Carnaval in Madrid & Toledo
07:07
Before I say anything about this weekend, you should know that I'm writing this blog post from my death bed (on the sofa, with a cuppa like a true sick English gal) so everyone should probably feel sorry for me and send chocolate please and thank you!
On Friday at FOUR IN THE MORNING Virgi and I got up, got dressed in a still-half-asleep trance and then made our way to the train station (and ended up running and nearly missing the train) because we were headed to Madrid for the weekend! Once we'd endured the five hour train journey, we got some food then headed to the flat to meet the rest of the group who had got there the day before. The flat was insane, 6 bathrooms, 7 bedrooms and 18 people. Sixteen of those people were Italian, then there was a Spanish girl and myself.
On Friday night we went to a club in the city which I loved, mostly because they didn't just play music from the UK's top 40 two years ago... It was such a funny night, but right at the end of the night I reached to check my phone was in my bag and it wasn't. My bag had been opened and my phone taken from inside it, we spent about 45 minutes trying to work out its location on Find My iPhone, but whoever stole it had blocked its position so my phone was gone for good. I wasn't the only one to have their phone stolen either - four other girls also had theirs taken that night! Currently feeling like I've lost a limb, which is sad but unfortunately true!
On Saturday we slept in till around 12, had lunch and cleaned the flat and then Virginia and I decided we needed to see Madrid in daylight, so we headed out for a short walk with Pito, one of the Italian boys who I cannot even begin to describe (friend's from Felsted, he's like a more ridiculous Temple?! - love ya, Temps). We then headed back to the flat, got ourselves ready to go out and headed to the bus station to go to Toledo!
Toledo is a beautiful town about an hour south of Madrid, we went there for Carnaval and I have honestly never seen anything like it. Everyone was dressed up in the most hilarious and extravagant costumes, drinking and dancing in the plaza where there was a big stage set up with live music. We got to Toledo at 9pm, after wandering round the bus station trying to work out how to buy a ticket for about 200 years, and then split into groups for dinner (Virginia and I chose the healthy option - chicken nuggets at McDonalds). Once we had regrouped, we drank vodka limón and danced in the plaza for a few hours - even when it started raining heavily for what was apparently the first time in two months! - and then we headed to a club where we danced even more until finally dragging our now zombie-like selves to the bus station (making a pitstop for churros con chocolate on the way) and getting the first bus back to Madrid at 8am on Sunday. It was the most hilarious, surreal and exhausting night and I have never been so glad to collapse into bed as I was at half nine on that Sunday morning!
As you can imagine, Sunday was pretty much a total write-off of a day. Virginia and I slept until around 2pm, ate some biscuits for breakfast (nutritious and delicious) and then went to the Museo Reina Sofia with Ludovica, one of the Italian girls. We wandered round the museum feeling very confused by the art and then made our way to the Templo de Debod which had the most amazing view of the city. While we were there, we bumped into two of Virginia's friends from Italy, so we headed to Montaditos for some food. Montaditos is a bar/restaurant which offers everything on the menu for 1€ on Sundays - its all tapas in sandwiches, its amazing. Although I'm not 100% sold on Spanish tortilla (eggs and potatoes) in a baguette...
On Sunday night we all stayed in, as money and energy were running low! Everyone was a bit hysterical and while Virginia and I tried to sleep, the boys decided stealing each others clothes and hiding from each other was a brilliant plan. It was absolutely hilarious to watch. We were crying with laughter, particularly when someone suggested to get into teams...
Eventually Monday came round and we packed up, cleaned up and headed out for lunch and a stroll in the park before catching our planes and trains back to Santiago. At lunch, Gabriele decided to teach Pito some table manners (sit up straight! don't talk with your mouth full!) and I realised I now understood some Italian as I realised I was understanding everything he said to Pito - buzzing! We went to Parque del Buen Retiro after lunch and most of us sat with a coffee (in my case, a hot chocolate) while Andrea, Daniele and Gabriele hired a boat on the pond. A couple of hours passed and it was time to catch our train back to Santiago, so Virginia and I hopped on the metro and made our way to the station - again having to run for our train and getting on with about a minute to spare!
Five hours later and we were back from sunny (but cold) Madrid, in rainy Santiago and reunited with Julia and our lovely flat!
It was such a brilliant weekend, despite losing my phone and not understand everything everyone was saying (note to self- learn Italian)!
Bean xx
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