A Weekend in Madrid in August

Hey there! I’m a little sad that it’s already Monday, but that’s only because this weekend was quite good- the classic weekend in Madrid in August. It was the perfect blend of seeing friends, doing fun things, working out, and getting stuff done. As soon as this post gets published, I’m actually going to be running out the door to head to an appointment for my Spanish citizenship. Fingers crossed that it turns out to be the appointment I’m hoping for, but either way, there will be an update soon!

Friday

As I said on Friday, Luis and I had plans to go visit the Reina Sofia Museum on Firday afternoon and then have dinner. We quickly got into the Reina Sofia (which was nice, since sometimes the wait for the Prado can be over an hour), and had 2 hours to look around at the art.

I’ve been to the Reina Sofia a bunch of times, but there is always so much to see. In the (almost) two hours we were there, we only saw ONE floor (and there are 4).

Luis was taking that photo just as one of the monitors started freaking out that you can’t take photos in that room (no, we didn’t know).

After the Reina Sofia, we stopped for a drink in Lavapiés before heading to dinner. I love me a good ol’ typical Spanish bar that gives real cañas and tapas!

We had plans to try Restaurante Xiongzai, a Chinese restuarant here in Madrid that everyone and their mother talks about. I was SO EXCITED. It’s a little hole in the wall place and super inexpensive (my kind of place!). I’m pretty sure excitement to do something is directly proportional to the likelihood that the place will be closed because…guess what?…it was closed (because it’s Madrid in August). Super dissappointing, but we remedied the situation with Ethiopian food from Hanan.

Luis had never had it, and I haven’t had it in years.

The caption: Wtf is that? ^^^^

(Mom or Dad: the Ethiopian place we went many years ago, when we sat on the floor, was that in Washington?). We both enjoyed the food, but I thought it was overpriced for what it was (15€ per mixed plate, so 30€ for both of us) and Hate (with a capital H) leaving a restaurante smelling like food. I couldn’t hop in the shower fast enough, but I’m glad we went!

Saturday

On Saturday, we had bagel egg sandwiches and then headed to the gym.

I wasn’t feeling like a big workout, so I walked on the treadmill while Luis did his thing. In the afternoon, we went to his parent’s house for some pool time and then Saturday night, we had dinner with 2 of Luis’ friends. I think they don’t mind if I come because they can talk about whatever they want and I don’t understand it all. If you’re wondering if I have my own friends at the moment- in Madrid in August- the answer is a big fat NO.