Madrid 2012: Part II

Continuing Part II of Madrid...

Since I've spent most of my days in Madrid waiting for G to finish his school term, I spent lots of time lazing at home. Hahaha. The weather is so cold, and you'll have to definitely dress up and pile on the layers.. hibernation felt like a better alternative. Aka lazy. Plus not having any company around and no agenda (except shopping) was a bit of a bummer. Most people are able to deal with being alone, but the feeling of not having to talk to anyone sometimes can get daunting! Especially when you're in a foreign land where they speak a foreign language! 

But anyway, we did manage to get some time together, window shopping, sight-seeing (:

One of my favourite place to visit was probably the Mercado de San Miguel. A market offering the best of Spanish food and wines. Sooo much food, so awesome! I especially love the fruits in Madrid. Fresh & really sweet! The food there is so nice that I bugged G to go there again before we leave. Hehe!

Pictures of the lovely carousel at Plaza Mayor. I love the lights!

Me in Parque de Madrid (: This is such a lovely & quaint place. It feels like somewhere you go for some peace and quiet, to do some soul-searching.

G's been to the Palacio de Cristal (which essentially means Crystal Palace) once and after he sent me pictures of it, I told him I definitely want to check this place out! When we finally reached the Palace (hidden somewhere deep inside Parque de Madrid), the sights were breathtaking! So pictureque! Plus, the weather was kind that day so we took lots of pictures in the sunlight, yayyy!

So apparently theres a string exhibition in the middle of the palace, as you can see beside me. It forbids us to walk across the palace. We can only go around it. -.- I didn't even know it was an exhibition! Art can sometimes really be... incomprehensible. But I guess that's the beauty in it *shrugs*

The Arc de Triomphe in Madrid. 

Knitted pole warmers on the streets. Too cute.

Some of the tapas we absolutely love from Mercado de San Miguel!

Such red cherries!

Hehe, I'm in love with this froyo place! They have such interesting toppings like brownie, (huge chunks of) cookies, caramel, different types of chocolate (thick ones! not like sg's hershey's sauce) and so many more flavours that isn't typical of a froyo shop back home. Love it!

Beautiful view of the sunset near the Royal Palace though sadly obstructed by views of cranes...

The Royal Palace of Madrid!

A lovely busker who was adding life to an otherwise dull tourist attraction. Thank you for your beautiful playing. It really really made my day.

Thus concludes Madrid for me. I guess I am blest in a lot of ways. Having one of the best accommodation, and in every way homely and comfortable, keeping the cold out as much as possible. I've never stayed in a AirBnb place that was this awesome. Important factors (to me) to make my stay comfortable: Clean room/house + nice/clean/usable/friendly bathroom. Just one factor. Both are equally important! So anyone who's heading to Madrid, I'll definitely recommend this place to you. I have high expectations in accoms so when I say it's good, it really is good! (:

Having G around to break the language barrier helps too! Although most of the time he confesses that he has no clue what the person's saying, he just nods in agreement, haha! Ordering food in Spain (especially the less touristy places) really require you to grasp a bit of basic Spanish. Important to learn a bit before you go!

Madrid was my breather destination. With G busy 3/4 of the time, I could slow down my life, not think about having to sight-see but enjoy the fact that I'm halfway across the world, living in a sub-ten degrees climate, and slow-track my life a little. I enjoyed that a lot and it felt like a refreshing change to what I was experiencing in Singapore prior to leaving.

Thank you for letting me get this chance (: