Monday, September 8, 2008

Day 2: Getting my footing

I was in for a slippery walk around Madrid in my Old Navy flip-flops. Not the most comfortable for the slick stone streets of the city. I tripped twice, once on the sidewalk and once during a mad rush to the hostel so we could make it before check-out time. I got a cell phone from the sales clerk named Elvis, who incidentally interspersed all of the conversation with song bites that he sang (even getting the other sales clerks to sing along to one that he played out of his cell phone--"I got my mojo working"). Adena and I moved everything into her apartment (if you'd like a mental picture, take 3 flights of stairs, 3 suitacases weighing 50-60 pounds, and 2 smaller- framed girls- and then laugh). But we made it, and got all of her stuff moved in. Her roomate was so sweet to let me keep my stuff there so that we didn't have to worry about anything valuable getting stolen while it was at the hostel. The day ended with a walk around the city, where Adena and I found out about Grand Via and all of these other beautiful places that I didn't know existed before. Madrid started to grow on me in that walk and is growing on me every day. One of my highlights was an older woman belting "Besame Mucho" in the subway station. It's a very dynamic city, and each neighborhood is unique.

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