Playing Catch-up (Part IX)

So right now I'm really happy. I bought disinfecting wipes and cleaned various surfaces in this squalid dorm in which we're being forced to reside, and I feel much more comfortable knowing that at least some things are moderately clean. Now, if only the water would stay hot...

Right, so, I left off on Bonnie's and my departure for España. We had a 2:20ish PM flight on Friday, but had to leave majorly early because UCD was nowhere near the airport. Basically we had to take the bus into the city centre, then take another bus (Airlink) to the airport. Of course, it was foggy and raining and our flight ended up being delayed an hour, so we had to sit in this gross section of the Dublin airport and read crappy airline magazines along with 3 other kids from the program who were also going to Spain on the same RyanAir flight. But eventually we made it on the plane and soon landed safely in Madrid! Words cannot express how very happy I was to see SUNSHINE out of the small window as we touched down. I could practically see the heat radiating off the city and my joy was barely able to be contained. But it was a little while until we actually breathed fresh air, since we had to take the metro from the airport into the city, which took about 30 minutes. But eventually we got out, and I was hit with a wonderfully welcome blast of real summer heat. It was amazing.

Bonnie and I ended up wandering around the area near the Plaza del Sol for quite a while because we couldn't find the tiny street on which our hostel was located. Eventually we caved and purchased a huge Michelin street map of the city from a nearby bookstore, so we finally reached our hostel around 9:00 PM or something. Our hostel, which was relatively inexpensive (30ish Euro per night for a room with a double bed), had THE BEST location - right next to the Plaza Mayor. It was FABULOUS. It was also clean and homey, which we really appreciated. As we freshened up, we heard beautiful choral singing coming from somewhere down the street; some group was practicing and it was just lovely. We tried to see who it was from our window, but failed, so we just heard these invisible singers. :)

Eventually we journeyed out into the warm night air and saw that the city just comes alive at night. Parents, kids, teens, elderly folk - everybody just gathers at the Plaza Mayor and eats a late dinner. We wandered through and politely declined waiters who tried to give us menus and then walked down random streets, enjoying the atmosphere. We passed a number of bookstores that were closed, which made me really disappointed - this was the night of the 20th, and the final Harry Potter book was being released at midnight. But then we saw a small group of people, some in cloaks, queueing (yeah, that's spelled correctly) outside a bookstore that was closed. I got really excited, especially as I saw a sign taped to the door. My Spanish skills didn't fail me as I learned that the store would reopen from midnight until dawn for the release of the book! Madly and wildly excited, Bonnie and I decided to grab a quick bite to eat before going back to the hostel to change. We found a cheap falafel place, went back, and she put on her fuzzy ears (don't ask) and I donned my Gryffindor tank top and a black skirt. Then we rushed back to the store just after midnight to learn that the book wouldn't be available until 1:01 AM, to correspond with 12:01 AM London-time. The store was decked out with brooms hanging from the ceilings, and there were games and lots and lots of journalists and reporters and camerapeople. We were occasionally approached to talk but our faulty Spanish didn't really work. There was also a super jumpy security guard stationed by a stand of books draped in black, which we later realized had been the hiding place of a whole stack of Death Hallows books. Anyway, eventually the time ticked away and after a big countdown, a huge cheer went up, confetti rained down, the curtain agains the wall was ripped down, and a huge mass of people surged towards the wall to grab the books on the wall shelves. It was absolute chaotic madness, unlike the orderly system employed in the US. People were nearly trampled in the mad rush; I could barely squeeze through and despaired of ever getting a copy. Luckily, this kind girl started handing out copies to the crowd, who all then surged towards the two cash registers. Needless to say, it took 45 minutes before I paid for my copy, left, and returned to the hostel.

I read a bit that night but decided not to burn through it and to savor the last book... sigh. Plus, we were in Spain! After a decent night's rest (although the continual city sounds right outside our window made it a little difficult to fall asleep,) we awoke, refreshed, and headed out into the city. We decided to find the bus station on Avenida de America, because we had to take the night bus that evening to Bilbao and wanted to estimate how long it'd take us to get there. With the aid of our Michelin map, we realized that it was about a 1.5 hour walk and that we'd better just take the metro that night. But we did get to see lots of the city along our walk, including many beautiful fountains, churches, and buildings in general. Afterwards, we took the metro back to the city centre and walked to the Prado. The museum is gigantic, but we saw a good portion of it - lots of Goya and Velazquez and El Greco and also lots of Italian works. We stayed for about an hour and a half, and then sat on a park bench outside the museum. Bonnie napped and I read Harry Potter in the sunlight. Next we went back to the hostel, got our backpacks, and rested outside for a while before meeting our 3 classmates for dinner. They'd chosen a vegetarian place that served a 3-course meal for 10 Euro, but it was really disappointing - the food wasn't good and it definitely wasn't worth the money. Boo. Afterwards, Bonnie and I took the metro to the bus station and got there rather early, but eventually it was 1:30 AM and we boarded our bus to Bilbao. That was a rather hellish journey, just because it was really cold on the bus and we couldn't really sleep very well. We reached Bilbao around 6:00 AM, and we couldn't meet Tamara and her parents until 9:00 that night, so we had a VERY interesting day. It was really cold when we arrived, and we were dirty and tired and grumpy. We cleaned up in the bus station's bathroom, then wandered around for the day, sleeping in the metro station and in a little park we found as the sun came out and gradually warmed up. Random people talked to me; this older man told me that Bilbao was empty because it was a Sunday in July and everyone was on holiday. It certainly seemed empty; the stores were all closed and nothing was going on. Eventually we ate lunch in a mall Tamara had told me would be open, and then we walked by the Guggenheim and marveled at it, and somehow we wiled away the hours until 9:00, when we returned to the bus station to meet her.

Okay, wow, this is really long. I'm going to stop now, but I'll write more later.