Madrid with Mom!

After returning from Barcelona, my mom and I spent the rest of her time here in Madrid. I got to show her the places I love, and she got to explore the city. We had done some exploring the week before, but we had more time during this past week. It was a really great time.

We started the night we got back from Barcelona. We ate in a small bar in my neighborhood and watched a soccer game. Then she stayed in my apartment for the night (some planning mix-ups had occurred on my part...). The next morning, we went to El Rastro, a huge market held every Sunday here in Madrid. It spans a whole neighborhood, and is filled with clothes, toys, antiques, souvenirs, artwork, and anything else you could possibly think of. We got lots of presents for people, and wandered around all morning. Then we went back to my neighborhood to have lunch, and watched part of the Real Madrid game in the bar. The only soccer matches I have watched while here in Spain have been with my mom. Just by chance they were on whenever we were eating. We then headed to Sol to check her into her hotel. After dinner, I headed back to my apartment, since I had school the next day.

On Monday, mom had the morning to herself, and then I met her for lunch. We went to el Museo del Jamon, where they have a great 1 euro menu. Then we finished our meal at la Chocolateria San Gines, the most famous place to get chocolate con churros in Madrid. Since I had a lot of homework and laundry to do, and had to be in my apartment to give my landlord my rent, I left my mom on her own for dinner, and she went to Reina Sofia for the free hours.

On Tuesday, she had the morning to herself again, and we met after my classes to go to el Museo del Prado. We walked about during the free two hours, and then headed to Chueca. We had a traditional (for me and my friends) Chueca evening. Pizza and soda at the 24-hour pizza place, ice cream at the best ice cream place ever (I don't even know it's name), and then a glass of wine at la Vinoteca. It was really nice to have a relaxing evening with my mom, and just chat about our adventures.

I had no school on Wednesday, since it was el Dia de la Almudena, the patron saintess of Madrid. Being a religious holiday, the people of Madrid don't do to much celebrating, they just go to mass. So we went shopping. We wandered around an area my friends had said had great shopping, but because of the holiday most of it was closed. So we headed to Gran Via, which is a much more touristy area, and founds lots more stores open. There were some great deals going on, so we found clothes and more souvenirs. We stopped for lunch at Pans and Company, sort of like the Spanish Subway, and kept going. After the long day of shopping, we went back to my apartment to get her suitcase filled with my stuff, and went to her hotel for the night. After a nice siesta, we had dinner at a pintxos bar (Basque-style tapas) for dinner and followed it up with ice cream.

The next day we headed to the airport bright and early. It didn't go very smoothly, since we discovered her flight had been cancelled over a month beforehand. Luckily, we were able to get her on another flight, though we had to pay 70 euros in baggage fees with the operating airline. Hopefully United will reimburse us, since they gave her no notification of the cancelled flight. That made Thursday an even longer day for me than it would have been otherwise. At least my mom got home safely though :)

I am really glad my mom was able to come visit me. We had a great time, and it was a great experience having someone from my life at home come see my life here in Madrid. It made me even more excited for when Kenny, my boyfriend, and Carrie, my cousin, arrive in just one short week. I love sharing my life here with others, and it's great to see people from home, especially the ones I love.