Thursday, July 5th History

     We all woke up at 7:30 to our alarm that all of us hated.  We woke up at that time because we all needed to take showers before breakfast because we had a tour at 8:45 that morning.  We all showered relatively quickly and headed down to have breakfast.
     Evan Langebeck ate a banana, some fresh fruit, and a muffin, which probably 1/8th of the muffin ended up on the floor.  David ate a pear and some sausage that he doused in syrup, resulting in him spending 10 minutes once we went back to our rooms attempting to clean his face, albeit unsuccessfully.  Evan Cope ate some scrambled eggs with sausage, which he surprisingly stayed clean while eating, while Matt went ahead and ate cheese and meat slices, a surprising breakfast to be served at a hotel.

     We left the hotel around 8:30, barely making it to our tour by 8:45.  We met with our tour group and the guide at the Puerta del Sol and began a short walk to the palace after a few minutes.  Once we got to the palace, we were able to get in almost immediately.  Once inside, the tour guide started to tell us about the rich history of the palace.

Royal Palace of Madrid // History

The Royal Palace of Madrid

    According to our tour guide, the palace was originally a Muslim castle in the 9th century, later being converted into a Christian palace.  In 1734, the palace burned down, resulting in King Philip V building a new palace, the one we visited.  Several architects were a part of the designing of the palace, such as Giovanni Battista Sacchetti, Francesco Sabatini, and Filippo Juvarra.  Since then, it has been converted to a tourist attraction, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Madrid.

     Although the palace housed over three thousand rooms, we were only brought through 20 during our tour, but we were allowed to stay afterward to explore the rest of the rooms.  Matt, an
avid fan of medieval times, rushed us to the medieval armory room.  The armory had both full-sized knight armor and horse armor.  Along with that, it also had full-sized real weapons, which was hard to keep Matt from touching.  We were finally able to drag Matt out of the armory and went straight into the painting gallery.  Of course, Matt went running off to the paintings from medieval times and those depicting battles from then.  After we spent a few hours wandering the painting gallery, we decided we should probably go ahead and eat some lunch.

Matt's Pizza at La General

     Once we got to La General, we waited for just over a half an hour to be able to get a seat, getting a seat surprisingly quickly for not having a reservation at such a busy restaurant.  Matt and Evan Langebeck shared a bacon and onion pizza.  Evan Cope had a chicken burrito with spinach and mango chutney.  David had lasagna bolognese, which he savored every taste of it.

Temple of Debod // History

The Temple of Debod from outside

     After we were done eating, we headed to the Temple of Debod, getting there around two o'clock.  According to the stands and displays around the temple, the temple is an Egyptian temple from the 2nd century BC.  It was originally built in Egypt as a dedication to the goddess Isis.  In the 6th century AD, the temple was abandoned following Nubia's conversion to Christianity.  Hundreds of years later, in the 20th century, it was given to Spain as a thank-you for helping to protect the temples of Abu Simbel from the impacts of the Great Dam of Aswan.  In 1972, it was finally opened to the public, quickly becoming a popular tourist attraction.

     We were sadly not allowed to go inside the temple all at once due to regulations set to keep it in optimum shape for as long as possible, so we ended up going in separate groups so we could all enjoy the inside of the temple.  After we had all explored both the inside of the temple and the outside, we realized we were going to miss our reservation at Astor, so we hurriedly headed to Astor.

Astor as we got there

     We got to Astor at 8:25 PM, just 5 minutes before our 8:30 PM reservation.  When our names were called, we headed in and sat down at our table.  Evan Langebeck ate some oil infused barbeque with roasted red peppers, garlic, and basil.  Evan Cope ate some Iberian ham croquettes and mashed peas.  David ate salmon tartare with roe, capers, avocado, and spicy huancaína sauce.  Matt ate a salad with red cabbage, fruit, honey, ginger, and arugula.  Once we were all done eating, we decided to head back to the hotel.  Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to all do our own things and go to bed at our own time.  David watched some YouTube before falling asleep on his bed with the YouTube still running around 10:00 PM.  Evan Cope decided to watch some more Spanish cooking shows, much to the annoyance of David, and then fell asleep around 11:00 PM.  Evan Langebeck and Matt played video games together before both falling asleep around 1:00 AM.

Wednesday, July 4th

San Francisco el Grande

     Evan Cope woke up to the sound of Evan Langebeck and Matt horsing around. We enjoyed our breakfast in the hotel, although we sat next to a guy who could not get any food into his mouth. We were going to the San Francisco el Grande, and David was excited because he was really interested in 13th-century architecture. David was so excited that he ran so fast that he accidentally ran into a small kiosk selling t-shirts and hats. The lady working at the kiosk was so nice that she gave us free hats.
     Once we finally get to the cathedral David was disappointed due to it not being as interesting as the Milan Cathedral.  Matt ran around pestering the security guards as Evan Langebeck admired the convent of Jesús y María. When we were looking at the Cathedral we saw a group of girls try and carve their names into the side of the building, we got a good demonstration of the security. Two of the girls ran as the overweight guard went lumbering after them. When we finally decided it was time for lunch, Evan Cope was sad that we had to leave the cathedral because he thought it was finally starting to get interesting.

The pizza we got at Telepizza

     After hours of looking for a place to eat, we finally decided on Telepizza. We all decided to share the Carbonara Gourmet Queso. It was a delicious pizza that you could never get in the US for the same price.  After lunch, we all decided to go back to the hotel room to watch TV and pretend to understand what it means.  We were watching "Jose Made In Spain," which is a show about a guy what shows people how to make food traditional to Spain.

     After a few hours of that, we decided to go down to Casa Lucas, which was a good dinner and a great night.  When we were done eating, we went back to our hotel and watched TV in our separate rooms. We all ran back out and saw Langebeck carrying Matt out of bed. Matt was still sleeping and the only thing we heard of him was some extremely loud snoring. We all walked downstairs to set him up at the top of the stairs. We then woke him he rolled up on his left side, but to his surprise, he rolled down the stairs. Matt ran up the stairs yelling and cursing at Langebeck and swearing he will get his revenge. Everyone but Langebeck fell fast asleep that night because he was afraid of what Matt would do.

Tuesday, July 3rd Natural Environment

     David woke up, the first one awake, around 7:00 AM CET(the timezone of Madrid), and when he turned towards the others, he laughed at Evan Cope's face covered in mustaches, accidentally waking up Evan Langebeck in the process. Still having over an hour before the plane would land, David returned to playing video games, and Evan Langebeck continued with the same Sudoku puzzle he had been stuck on the previous night. After around 30 minutes, Evan Cope woke up, who then attempted to continue his drawing on Matt's face, waking Matt up in the process.

A picture from Xanacuk

     We got to the airport in Madrid at 8:05 AM, and we headed to the baggage claim, grabbed our luggage, and headed to customs. We breezed through customs, and we were able to easily grab a taxi to our hotel by 9:00. The taxis in Spain are strange, being mostly black, but yellow doors.  We first took a taxi to our hotel, getting there around 9:30.  We were much too early to be able to check in, but luckily the hotel allowed us to store our luggage there before we got our rooms so we could explore Madrid without having to carry our luggage around with us.  From the hotel, we walked to Restaurante Xanacuk for a large breakfast.

     At Xanacuk, Evan Cope ate a chicken wrap that was a mix of greens, chicken, Parmesan cheese, and some Cesar sauce.  David got a salad with quinoa, grilled vegetables, dry tomato, spinach, and chicken, although he picked out the spinach, which Matt happily scarfed up.  Along with the spinach from David's salad, Matt got a Gabi Juice, which is a smoothie made out of pear, orange, banana, spinach, and ginger.  Evan Langebeck settled on a Tandoori Chicken Wrap, which was made up of cabbage, lombardo, carrots, chicken with tandoori sauce, and mango chutney.

Picture of Putera de Alcalá from the air

     After we all ate our breakfast, we called a taxi to go to Buen Retiro Park.  Before we entered, we passed by the beautiful Fountain of Cibeles, a fountain shaped in the likeness of a goddess on a chariot driven by two lions.  After passing that, we passed a beautiful structure, Puerta de Alcalá.  Puerta de Alcalá is a monument made up of 3 arched passageways and 2 rectangular passageways, one on each side of the arches.  Around the monument, the grass had flowers in a beautiful spiraling shape.

     When we got to a spot the taxi could stop, we got out of the taxi and walked into the park.  We walked down a long and wide two-sided entrance down to a large circular open area with a fountain in the center.  As we continued in awe of our surroundings, we reached a large rectangular lake called "Estanque grande del Retiro".  We walked to the railings surrounding it, and, as we should have expected, Matt pretended to push Evan Langebeck into the lake.  After the hostility subsided, we continued on our exploration through the beautiful park.  We continued wandering the park, and eventually found a fountain called "Fuente del Ángel Caído", or "Fountain of the Fallen Angel," which is a fountain depicting Satan falling from Heaven.  From there we found our way to La Rosaleda, a botanical garden in Buen Retiro Park.

La Rosaleda // Natural Environment

     The cool breeze and the shade given by the trees surrounding us was a welcome escape from the heat we had dealt with throughout the day so far.  The beautiful assortment of various types of roses from all over the world took our breath away.  As we walked throughout the well cared for pathways throughout the garden and past several gardens, we were in awe of the beauty and careful coordination and work that had been put into the garden, all for the citizens and tourists in Madrid.

Picture of Fuente del Ángel Caído

We wandered throughout the garden for about 30 minutes until we realized that it had gotten close to 6 PM and that we should probably eat dinner, and then head back to our hotel.

     We decided to eat at Mercado de la Reina, a decision we do not regret.  David had a roasted pepper salad with a tuna taco that was surprisingly delicious.  Evan Cope and Matt had scrambled eggs of red prawns and mushrooms, which Evan Cope enjoyed, but Matt ended up trading it with Evan Langebeck, who originally got eggplant fried with cane honey, something that didn't fit him, but luckily Matt enjoyed it, and Evan Langebeck enjoyed the eggs.

     We then decided to walk back to the hotel, as it was quite close, and we ended up getting back to our hotel at about 8:00.  We all met together in the room David and Evan Cope were staying in to watch more "Jose Made In Spain."  After about an hour of that, David had already fallen asleep, and Matt and Evan Langebeck returned to their room.

Monday, July 2nd

     We had planned to all get to the airport at 11:30, but as feared, Matt got there late, leaving David stressing for those 15 minutes that Matt wasn't going to make it in time, and that we wouldn't make our flight.  When we had said our goodbyes to our families, and to our dogs, we headed into the airport to check in and go through security and immigration.  Once we were done with the boring stuff, we headed to our terminal, located seats near electrical outlets, and sat down, fighting over who got to plug in their phones first.  Knowing it would take a long time to check in and go through security and immigration, we ate lunch at home before we headed off for the airport in order to not have to search for food at the airport.  After we settled who got to plug in their phones, we found ways to pass the time, Evan Langebeck playing on his phone, David starting a new "Minecraft" world, Matt running through the airport shops, and Evan Cope running around the terminal, pestering the other travelers waiting for their planes.

Our first plane on the inside

    When we heard the announcement that we should board, Evan Langebeck texted Matt telling him to come back, and once we were all ready, we all entered the plane and sat together.  Matt forced himself into the window seat with Evan Cope next to him, and David took the second window seat with Evan Langebeck next to him.  The airplane finally got off the ground around 3:45 PM.  The airplane was roomier than we had imagined, thus we were able to sit next to each other without fighting, although it was mostly because Matt was already asleep.  Matt slept almost the entire plane trip, waking up only once, scaring Evan Cope, who was drawing mustaches on Matt.  The other pair, David and Evan Langebeck, were peacefully co-existing, with David playing video games, and Evan Langebeck, who was trying to peacefully complete some Sudoku while listening to some music.

The place we ate at

    Once we got to the airport of our connecting flight in Canada, we rushed out of our gate and to the nearest restaurant to eat some dinner before getting back on the plane.  We were able to find a restaurant in terminal 1 that would work for everyone, and went to start ordering food.  Before we started eating, Matt had to go to the bathroom, and when he returned, making us all worry he would notice the mustaches on his face.  When he returned, he furiously demanded to know who had done it to him as we burst out laughing.  After nearly getting kicked out of the restaurant for making such a big disturbance, we finally calmed down and Evan Cope admitted it was him, causing Matt to silently formulate a plan to get revenge.  David got a garden salad, not being able to eat anything else due to his allergies.  Matt ended up getting a ham and cheese sandwich, trying to not get something too messy because we were about to go back on a plane for 7 hours, and we wouldn't be able to clean up much before we got back on the plane.  Both Evan Cope and Evan Langebeck had turkey clubs, and they really enjoyed it.

Seating area at the airport

     After we were done eating, we realized that we only had about 20 minutes before our flight departed, resulting in us rushing to our flight's terminal, luckily being able to get to our terminal without getting lost.  Again, we sat with the same arrangements as the previous flight, even though Evan Cope covered Matt's face with mustaches.  Although the plane was more close-quarters than the previous flight, David fell asleep almost instantaneously, with Evan Langebeck being kind enough to not draw mustaches on his face.  After about an hour of Sudoku solving, Evan Langebeck went to sleep.  Evan Cope, who was a little worried of Matt's possible revenge, was reassured when it looked as if Matt was sleeping, and fell asleep, not knowing that Matt in fact was still awake, waiting for Evan Cope to fall asleep, ensuring his revenge.

About our Trip

     We went on our trip from the 2nd to the 15th of July, 2018.  For our first stay in Madrid, we got two double rooms at the B&B Hotel Fuencarral 52, each with one full bed.  For our stay in Barcelona, we got two camper rooms at Casa Camper Hotel Barcelona, each with one queen bed.  For our stay in Pamplona, we got two double rooms, each with one double bed.  And finally, for our second stay in Madrid, we again got two double rooms at the B&B Hotel Fuencarral 52, each with one full bed.  While we were in Madrid, the average temperature was 77 degrees Fahrenheit and there was no rain whatsoever.  While we were in Barcelona, the average temperature was 73 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was very little rain.  While we were in Pamplona, the average temperature was 68, and there was a little bit of rain.
     Currently, one USD, or United States Dollar, is worth 0.85 of a euro.  That means that our $18,000 budget in total translated to €15278.40.

Our budget can be found here

Our itinerary can be found here