happy (birthday) travels

Last weekend was quite simply amazing. I went to Madrid, Spain to celebrate my birthday with Lindsay. I decided after she came to Oktoberfest that we needed to reunite sometime soon, and figured my birthday was the perfect occasion to splurge on a plane ticket. Not only did I get to see Lindsay and meet her friends, but the friends we made at Oktoberfest came for this weekend reunion as well, trekking all the way from London and the US. It was bound to be a great weekend.

I arrived on Friday night at about 10:30pm and Lindsay met me at the airport. We then made our way into the city and arrived at about 11:30ish… now for me this is a late start to the night, but to the Spaniards this is a normal night out. We met up with Matt and Pat and three of Lindsay’s friends before heading out to a couple of clubs. It was so much fun! It was great to meet all the new people and reunite with the old ones.

Saturday was not ideal weather, but Lindsay, Matt, Pat and I managed to get around and see a few of the major sites. Lindsay was an excellent tour guide and it was so great to be in a big city like that with someone who knows their way around. After seeing some of the sites, Lindsay and I headed to her house, so I could see what her Spanish suburban life is like. It is totally different from mine! Well all of her life is totally different. But it was really great to see where she lives and I was able to meet Gloria, her host mom, and Marc and Adrianna, the kids. That night we had an amazing traditional Spanish tapas dinner, and went to a super fun club in the city. I got to meet even some more people and, go figure, practice my German in Spain because there are a ton of German au pairs there, haha.

Sunday was a nice lazy day, not really even starting until the afternoon, but it was beautiful outside so we had to take advantage. We went to the big park in the city and walked around. There were a ton of people, families, musicians, food stands… everyone was just out enjoying the day. We had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before I had to head back to Germany…. It was a whirlwind tour of the city, but it was so worth it. Madrid is so different from Stuttgart and Germany in general. It’s very picturesque, and very much what I think of as European, so it was great to see it. I think more than even that was being able to see how Lindsay’s experience is there. I got to meet the people I had heard about and the experiences I had tried to picture. It is totally different than what I have going on here, not that one is better than the other, but just different….