¡SKOL VIKINGS!

It is 2 am here in Madrid but we (I) can't sleep after that thrilling Vikings victory that had me screaming in my hotel room over a choppy stream. So what better time for a blog post! Madrid is crazy. To begin to explain how crazy, we will match my photo on the London Bridge with one of Hallie outside some enormous palace. 

Remind you of a certain sweater, Kristi? 

The days have been filled with wandering and wine and tapas. And repeat. The city was mild and tame in the day time, but as the sun set the Spaniards emerged. The entire city was literally jammed full of people from sidewalk to sidewalk. Every little packed alley way opened to squares full of markets, people with odd noise makers, Disney characters galore, and far too many neon colored wigs (big thing in España?). 

A less crowded street where I could actually get a snap

Streets by day

There was an old and famous street filled with tapas restaurantes where we began on our tapas crawl. Stop numero uno spoiled the rest. We kept seeing “jamon iberico” on every single tapa menu and decided the first place to get it. Another thing that can’t be described. They have preserved pig legs sitting out in restaurants and shave off slices and put it with everything. There are even “jamon” Ruffles for sale in the convenience shops. 

You can buy these. 100€ each. 

Mouth watering meats :p

Today we pretty much did the same thing with the tapas crawl, focusing on a little less wine (sleepy today) and more sangria, paella, croquetas, montecados, and churros con chocolat. 

Salmon bites

Traditional Spanish treat

When we checked into our hotel today we asked the front desk man if there was some special occasion the night before but he said it was a typical Saturday night. However, he informed us there was a warm up celebration for New Year’s Eve for everyone who couldn’t make it to the traditional “12 grapes” New Year’s Eve event. 

A nap before the New Year’s Eve Eve celebration was in order due to the massive amount of feasting and yesterday’s late night vino tinto. Afterwards we explored the rooftop terrace our hotel has which has a 360 degree view of the city. Amazing. Hallie was frightened we were going to fall off. :( We then had our first full on EuroSaver experience at the McDonald’s below our hotel. Hallie was parched and only a Coca Cola Light would do the trick. MCD’s had the most elegant decor of any restaurant we’ve been in to this point. 

The celebration at the local town square for the NYEE 2013 was insane, and this was the night before. We felt like we were in Times Square but with a completely different atmosphere. Everyone was wasted as there is no open container law, yet there were families and toddlers roaming around. Champagne covered thousands of people, including us, at midnight. Can’t imagine what tomorrow night will be like in Barthelona. 

An early train ride and Vikings/Packers game had us back to the hotel shortly after midnight. Should be getting to bed soon! SKOL VIKINGS