached to the bull's horns and lit on fire. I signed an anti-correbous petition that hopefully will go to the Catalunyan Parliament. In exchange for my signature a very nice man gave me a pin with a picture of an impaled bull on it. Super! 

Quiz question of the day: Why is this photo significant? Any Breene with the right answer gets a free churro. 

And thus, we begin the Tour de Gaudi! Here's a short lesson on Spain's favorite architect:

Antonio Gaudi was a Catalunyan architect who lived and worked around the turn of the 20th century. His style is incredibly distinct; he belonged to the Modernistic school but was also extremely influenced by patterns and textures seen in nature. It also contains many elements of fantasy - examples are the dragon roofline of Casa Batllo and the gingerbread house-like buildings in Parc Guell. Gaudi was a genius, and like many of those types, he was also a famous recluse. Towards the end of his life he developed antisocial tendencies and an all-consuming obsession with his last and grandest work, the Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia. He actually lived the last years of his life from the crypt of the construction site. Rather sadly and anti-climactically, Gaudi was hit by a street car and died in 1926, 84 years and counting before his final masterpiece was finished. 

Casa Batllo, originally constructed AS SOMEONE'S HOUSE. por favor! It is now a museum that I didn't have time to visit. Save it for my next trip to Barcelona.

roof of Casa Batllo which looks like a dragon. the tower on the right is its pointy tail.

I accidentally deleted most of my Sagrada Familia pictures, which is probably a good thing because nobody wants to see 1235934834 photos of a church. According to our information packet, they are trying to complete the interior by the end of 2010 (fat chance) and the exterior by 2030. That sounds like a long time, but they still need to construct the highest and largest spire and my host mom, Maria, told me they didn't have the plans. Whoops! 

                                                 

Julia, Carmen and I inside. I'm making that face/body expression because I was about to smack Carmen for posing in such a ridiculous manner. If you look closely, my right hand is on the move.

Fachada de la Pasión 

Enough of the Sagrada Familia already. Last stop on the Gaudi tour: Parc Guell. This park was actually a business venture dreamt up by Eusedi Guell, a Catalunyan businessman. He wanted to create a luxury housing development outside of Barcelona (the park is up on a hill about 30 min. from the downtown). Anyway, Eusedi called up our boy Gaudi and they got to building. The community was to have 60 houses, but Gaudi decided first to build the communal buildings like the pavilion that would serve as a market, the terrace to take in views of the city, and the guardhouses. This turned out to be a good call, because Guell estates was a total failure and nobody wanted to live in the boonies. Eventually Guell sold the property to the city of Barcelona and it has since become a municipal park. 

Carlitos and I in Parc Guell

Plaza de Catalunya aka the Puerta del Sol of Barcelona

Other things I liked about Barcelona:

roughly: "this isn't a crisis; this is capitalism." oh, those silly Catalonians. 

Super-fancy stores. This one's for Taylor

This one's for Jill

just another bank or something, nothing special

hot child in the city

While the "Fab Five" was bathing in the Dead Sea and nomming on falafel, the Dynamic Duo was meandering around Madrid! That's right, I had a special visitor this week...Jennifer Abbey Zelnick!

Jen had a week-long October break from Haverford and decided to spend it with me in Spain. Wahooo! I met her at the airport on Saturday morning and took her back to my homestay, where she predictably crashed from red-eye-flight-induced exhaustion. Fortunately enough it was POURING out - literally the first rainy day in my 6+ weeks in Madrid - so we didn't have an action-packed day. After a very long siesta and lunch, we met up with a friend at the Reina Sofia museum to see Picasso's Guernica and other modern art works.

My friends Carmen and Miguel also had visitors, so that night we met up with the whole group to hang out. Luckily by then it had stopped raining, so we were able to walk around Tribunal and Gran Via without getting soaked. We met a few more friends at El Tigre, one of our favorite bars ever. It was love at first sight for Jen, especially after she ate the stuffed mushroom tapas. After some cidra (cider-yummm), we headed to Kapital, Madrid's famous behemoth nightclub. It's 7 floors, which in European floor-ology means that there are actually 8! Each floor has something different: pool tables, mojito bar, salsa, karaoke, balconies, a huge theater-type dance floor, and more that I can't remember at the moment. We had a great time dancing with friends and headed home at 4:30.

On Sunday we met some friends in Sol and finally went to the Mercado San Miguel, which I'd been meaning to visit for many weeks. It's Madrid's oldest and most venerable indoor market; think Chelsea Market + Eden Gourmet + Balducci's inside a giant greenhouse. Pretty much heaven on earth! It's also rather pricey, so we bought bocadillos (sandwiches) at a little cafe a few streets away and took them to Parque Retiro for an afternoon picnic.

A lot of things were closed on Monday because Spanish people do not work. Ever. In Spain, whenever there's a holiday on a Tuesday or Wednesday, people take the preceding days off as a "puente" or "bridge" between the weekend and the festival day. Because Tuesday Oct. 12th is a holiday, (celebrating Columbus' arrival in America and the subsequent conquest and subjugation of native populations, forced conversion to Catholicism, smallpox, etc.) Monday was the puente. Unfortunately we did not have a puente for our classes.

Tuesday was Armed Forces Day/Fiesta de Santa Pilar so we didn't have class. Jen and I went with some other friends to see the city-wide parade that marched right past my house. We saw a lot of soldiers and horses and also the Queen! It was very interesting because we got the opportunity to see how Madrileños feel about their government. Everyone was super excited (like, peeing in their pants excited) to see the royal family but booed and jeered at President Zapatero. There are quite a lot of anti-Zapatero sentiments. The King was very angry that the public took this day - which was supposed to be a solemn day to honor and respect the armed forces - to air their political grievances. Here's an article about it: King > Zapatero. Very interesting.

The rest of the day Tuesday and Wednesday Jen and I had fun walking around the city. Because she'd already been to Madrid, we didn't do a lot of "touristy stuff" and instead just spent our time eating and exploring the city. ¡Que divertido!

mo' montaditos mo' problems

I've realized that I tend to write emails/blog posts on Sunday and then I have to cram a week's worth of activities plus weekend adventures into one heinously long bulletin. Thus, mini-posts.


I never actually write about the week because it always goes by so darn fast! We only have four day weeks, and by the time I'm settled into "school mode" it's the weekend again. Not the worst problem in the world, but one that makes studying somewhat difficult. 


On Monday I went to my internship for the second time and started a new project. I'm researching a new educational incentive called "Escuela 2.0" that President Zapatero introduced earlier this year. The program gives money to schools so they can buy computers for each child and teach lessons using Internet programs, CD-ROMs and other kinds of audio/digital interactive things.  It's a bit complicated because each autonomous community is in the process of setting up a different program; some communities (cough Madrid, Murcia and Valencia) are opposed to the whole initiative due to "health risks" as well as issues of effectiveness and money. The last one especially. At Cambridge University Press, I'm scoping out the programs (a computer for each kid, a computer in the classroom, digital blackboards, etc.) in each AC so that CUP can alter/augment their existing online software or make new programs as needed. Fun!


Flamenco class continues to be a source of endless amusement and unexpected challenge. It's actually way harder than I thought it would be. We're learning 4-5 dances at a time with lots of complicated stomping and swishing of skirts. ¡Ay! For your listening pleasure, here are two of the songs that I'm currently grooving to:
Verde by Manzanita
Borriquito by Peret

This weekend my good friend Jen Zelnick is visiting and I'm very excited to show her around Madrid! We will definitely be hitting up Cien Monteditos, one of my favorite new restaurants/bars (and also the source of this post's awful pun). "Monteditos" are small sandwiches. The thing is that on certain days, you can order an enormous jarra of tinto de verano for 1 euro and a lil' sandwich for 1 euro. I went there last night for dinner with some friends and spent 6 euro. ¡Que ganga (what a steal)!

Hasta Luego!

Besos,
S

rey de tormentas/rey de hamburguesas

I named this post "Storm King/Burger King" because this weekend I experienced many sides of Spanish culture both highbrow and somewhat scuzzy (o, "cutre). Here's a resumen con fotos!

Thursday -- met some friends in Parque Retiro to share a bottle of wine and conversation after classes. We wandered around the park for a while - it's huge! and gorgeous! - and found the "Palacio de Vidrio" which looks like a large version of the summerhouse from the "I am 16 going on 17" scene of "The Sound of Music". That night my friend Emma and I had a mini-bar-crawl of two, meaning that we walked around a new neighborhood and checked out the bars. Our favorite was a cute cidreria (cider bar) with very kind bartenders who gave us bread with weird cheese, gratis! After that we met up with the big group and went to a big discoteca, Palacio, and danced until 4 a.m.

Friday -- went to the Reina Sofia art gallery with some friends. The Prado and the Reina Sofia are Madrid's most famous museums for classic and contemporary art, respectively. I used to drag my feet/make fun of modern art but lately I've found it very interesting albeit confusing. I think that the artists fascinate me almost more than their art. It's amazing that someone can be so creative and strong in their convictions as to take something completely new or mundane and call it art. I was especially taken with one painting that showed a collage of nonexistent objects and shapes. I can't even describe it adequately because every single one of the images was a nonentity. That kind of creativity blows my mind. After the museum we went to a nice plaza nearby and had a coffee and listened to street musicians: 

sculpture in the courtyard at Reina Sofia 

friends at a cafe- sarah, hillary, ellie, carlitos

que ambiance!

Friday night we had a "noche femenina" or girl's night out. About 15 of us went to a cafe/bar to see a performance of "flamenco intima." There was a man playing the guitar, a woman singer, and two dancers who performed several "pasos" of flamenco for an audience of maybe 25 people.

Saturday -- Woke up early and took a hour-long bus ride to Segovia with two friends for the day. We saw the Alcazar, the Cathedral, the Aqueduct and other historic sights. Segovia is campaigning to be named as a European Capital of Culture in 2016, so there were flyers and signs everywhere. We also took a short bus ride from Segovia to La Granja, a royal palace built by Philip V in 1721. It is often called "The Versailles of Spain" or the "Little Versailles." We spent a few hours walking in the gardens and seeing the beautiful fountains and outbuildings. 

in front of the aqueduct with emma 

catedral de santa maría

julia hangin out in front of the alcázar

pequeña versailles

el jardín -- qué bonito!

We got back to Madrid by 8-ish p.m. After a brief rest, we went out with our Spanish guides/friends. I think I've talked about this before, but in Spain everyone is broke and bars are expensive, so young people "botellón" aka drink in the streets/public places. We all B.O.O. (brought our own) and went to a plaza in the Tribunal district that was so full of people botellón-ing that you couldn't see a patch of  free ground anywhere. Botellón is illegal and at one point there were police in the vicinity. In a massive yet coordinated wave EVERYONE stood up, picked up their drinks, and peaced out. If you've ever seen vendors in Chinatown hastily retract their bootleg videos and knock-off purses, it was rather like that. I was pretty impressed, to tell the truth. We relocated to another plaza and continued our botellón until nearly 2 a.m., at which point we went to a club/bar called El Barco. We took the metro home at 6:30 and got home at 7 a.m. After sleeping 'till 1:30 - a new record! - María cooked Stephanie and I a superb breakfast of pancakes with nutella and bananas.

¡Gracias Maria!

Besos,

S

p.s. I have more pictures posted on Dad's Shutterfly account.