The Beginning: Chicago - Frankfurt - Madrid

Let's start at the beginning. Seeing as I rarely fly, this was obviously the biggest trip I had ever taken in my life. Thankfully, on the Chicago end, everything went swimmingly. Getting through security was incredibly quick, and was not at all invasive like I thought it may be. I didn't have to step through any body scanner, I didn't have to be pat down inappropriately; shoes off, laptop in the bin, and I was through. I had quite a bit of time to spare before my flight.

The above photo shows my gate absolutely packed and overflowing into the main walking area of the airport. I was somewhat hoping that it was for another flight, and that my flight wouldn't be completely packed. Sadly, I was wrong. Every seat was full. My seat was almost completely near the rear of the plane - unfortunately, this was where many of the incredibly loud children/crying babies decided to sit as well. Thankfully I had my headphones as was able to drown it out until they fell asleep.

When I sat down, I introduced myself to the young couple to my right, who I later found out was engaged and heading to Rome to celebrate (their destination has an importance later on in my getting-to-Madrid). They were very nice; we joked and tried to make light of the upcoming 8-hour flight into Frankfurt. The guy even offered me a FiberPlus bar! And when you get offered a FiberPlus bar, you take it, right?

Wrong.

I ate it, and it was quite good. I should have used my brain a bit more before eating it however, because during the 8-hour long flight, my insides began tearing themselves up. Granted, it could have been from the lack of a good amount of food that day, but I believe the fiber in this bar wreaked havoc on my innards. Almost the entireeeeeee flight I felt uncomfortable, and it prevented me from really sleeping at all. Short version: it sucked.

Movies we watched: The Social Network, the new Wall Street movie (meh) and then an episode of friends and No Reservations. A nice mix, made the time go by somewhat. Hours (that felt like days) later we land in Frankfurt. I'll mention now that what was supposed to be a 3+ hour layover in Frankfurt turned into about 40 minutes, due to "Airport Operations" or something similar at O'Hare.

The first photo I took on European soil. This is me slyly taking a photo of the customs area in Frankfurt. The guy basically takes your passport, looks at it, looks at your Visa, asks you what you're doing there, and then wishes you luck. Pretty quick, altogether.

A view from the huge windows in the lonnnng airport in Frankfurt. The airport is laid out very oddly; you walk quite a long distance from gate to gate. Getting off my plane, I had to run from gate A10ish to gate A28, which took quite some time. When passing the large reader boards (of which there are few), I noticed my flight had been delayed 20 minutes. No biggy I thought, it gave me a bit more time to get situated. 

I stop by a little shop in the airport to buy a water. The attendant/clerk was filling water to my right at the time. All the bottles are sitting on the same shelf, without any dividers, and the guy is literally shoving bottles in, which is pushing the bottles in back aside. Theres only so much space in the back, and eventually they begin pushing the bottles in the front around. Of course, as I lean down to get my water, a coke slips off the shelf, lands RIGHT on the cap, and rockets over me, dousing me in its contents. Awesome. I now have coke hair.

I get to my gate, A28. I look around for a girl sitting by herself, because before leaving I had exchanged emails with a girl in my program and we had planned on meeting in Frankfurt to semi-travel together. I see a girl and say "Amy?" and she says "Yes...?" with a incredibly surprised look on her face. Turns out, she was an Amy, an American going to Madrid, but not the Amy in my program. We talk a bit, and I assume the Amy I'm looking for is running late. 

10 minutes later, another girl, this time someone in my program, shows up. We talk a bit too. We're all excited that we get to travel together, and lose some of the worry of traveling solo. We wait a while. Still no plane, and no attendants at the gate desk. 10 more minutes pass. At this point, I should have been concerned: the fiances going to Rome show up and sit down in my gate, and of course I think nothing of it. 

Finally, someone shows up at the gate from Lufthansa. Hooray. I go up, and realize the electric sign above the gate has changed from "Madrid" to "Rome." I ask the lady where this flight is headed, and she tells me with a can't-you-read look. I go back and tell the two girls I'm with, who immediately grab their things and join me at the counter. When asking what happened, the lady tells us that our flights gate was switched to A11. She then tells us what no one wants to here: the flight has left. We're in Europe, all for the first time ever, practically alone, and we missed our flight. Insert swear here. To make things worse, the lady THEN proceeds to call the airport a place for adults and not kindergarteners. I angrily say thank you and walk away.

Queue freak out by two girls with me. One of them begins to tear up a bit. We start walking back for what seems like 2 miles through this now even longer airport toward the Lufthansa help desk. Theres a huge line maybe 30 people deep. We wait through it, thinking we're going to have to pay for another ticket, or even have to wait overnight for another flight to Madrid. We finally get to the front with a story about how our gate was changed and we were never informed, and how our original flights were late. We were ready to sell it to this person.

We get up to the lady; her name tag reads Birgit. She just got back from her lunch break, drink in hand. She motions us to wait one second. When she comes back, I begin with our story: "Our flights were delayed and we missed..." "No problem, I'll book you all on the next flight right away." Amazing. She was so nice. A complete turn around from the &^#* we had at the gate. Our flight now leaves in less than an hour. We can now potentially make it to Madrid on time, without having to pay an extra dime. I shook her hand and probably said thank you 14 times.

To end a long story shortly, we board the plane,  it is also delayed a bit because of ice, I sleep 95% of the way there, only waking up to have food in my face. It was relieving, and I am exhausted.

Our hotel room. No, we didn't push the beds together, that's just how they are. This place only allows internet access for 30 minutes a day in the lobby. Here, we spent two days and were fed a really nice buffet breakfast both days. A nice hotel for sure.

Yup, a bidet. That is all. 

Our first full day there we took a walking tour of Madrid, which included a trip through the art museum of Madrid. This was a statue from right outside the museum, which offered works from many huge Spanish artists of the part including Goya, El Greco, and my favorite Velazquez. Once inside, we all got headsets which allowed us to hear our tour guide give interesting descriptions of many of the paintings. We totally looked like tourists, but it was really great. At one point, we get into a large room of the museum, I turn around, and in front of me is one of Velazquez's paintings I had only seen in books. Right in front of me. About 15-20 feet tall. Gorgeous.

It's a self portrait of sorts. He's the dude on the left in black looking at you. It's called Las Meninas. It's literally named for the little people on the right side of the photo, who were commonly servants during this period. It's a great work for many reasons. Some people think the subject of the piece is the little girl in the middle. Some think Velazquez is looking into a mirror and drawing what he sees. The third option is that he's painting two people who are sitting where you are. You can kinda see them in the mirror at the back of the painting. Just awesome to see in  person.

More of the walking tour around Madrid. It's a huge city, so I have no idea what this area was. Very busy, but awesome architecture everywhere.

Another shot as we head towards what is known as 'Sol,' which is a commercial area downtown with tons of stores and subsequently, people.

This is Sol. At this time it is about 2 or 2:30 local time, which is generally lunch time followed by a siesta. This was pretty tame as far as the size of the crowd.

Inside the Palacio Royal, to the left. This is one of the newest churches/cathedrals in Madrid. Our tour guide said many people find it to be pretty ugly. I kinda liked it.

A view out the back of the Palacio Royal, overlooking the outskirts of Madrid.

Gotta talk about this for a second. I know every town has its street performers. Madrid was no different in that regard, but was in the variety of performers. In Chicago, you'll get the dudes hitting the drums. Here, you get people with no head! I tipped this person, and heard "muchas gracias" in a feminine voice. It was a chick.

Along with the above was one of the most unique street performers I had seen in a while. Just walking down the street, you come to what seems like a table with three heads on it. Not knowing what it is, you inspect it closer and them BOO! It was a guy dressed up like a table, his head was in the middle and his hands are in the heads on either side. Not a great description, but it caught nearly everyone in our group off-guard. Unique.

Even Spain has Mariachi bands. There was another one not 200 feet away.

Here's Sol as it's getting busier. Turns out this day was one day after a big holiday here (Dia de los Tres Reyes), so it's kinda like their Black Friday. Every store has a sign saying "Rebajas" (sales) and apparently it goes for the whole month. Here in Granada, too, there are rebajas at nearly every store. According to Maria, my Senora, the rebates get even better in February. 

That's all for now. My next update will be about a town I only spent 1 day in yet I feel attached to: Toledo.