Madridiculous.

ok pretending it hasn't been five months since i wrote on here and we're all up to scratch...! (sorry about that.)

so after my ferry docked in valencia, i got the super fast speedy train inland to madrid. there i would be staying with my old buddy from brisbane, annabelle.

belle has lived in madrid for three years on a scholarship with a prestigious design and fashion school. she is the luckiest, yet most deserving person of good fortune i have ever met. everything annabelle goes for, she gets but in turn, her generosity towards all those around her (like say, an impoverished young traveller with hatred of youth hostels) means she has some serious good karma. 

en route to madrid. i wasn't flipping the sunset off, i'm just an awkward camera holder.

belle told me her friend sally would be collecting me from the station, since she had to work that night taking 30+ swedish real estate agents out to dinner and a drag show (naturally). 

after dashing back to belle's amazing apartment for a freshen up, sal and i met up with her spanish lover, david, and the three of us got sloshed on icey flavored beers before meeting up with belle and the trannies. 

Five beers for 3 euros...!

annabelle, david & sally :) :)

we didn't get home until an ungodly hour but somehow annabelle convinced us all — including kenya, her roommate from the states, who literally got off a 13 hour flight that morning — to accompany her on her swedish tour guide duties the following day.

while belle warned me that we were going to a bull fighting arena to 'play games' with the young bulls (which naturally filled me with horror and had me contemplating whether i should attend), the promise that i didn't have to participate, plus the lure of a pool party with free food and drinks afterwards seemed to good to pass up. 

i sat in the arena while the games took place but spent the whole time playing games on my phone to avoid looking at the terrified baby bulls with burn marks on their rumps from being prodded with hot rods. 

the swedes got a kick out of being charged by the bulls but i fucking hated it. sorry spain, but this is one tradition i cannot respect, nor understand. 

nonetheless, the pool party afterwards was splendid. 

why would anyone throw an oversized stuffed burger in the bin?

as part of her role as tour guide, belle had to walk around waving this umbrella  high above her head, lest any of the swedes (and lets face it, her australian/ american tag-a-longs) got lost. 

the next day, we decided to take it easy with a bottle of red and picnic in the park. belle took her rollerblades out for a quick spin, while i tried to improve my spanish by reading harry potter in español. belle and kenya, who are fluent in spanish, helped me translate but pointed out that i really couldn't have picked a harder book to read... after all, when would i need to use words like 'wand', 'broomstick' and 'expecto protronum!' in spanish? 

my answer? almost every scenario calls for a harry potter reference. and besides, what if i encountered some spanish dementors? ;)

beautiful foliage 

that sunday, we headed to el rastro, madrid's largest flea market. oh sweet lord, it was incredible. every stall, every shop contained treasures worthy of a museum, yet there they sat, covered in dust, with a 10 euro price tag slapped on them. sigh.

if i had had a home to decorate and money to burn, i would have shipped a whole container of wares home. 

this dress was actually from the 1400s. the comparison of european history to our own... well, there is none.

^^ i picked up a pretty sweet turban at the market, as well as pins that commemorated my biggest love (dinosaurs) and my biggest hate (bananas). 

markets were followed by an absolutely delish lunch and many, many drinks in the afternoon sun. at one point, a strange young fellow wearing very small pants strutted past and put on a juggling demonstration for the crowd. i couldn't understand what he was saying, but kenya and belle were loling their heads off.

by this point, sal had left us to explore the south of spain and belle was busy with school and work. kenya wasn't starting her new job for a few weeks, so she generously offered to show me some of madrid's best attractions. 

this bear is the symbol of madrid and is everywhere. 

plaza mayor

the best market.

delicious lemon icy dranks w/ ke chavezzzz <3 

the royal palace of spain

plaza de españa

that night, i cooked the meal i cooked for everyone on my journey (nay, the meal i have cooked for everyone, ever, in my life): beans! 

my mother has taught me a lot of things in my twenty-five years, but i think perhaps the most useful has been how to make mexican bean burritos. always a crowd pleaser and easy to make, beans have saved my ass at dinner parties more times than i can count.

in a terrifying turn of events, however, i realised that my precious go-to meal was from the same homeland as sweet kenyita. cooking mexican for a mexican... very clever melissa. luckily, she gave it two thumbs up (or she was nice enough to pretend to!)  

i must not have insulted her with my watered-down version of mehico's national dish too badly, as she invited me to come to her old university the next day. kenya is from california but did a semester of university in madrid a few years ago. she is now back in spain to be an english teacher. so basically, living my dream. 

the spanish love a protest and i was delighted to see these feminist response posters decorating the halls of the university. can i get a hell yeah?

gettin' cafes at la cafeteria!

kenya is a cute head

signage just aint what it used to be.

after picking up a slice of pizza, we decided to visit pargue del retiro, one of the loveliest and most diverse parks i've ever seen. i swear every 100m there is something new and beautiful to look at.

my favourite part: the palacio de cristal (the crystal palace for those playing at home). it used to house exotic plants but is now an art exhibition space. 

so so lovely, especially in the afternoon sun.

another part i loved: the rosaleda (the rose garden). when in full bloom, during spring and early summer (it was heading into autumn when i went), visiting the garden is apparently like stepping into alice in wonderland. it was still pretty magical to me!

PEACOCKS!!!!

as madrid became my base over the next four weeks (with dashes over to portugal, morocco and the south of spain in between) i had plenty of time to do some solitary exploring as well. one day i visited the old post office and went on the rooftop for some pretty spectacular views of madrid. 

i like this photo, even though it was a misfired selfie. look how defined the bum fluff on my neck is!!

six storey wall garden, dreamy.

i was hanging around, waiting for the clock to strike 6 as that was when it became free entry at the reina sofia museum (that's how i roll). anyway, these little kids were playing in the square out front and they were just so cute, i had to take a picture. 

the little boy had just taken the yellow balloon off the girl. she burst into tears, snatched it back off him, shoved him to the ground and belted him repeatedly in the face with it. it was gold. 

one day, i bought myself some lunch and went sat in the park watching doggies play in the fountain. living.

decode festival occurred while i was in madrid and since i hadn't been to a music festival in years (parklife still haunts my dreams... the horror, oh the horror) i thought i owed it to myself to see if i could still behave like a 25 year old.

kenya bowed out (sensibly, she would rather spend 80 euros on travelling than a night of getting off her face) so it was just sally, belle and i. 

i got into the swing of things by donning the shortest dress i own. the following photos don't really need commentary but let it be known, i can behave like a 25 year old :D

kimbra!

i was given a free bumbag. i threw it away after this photo was taken.

after the festival ended, we went to a club at 4am with some new friends. belle and i were a little concerned when sally didn't get in our cab but said she'd meet us there. this is how we found her again: wearing a bumbag, sunglasses and a cowboy hat she had no recollection of attaining.

^^ me at 7am. believe it or not, i was the first person home. acting like a young person is a tiring business. 

a lovely memento that sums up the evening perfectly (belle and sally looking perky; me nearly asleep but still having a good time). 

the above photo of kenya was taken on one of my many quick dashes up to madrid, when i was trying to organise a visa to china (more on that later). 

i am so lucky to have had such a solid group of decent humans to come 'home' to after each little foray. those three girls became like sisters to me and they always welcomed me in with open arms. i really can't find the words to express just how nice that was... to be on the other side of the world and yet know a familiar, friendly face was just a quick train ride away whenever i needed it.

despite this trip being about finding my independence and doing things for myself, my time in madrid really made me remember how god damn great life is when it's shared with good people.

to annabelle, sally and kenya... thank you, thank you, thank you.

i love you all to sweden and back xx