Brannon's Euro-Trip

Madrid Layover

Yesterday was an EXTREMELY frustrating last day in Madrid. It turns out I need a ¨Being an Idiot¨ fund budgeted into my trip. The first part of the day was great. I went to the big market and wanted to buy everything and settled on a couple of T-shirts and some really bizarre comic wallet type things. Around 4pm I was done downloading my pictures and trying to figure out ways to waste time until my 11 pm train out of town. I went looking for a new book. The selection was ok but I wasn´t really in the mood to read and all the department stores were closed. So I decided to take the advice of some of Vanesa´s friends and go to this HUGE movie theatre (possibly biggest in Europe..or close) with 25 screens and so forth. Well it turns out it took me 40 minutes on the Metro to get there. I kept on falling asleep during the ride... I did a lot of walking. I think I´m on the brink of discovering something very important geographically about Madrid. And then always ending up near Atocha station will make sense. Anyway it was starting to get dark and figuring the time it would take me to get back I didn´t know if I could see a movie and still have plenty of time. Plus I wasn´t really sure if what I found was right...it didn´t look so big... and I was starting to get a headache and hungry. I stopped by a general store and grabbed anything that looked familiar and not sickening which happened to be: a banana, cheetos (I had to be careful to get the normal ones) and oreos. I ate these and got back on the Metro.
Forty minutes later I´m back at Cat´s where I wasted just enough time to get to Atocha (where all the trains depart from Madrid according to the NORMAL print in my Eurail guide). First of all it rains on me. It´s not very far but I wasted my last Metro ticket and I´m not going to pay for another one. I´m an hour early and I SWEAR I saw Barcelona on the screen and it said 23:17 or something like that Via 4. So I conclude its running a bit late and park myself in front of Platform 4. Then a train comes and EVERYONE gets on it or off it maybe. SO I ask the security dudes who speak no English but manage to communicate that there are NO more trains departing from Atocha tonight. So I show them my ticket and they show me that it say Chamartin. The other station on the other side of the city. It´s 10 minutes to departure which I KNOW is impossible. I talk to the metro people and they tell me which line takes me directly to Chamartin. They also think its funny that I don´t speak Spanish. Ok. My experience has been that the Spanish are much more laid back and that their trains rarely leave on time. At best I can get there in 20 minutes. As soon as I get on the train I remember (thanks to a sign, the metro workers forgot) that the bit between one of the stops and Chamartin is shut down and you have to get off and take the free shuttle. At this point I realize this is my cue to have a complete breakdown. But I don´t. I have the phone number of the station in my Eurail book. But, of course, my phone doesn´t work. I try anyway. Yep. No deal. I managed to get to Chamartin about 35 minutes after my train has left. Only to be comforted by a little man who tells me I won´t be getting my money back but I can pay for another reservation on the first train out in the morning at 7:45. Then he stamps VOID on my reservation-- which I personally think was just out of malice. So at this point I am only comforted by the fact that I saw an American Embassy (McDonald´s) at the bus stop and I can take lots of sadface pictures while stuffing my face. I get there an it is CLOSED. Early because its Suday. Which I think should be illegal. I pay ANOTHER metro fare to go back to Cat´s where the Internet is closed (early again). I pay for another night. Where I have to sleep upstairs with a bunch of old ladies who were clearly NOT amused by the fact that I could not get the door opened. And wake up at 6:35 and am too tired to make lots of noise out of spite. After a very traumatic dream where I´m auditioning for Cabaret for Dr. Horne NOW even though I´m at Granny´s with Lillian and I have nothing prepared but I HAVE to sing ¨Coming up Roses¨ because that´ll get me in for sure... it was all very confusing. End dream. Then I went ATOCHA which is right this time. To Cat´s credit they did give me a croissant and coffee even though it was way before breakfast time. Pity story complete. On the upside I did decide about halfway through I had a place to sleep and I knew what I was going to do in the morning and I wasn´t going to worry or beat myself up about it anymore. It wasn´t worth it. I mean I didn´t even have anyone to feel sorry for me. Ha. And I think I handled it pretty well. I didn´t call my parents and cry. Though I think I might should have cried. I might could have gotten an extra croissant to take along for the ride.
Barcelona seems very nice. And its rainy here. So it turns out I didn´t miss my one pretty day afterall. All I´ve done so far is shower (hygeine is at an alltime low) and wash a BUNCH of cloths in the sink. My microfleece is honestly the smartest thing I brought -- but it is TERRIBLE to wash. It resists the water but once its taken over its completely sunk.
On Saturday night I had a great night out with Vanesa and her friends, Marta, Ruth and Melissa. Marta and Melissa were pretty fluent in English and Ruth could manage a few good sentences. We went to VIPS for dinner (at 11pm--which is when you eat dinner here) and then to the clubs. Madrileños are no kidding out all night. At 3am and 6:30 am there are still plenty (not homeless people) on the streets. The first club we went to wouldn´t let us in because I was wearing tennis shoes! Would that happen in the States? No. Money trumps fashoin. Please. The girls didn´t ditch me and we went to the next club. Every place we would stay about 10 or 20 minutes and go to the next one. It was fun. Vanesa and I shared a can home. Which I think is my first cab EVER. It was very expensive. But the metro´s closed and its a long walk home. They are a very fun and smart group of girls. I wish I had written this yesterday so it wasn´t so summarized.
Ok. I am WAY overbudget on the communal internet time.

posted by Brannon @ 6:52 PM