Madridiin!~

The moment we found out a bull is on the loose
He is seriously dangerous!!'killer bull'
U see, it doesnt want to go back to its cage!! scary mary
Our spanish host :)
Everywhere u go, its beautiful buildings

paivi is just showing off!! :P
morata en fiesta. ringside baybeh!!
Quick, the bull is coming, iam gonna touch it. NOOOOO!!
Campo real. oblivious to whats gonna happen
While waiting, we did what we have to do. CAMWHORE!!

WARNING:long winded blog ahead!!

well, emotional-ness aside, (iam writting this at 5.15 in the morn, i cant be bothered to be emotional) Iam gonna talk about the remaining days of my spanish trip :)

Well, we arrived in madrid about 7.40 in the morning. We bummed around the station for a bit, u know, figuring out what to do, and waited for paiville to have her breakfast (she always manages to have her breakfast on the go!!! and, her by the time she left spain, her tummy was in spanish/asian time :) ) and then we thought, 'we have no idea where diana's village is'!!! so we found a phone, (TELEFONICA) and the bloody thing just.. hurmm.. how do i say this.. the bloody phone was just crap!!! i mean, we thought it was like a normal public phone (arent they all?) but the damm thing wont connect to the number that we dialled.. either that @ we just sorta put the wrong number.. who knoes.. (btw, diana later explained how to use it!! hahahah..its hillarious seeing us like.. 'uuuummmm, now we dial the number with @ without international code, ummmmmm, @ issit maybe this way @ that way) hillarious!! I was pissed, and paivi was just not in the mood. We called diana using her mobile. So, got the instruction from diana, so we left and took the metro/train.

Arrived in Arganda Del Rey about an hour later.. it was now 10am. the sun was shinning, but we felt filthy!! i was dyin for a shower!! Diana came, and god i missed her. She looked different, more happy i should say,more tanned and just looking.. radiant!! Looking like a red blooded spanish!! :) We walked back to her place. They just thought i was a pampered lil princess and that i couldnt walk that far!!! i must admit i was a bit quiet during the walk, but its just that i was dying for a shower!! but as soon as we arrived in her place, we cant stop talking!! we talked and talked and talked and talked!! it was like.. a non-stop talking fest!! She decided to cook us paella and spanish omelette (well, we kinda just say, we cant wait to try ure very own paella and spanish omelette) hahahahahahhahah.. it was evening, she had to go to the shops and get the ingredients, me and paivi was at home, doing our laundry (hurraaahhhh) and taking the much needed shower.

I told paiville i just loooovveeeeeeeee drying the laundry out by the balcony, with the sunshine and the wind. it reminds me of home. Here, u tend to tumble dry everything!!

It was good cathing up.It was good hearing about her new life. It was good just to talk among friends!! Well, we slept like a pig then ( i remember saying, well.. iam just gonna sleep for about an hr k) ended up sleeping till 9pm!! haahahahhahah.. well, woke up and got ready coz diana said we were going to a towns festival.

Now, let me explain this festival term. Nope its not one of those carnival festival. well,it sorta is, but on a smaller scale, and usually doesnt really involve naked dancing ladies. It a tradition that every town hold a festival. The pub/bar/restaurant will be open, all the town folks will be out, talking, drinking, laughing, that sorta thing. It also involves one of those bull running thing.Diana told me that there will be a time where the bull will be released,and it would run to the other side of the town. All this is done to familiarize the bull with the crowd, and the taunting that will be done. Why? coz the next day (or if its done in the noon, it will be that nite itself), the bull will face a professional matador, and do its bull fighting thing. So, we tapas-ed, and waited for midnite. (we went there with maria and ana, diana's spanish friend).We couldnt go and sit in the stand because it was full, so we stood behind the fence, on top of a fountain. midnite came, fireworks marked the hour, and so, the bulls were released.. it was quick i would say. A bull would come running, everybody would taunt it, and try to get it to the other side of the ring, and finally it would go into its cage. I didnt really like it. It was horrible seeing the bull being taunt, only to aggrivate it, and the men would just run when it toook a step forward. The bulls are dangerous tho, as we would find out.

ps:highlight of the nite was when we got bored of standing on the fountain, so we made our way to the side of the ring. at one point i was climbing the fence thingy (in hope that the bull would come my way and i could touch it) but they would always tug me down when the bull got close. diana said its a dangerous place to be. So, ringside at a bull running thing? CHeck, been there done that :)

The next day, we went to another fiesta. Its held in a town that is famous for producing its own olives and olives oil. It was different this time around coz we were sitting in the stand. it was 11am and the fiesta would only start at noon. So we talked, joked, camwhored, u know, the normal touristy thingy :) It started out okey, we watched, in awe and took picutres. Then, panic set in because suddenly, everybody was climbing the stand. Everybody was running and climbing up anything they can. the wall, the tress, everything. We heard that one of the bull is on the loose. And it had injured someone. It was a scary feeling because there were children and old people around!! but being the true tourist that we are, the were taking pictures of the moment!!!!!!! then on the PA, an announcement was made that they have got the bull and there was nothing to worry about. We waited and the bull came to the ring. It was big and muscular. we called it the 'killer bull'. Thru village gossip, we found out that the bull had KILLED someone. it had torn the stomach of the victim with its horn. SCARY. we did realize there was blood on parts of his face!!! scary mary i said!!

Then we did the non touristy things. we just sat and talked. A few locals were wondering who we were. It was all merry. Its just like the village i would imagine!! everybody knowing each and everyone and it was just fun being there. Went back home about 5pm, and that nite, we went to diana's town. Met her family, and then , we continued our nite with dinner on the balcony, and just talking thru the nite!~ :)

Monday came, but we didnt feel the blues. we were still on holliday but poor diana had to work!! We went to madrid but we were like.. soooo..where we gonna go now? The two days left we were being very touristy. we wanted to go to museum, but we were looking at interesting ones. We went to the palace, to a church, salamanca (posh area), chueca (hippy, crime area!!), puerta del sol, and basically just walked the whole of madrid!! We had the book and map, so everytime we looked at something, instead of assuming (like we did before) we checked it out on the map!! :)

Hillarious story was that, in the beginning of the madrid holliday, i told her, iam not gonna see the 'arc de triumf' of spain. No matter what happens to me, i dont want to see it!! BUT, luck would have it that i saw it on the 1st day i was in madrid, and on the last!!!!!! paivi found it hillarious (she even gave me a postcard of it, the cheeck!!) and i had no choice but to camwhore infront of it!!

Salamanca was a very posh area. We didnt really know what to expect, but once ure there, u know its salamanca, and u know its posh!! we saw burberry, LV,chanel, Jimmy Choos all side by side.The hillarious part was when i saw the jimmy choos shop. I was like!! paville, this is my dreaaaaammm.. and she was like.. what ? what? . i said ' u know who is jimmy choos rite? He is a shoe designer, and millions of stars just wear his shoes and his shoes are just owh so pretty' all she could say was (while looking and the shoe and price) 'who the hell spend f**king 1200 euro for shoes?'. yep, thats paville allrite. We just laughed and said, man, we shouldnt even be walkin on this street. and we wondered, would they even let us IN? hahahahahahahhahahaah

we went off to chueca after salamanca. accodring to the guidebook, the area is just the opposite of salamanca. Its hippy, and quite alot of crimes happen here. We were dying to see it!! and its true, its very hippy, and we felt like home :)

Another hillarious fact was that we wanted to go to all this museums, but it would all be closed by the time we got there!! no luck i say!! Funny stuff happens, and i cant help but to laugh. :)

The banter between us made this trip.We would complain, and u could see the difference that we had, witouht being different (heh?) i would always complaint about the heat, and the walking. and she would just sit there, and say, now lets go there!! :) she would just suddenly say.. 'i likkkkeeeeee' without reason (well, she loved spain),at one point, we had a rols reversal thing. she was complaining and i was just being quiet. I was the black hobbit (since ive been to spain, i didnt get a tan, i just went black!!, and its known now that iam short*tsk, tsk*) and she was known as gandalf the red (that women is tall!! and she didnt get a tan, she just got red!!). We were together 24/7 and suddenly now i fell.. hurmmm.. like.. alone.. hahahahaha..its a weird feeling.

2 days in madrid just went by, whooossshhh!! and we realized we dont have much time. On the last nite, we decided that we were gonna prepare dinner. poor diana can jsut sit there and drink, and laze around. Paiville cooked salmon with brie cheese, mashed potato and salad. i helped her and then i did my infamous poached pear with ice cream. dinner was good. Brie and salmon is my last choice of fish and cheese, but i quite liked it. Shall cook for amma :). It was the last nite, we just sat and talked. I felt sad because i knew it would be a long while before we see each other again. Well, we did talk about new year in finland. we will see :)

We woke up, and just lazed around.. we were wacthin the news, hahahaahahahhaha, what a thing to do on ure last day. Then we realized it was 11.30, we had yesterdays dishes to do, pack, shower and go to the airport. We left the house about 1.30pm and i arrived in the airpor at 3pm. Its all good. I waited for the plane, and soon, i was on english sky. I did feel like home and i was happy.

So, there u go. A snippet of my holliday. I cant be bothered to type EVERY single thing we did, coz lets face it,it would take a few weeks.I had a blast. I was hollidayin in a new way. I know i complaint about the sun and the walking, but i wouldnt want it an other way. It was because of that i think, we SAW spain. I like those walks on the little street, and when u look up, clothes are hanging to dry on the balcony. I love seeing old ladies walking around, arms linking and gossiping about the latest in the village.

So paivi, next up finland.

and yes iam ready for the fishes, snow, cold, santa,farmhouse,skiing and lapland :)

its a new adventure, and heck, i cant wait for it to start!! :)