A Visitor!!

Last weekend my lovely boyfriend Chris flew out to Madrid to visit me for the first time. It was so strange to see someone so familiar after being away from home for so many weeks! I met him from the train at Nuevos Ministerios but only after faffing about not knowing where to wait and coming crashing down on my hands and knees after changing my mind on an escalator and trying to run back up the first few steps...again smooooth.

We only had 4 days so had to pack in as much sightseeing as possible. From the station we headed from Gran Vía down to Sol looking for somewhere to get some lunch. We ended up in Montaditos which is a famous Spanish fast food place that serves tapas and tiny sandwiches. After a mix up in which we we nearly ate another guy's food we finally got our Tabla of mixed options. To be honest I'm not sure I'll be eating there again it all seemed a bit over-hyped.

After a walk down into Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor we headed home to my flat in Atocha; it was so nice to have someone to show it to and to introduce Chris to all my housemates. It had been a long day with an early start for Chris so we stayed in on Friday night just catching up and watching a TERRIBLE film (if you get the chance to see "Lucy" with Scarlett Johansson politely decline).

We were so lucky with the weather for the whole weekend. Saturday dawned bright and warm so we decided to go for a walk in Retiro. It really is a lovely park; we sat with a drink in the sunshine watching all the roller skaters zip about and little kids with scooters trundling along. I really wanted to see the Palacio Cristal as I'd heard it's really beautiful. Sitting outside it was a dude playing what I've since found out is called a "Hang" - a metal instrument that looks like a UFO or flattened globe that he balanced on his knees and played like a drum. It was amazing the wall of sound he created by just tapping out his rhythms. The Palacio is as beautiful as I'd hoped it would be with the sunlight streaming through the high glass panels and the autumn leaves reflected in the ornamental duck pond outside. There was an art installation in the centre of the palace made up of a caravan with panels cut out so that we could peer inside. It was full of tiny animatronic puppets of magical creatures made of twigs and doll parts that each seemed to be dancing about to strange backing music. At the far end of the caravan was a woman lying asleep in a white nightgown with the strange creatures playing all around her. At first we thought she was a model, then Chris convinced me she was real, then I wasn't sure again and in the end had to ask one of the minders. It turns out she was made of wax but was the most realistic model I've ever seen - she even had a mechanism inside her that made her chest rise and fall as though she were breathing! Her skin was incredible; it must have taken the artist aaages to create her.

After a quick lunch back at the flat where I introduced Chris to tortilla (in my opinion one of the best things about a year abroad in Spain) we headed to El Mercado de San Miguel. I'd known I was going to take him there since I discovered it on my first day in Madrid all the way back at the begining of October. One of the most famous food markets in the city, it's housed in a huge Victorian glass house and packed with tapas stalls full to bursting with everything you can think of; definitely Chris' kind of place. We tried smoked salmon and dill crackers before deciding to come back for pudding and headed to Calle Cava Baja for dinner. After reading the menu of every restaurant in the street we finally settled on the first one - sorry Chris! A lovely dinner of garlic prawns, salmon, albóndigas and tiny beef steaks followed (the spanish don't seem to be big on vegetables...). Then bag to El Mercado for a chupito of passionfruit yoghurt.

Sunday was a fairly lazy day. We wandered up to Malasaña to buy some ingredients for dinner from El Mercado de San Anton. We got there within about half an hour of closing time when most of the fish and meat stalls were packing up so we bought some lovely vegetables instead and decided to make ratatouille. The second floor of the market is devoted to tapas stalls and a bar; though there were tables it was absolutely packed so I wouldn't hold out on getting a seat if you're thinking of going. We had tiny ham and salchichón sandwiches, tomatoes filled with feta cheese, an octopus cracker, tortilla and to finish off Chris had a slice of coffee and bailey's cheese cake. Our attempt at ratatouille was mainly successful (it looked like it was supposed to) but a bit tasteless so we had to add some chorizo. We made so much I've been eating it every night for a week...it's beginning to lose its appeal...

On Monday we had a lie in and then headed to the famous San Gines for chocolate con churros. These are like deep fried doughnuts dipped in melted chocolate. They were nice for the first one and a half churros but then we started to feel a bit sick...

Reading this back it seems like all we did was eat but Madrid has such nice food! After a dinner of paella, fried goats cheese with blueberries and rabo de toro or bull's tail stew (food again...) it was time for Chris to head back to the airport. I went along for the ride and it only took about 40mins so it should be an easy journey for me at Christmas. We said our goodbyes *sniff* and then I headed back to my little flat in Atocha.

Having Chris here even for only a weekend was so lovely and I can't wait to see everyone in England again at Christmas. At first, after a couple of days of mainly speaking english and not thinking about work, I felt refreshed and ready to take on Spain once again. A few days into the week however and I just wanted to go home. That's the downside to having visitors - sometimes when they leave you wish you were going too! My mood hasn't been helped by the horrible dark rainy weather we've been having here but thankfully the sun soon came out again and I began to feel better. I've realised that it's keeping busy that makes me feel good (that and my new MAC lipstick - Merry Christmas to meee, Merry Christmas to meeeee) so have planned a week full of clarinet lessons, cinema trips, christmas shopping and photography sprees.

I apologise for the lack of photos to accompany this incredibly long post; I decided to leave my camera at home for the weekend but I'm sure I'll be uploading some photos of San Miguel soon as it's one of the most photogenic places I've seen so far in Madrid!