 | Home! | May 31, '08 4:02 AM
for everyone |
I went on something of an impromptu trip this week, to Madrid. I say impromptu, I'd known about it for a while, but had been putting off making a decision on going cause I didn't really want to be parted from Mat for that amount of time. I can see how people wouldn't get that, given that we spend most of our lives apart, but it's different. We have our little routines, I see him in the morning before he goes to work, and we spend time together every night when he gets home, and there are games and phone calls and much smooshiness and I do love that.
So, I wasn't going to go but then my friends and Mat started telling me how I'd regret it if I didn't go etc. Would I have regretted it? Meh, I don't think so. It was a gorgeous city, but my mind was elsewhere and I had the usual stress that I always get in new places. I have some stupid social disorder that makes me feel like people are staring at me. It's worse some times than others; for instance, in my home town, I hardly feel it at all. Foreign countries though, I always get a little panicky. I know it's stupid, and I'm quite sure people have better things to do than look at me, but I get really self-conscious and nervous. So there was that.
Plus I was with my stepdad. He's not the most fun person on the planet and drives me insane at times. I've been away with him before and it always, always ends up with me having to bite my tongue because he's driving me so nuts....everything has to be so regimented, the "holiday" must be planned down to the minute. That's not my style, I like to take it easy and see what happens. Also, he expects me to read maps. That might be fine for some people, but this is how maps look to me:
I suck. And my drawing isn't awesome either :P
Oh and he made me negotiate the Metro (underground trains). This involves knowing which station you are going to, and what the end station on that line is, also the number. It's confusing and the Metro smells like pee and failure. In every country.
I shouldn't complain really, I got to eat some really nice food (nom nom, octopus and squid, hot chocolate and churros, and paella. Though not all at the same time.) It was a beautiful place, the first full day there we took in this sightseeing bus...basically you get an all day ticket and it has stops at all the major points of attraction, the buses are about every 20minutes and you can hop on and off as often as you like. There's also an (amusingly badly translated) audio guide, and the top deck is open air so you can lean out dangerously to take pictures get a really good view.
There is an amazing palace there, the Palais Real...it's just awesome. It's right opposite the fairly new Cathedral (amazing in its own right) and if you ever go to Madrid, I'd recommend a visit to both.
There are many little squares and plaza's dotted around, fantastic architecture and my favourite, a genuine Egyptian temple, painstakingly moved brick by brick from Southern Egypt. Alex was so fascinated by this, he's been learning about Ancient Egypt at school and it's his new favourite topic. Genuine heiroglyphics on the wall, you're not supposed to touch but I couldn't help myself. I love to lay my hands on ancient stonework and imagine the people that might have touched the same spot in ages past.
I think my favourite part of the visit was going to the zoo. The Metro dumps you in this suburb surrounded by open countryside, no signposts to direct you to the zoo, and my map (not that I could read it, see above) didn't extend that far. So we had to take pot luck and wandered off into the scrub. Whereupon 2 very camp British gentleman approached us and asked if we knew where the zoo was. Strange world. So after a very scenic 15 minute walk, we finally found the zoo. I'm always torn on them, I know I'd never get to see these animals without zoos and I do understand how much they help with conservation of threatened species but at the same time, it saddens me when you can see an animal doesn't want to be there. Still, the giraffes were just gorgeous (they're so wrong! Nothing should be proportioned that way!) and the penguins were adorable. There was also an aquarium, with sharks, and an insect & reptile house, with snakes, spiders, tree frogs, lizards, and locusts that scared the hell out of Alex.
So that was that. It was a nice visit but I was grinning so big when the plane touched down on home soil yesterday. It sounds strange, but England looks so very...English, when I've been away. It's so lush, and the oak trees are so verdant and pretty, and so quintessentially British after the olive trees and cypresses you see all over Spain.
The best bit of news this week was Mat getting his tickets to come back over here. 100 days and counting :D It sounds far off, but we've been here before and it did go by quickly, with hindsight. I can hang in there, plus I get him for 2 whole weeks this time :D :D I can't express my happiness. I just checked my calendar. 100 days. 15 weekends. 15 more episodes of Doctor Who (not that there are 15 episodes in a season, but I'm just saying). 15 more lazy Sundays with the trashy tabloid paper. 15 more fun-filled weekends with Mat. It's so dealable. Right?
There are tons of interesting facts about 100, but my favourite by far is..."100 - the number of tiles in a standard Scrabble set". Seeing as how we met through Scrabble (or its Yahoo counterpart Literati), it seemed fitting :)
I'll leave you with some pictures. The first 2 are the view, left and right, from my hotel balcony. The balcony of doom, it was about 1 meter in length and maybe 60 centimetres wide. The floor sloped down. We were 6 storeys high, I got dizzy every time I looked out. Eeek.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, and if you haven't been to see Indiana Jones yet, go do it! I took Alex last week and it was wonderful!
           These and so many more HERE!
| I'm not very good with maps either and I totally understand on the social disorder thing - same here!
Glad you had some fun despite missing Mat!
That bear looks really sad :o(
As usual the pictures are excellent! |
 | very nice pictures.
I'm taking an impromptu trip very very very soon! Less than an 100 days. less than 10 days! Can you guess where????? ;)
indiana jones....I've already instructed Vic that he is not allowed to see it. I want to see it with him, at the cinema, with popcorn, leaning on his shoulder. Ooooh, I'm grinning just thinking about it. (Hmmm, maybe I've given away where my impromptu trip is going to be :D |
 | Great pictures, and glad you had a good time. I am in the middle of my 2 weeks's vacation back home, and happy to be here. Be well. Rock on. |
 | Thanks Col, I enjoyed taking them. Maps are evil. Evil!
Steph, you lucky thing! And good on you! :D I'm really thrilled for you, how long are you staying? |
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| Matt, glad you're having a good time, and thanks! You be well too. |
 | Great pictures! What a view from the balcony! Wow, I was a bit dizzy just looking at the pictures! :)
2 whole weeks with Mat? That's awesome! |
 | Madrid is a city i've wanted to visit for a long time, i'll get there one day |
 | Tally, great that you had a nice time, despite having to miss you sweetie. But not long to go, hon. you' ll see. It will fly by :-) |
 | it looks like such a beautiful city. the photos are gorgeous! |
| Windi, I got so dizzy when I went out there...I guess it was totally safe but omg, looking down. Never again!
2 whole weeks with Mat is wonderful. I don't think I'm going to find it any easier to say goodbye this time around but I'll sure take what I can get :)
Viv, it's an interesting place, fascinating history. I do recommend the sightseeing bus as the Metro is horrendously busy and confusing...the bus takes you everywhere you're likely to see, is reasonably priced and has air con!
Kimtje, I think it's going to go by pretty fast too :) I'm counting down every day, it can't come soon enough :D
Kerry, glad you enjoyed the pics. It is a beautiful city and I probably sound like an ungrateful brat.
Travelling with Alex isn't always fun now, he has such a short attention span! |
| i'm staying just under a month. Not enough! Worst still...I've used up all my annual leave for the year now! BOO!
Oh yeah, also wanted to add, I totally understand with the routine thing! If it's a split second out I start freaking out and worrying where the hell Vic is :D I think it's turning into an illness! :D |
 | Hiya Tally. Thought you'd been 'missing in action' for a while. Now I know why. Although I've been to Spain several times, I've yet to visit the capital. Looks and sounds a great place. Ever been to Barcelona? Fabulous place, I'd recommend it to anyone.
I'm fortunate to have a very good built-in sense of direction, so I don't often need maps and if I do, one look over the route I need is usually enough to memorise it :-) I thought your map was hilarious!!
I think all balconies in Spain are like that. I remember on a couple of occasions having a hotel room with a balcony the size of a postage stamp, and they always slope towards the street. Vertigo sufferers beware!!!
Loved all the photos, but my faves were the 'laid-back' big cat (Panther? Puma?) with it's paws crossed and the penguins. |
| Steph, I'd take a month! I'd soooo take a month. More. Sigh.
It's weird about the routine, since I usually hate routines, but it's comforting, when we're so far apart to know we have set times that we spend together. When it's knocked out of kilter, if one of us has to be elsewhere, it has a definite effect. I really feel it. It's not the way I'd have it, but I'll take it.
Mitch, we did Barcelona a couple of years ago, it was gorgeous. That was one place I really did love, it had a very different atmosphere to Madrid. I guess I'd compare Madrid to London and Barcelona to somewhere a bit more laid-back, like Brighton.
Panther, and isn't he just gorgeous? My favourite animal :D |
 | I'm glad you decided to go baby, you got wonderful pictures! Still, I'm really glad that you're back. This was a long, lonely week without you. It's cool that you're so well traveled.... I love hearing about all your adventures :D I loved the blog, baby, especially that map drawing :D I got a good chuckle out of that. It's so great to have you back >:D |
| I'd rather have been with you :) I thought you might appreciate my map, I remember trying to direct you in Leeds and we got stuck on that awful loop :|
I love you so much :-* |
| I'm lucky in that Alex digs museums. We went to an exposition of Ancient Egyptian things excavated from an underwater site, big statues and sphinxes and pottery, he was fascinated by it. He's cool with art galleries too and doesn't complain. The problem I tend to have with him in museums is the gift shop. There's always a gift shop selling overpriced crap and Alex always wants something. He had a massive tantrum in one of the places cause I wouldn't buy him an expensive book, he was tired and cranky, it had been a long day but still...he threw his cap on the floor, jumped on it, screamed and cried :| I picked him up and put him over my shoulder and dumped him on the grass outside. I was SO not impressed.
His boredom threshold is reached very easily when it comes to walking long distances and shopping. He hates shopping if it's not for him. Clothes stores are hell! |
| even with stuff they like, my kids still have a short attention span. they want something, you think about getting it, then they see something else they want. they want to run around and yell...not fun.:| |
| I'm pretty lucky, Alex is generally a really well behaved kid. He does get too excitable if he feels the need to show off for someone, and he does have a spoilt streak which I have to admit is my own fault. It's hard when you have an only child, it seems natural to give them the things they want, within reason. I have tried not to spoil him but I can see sometimes it hasn't entirely worked. I'm pretty tight about stuff now that he's at an age where he's understanding more about the value of money etc, and hopefully it's something he'll grow out of. |
| ours are spoiled, too, unfortunately. my parents, especially, have trouble holding back on the presents and whatnot. we're trying to be more careful about getting them stuff, but it's hard. they still have no concept of the value of money and trying to explain it to them just leads to frustration right now. hopefully it will get better soon. hubby and i just need to be stronger. :) |
| He's going to have to learn cause money is in increasingly short supply just now, and to be fair, he usually accepts with grace. I find "Maybe for your birthday" works nicely! |
| Cause he tends to forget about stuff pretty fast. I think a sibling would make a difference, but I can't see that any time soon :P I have only child syndrome too, I was a spoilt brat and it's very hard to get out of. I still sulk if I don't get my own way. |
| i know what you mean. even though i have two older half sisters, i still essentially grew up as an only child because they are so much older than me. they were already grown and married by the time i was born. |
| I know I can be a real brat at times. I hate not getting my own way so bad, and it's not really a good way to be...the reality is that life doesn't always go the way you want it and sometimes you just have to accept that you won't get what you want, when you want it.
Stupid being-an-adult :| |
| i know. i hate it, too. :) |
| Although, it has as much caffeine as you want, and kissing. It's not the worst thing ever. But still. I miss the days where I got what I wanted ;) |
| I dunno about the sibling solution.... I got my first one at 7 and we were bitter rivals until, well, last year. My sister came along 7 years after that and we were far enough apart to be able to enjoy each other's company. I wish you much caffeine and kisses, gorgeous :-* |
| Awww, I got a step-sibling at 5 and we hated each other too, But I did have to share my toys for a while ;)
I do have plenty of caffeine, still waiting on my kisses though :-* |
| |
Travelling with Alex isn't always fun now, he has such a short attention span! 