1 More Dayyyyy!

It's almost the end of the Semesterrrrr!!
Yahoo! Yahoooooooooo :D

WYD Trip Day 10

So we woke up to Monday, 22 August 2011

We had packed up our stuff, had the last breakfast with our host family,
and said our goodbyes :D

They told us, "When you come back to Spain, this is your home."
Awww <3
Maybe we will come back one day :D

So, dragging our bags and carrying them,
*remember? 2 haversacks and one trolley bag.
The sleeping bag is no more; we've managed to put them all in the trolley bag XD
We took a walk to the school opposite St. Ireno Parraquia.

Then I wanted to pay a visit to the bakery near San Trinidad Parraquia,
because I wanted to buy back food for my family.

But in the end, it didn't happen :/
The food finished before I got to Malaysia XD :x

Anyways, while walking to the bakery *all the food there smelled soooooo gooooooood :D
we decided to snap pics of the neighbourhood :D

In the compound of the school.
There's a playground :D


Sis leaning on one of the railing.
I took over her camera MUAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!! lol

uhm... I think this is behind the school?
That roof probably belongs to the school :D

Now we've left to grab some delicious Spanish bread! :D

The way from the school to our apartment/San Trinidad Parraquia/train station
*school's on the right, San Ireno Parraquia on the left

The other way.
School on the left, San Ireno on the right.
Notice their WIDE pavements? :o

The end of the road.
There's a roundabout here, and we were to walk straight :D

Shoplots building.
I didn't see a house by itself here, you know.
All of them were apartments.

But one lady from St Ignatius church, Malaysia said that the host family
owned a HUGE house (I think it was more of a Mansion XD)
Since the balcomny was huge and she also owned a swimming pool :o

Anyways!

What dustbins in Spain look like XD
Nope, there's no little round buckets, okay?

San Trinidad Parraquia, over a basketball court :x

Ze basketball court.


One of the flowers near the basketball court.
I don't know why she suddenly wanted to take photos, nor why I posted this.
For fun :x

Random apartment real near the church.

After we bought 100g (or was it 200g?) of Mexicanos *It sounded like that.
I forgot the spelling of the biscuits.
Anyways, they were chocolate-wrapped biscuits with chocolate in them <3
I wanted to buy 1kg of it, but I couldn't get it through the baker...
she didn't understand English :'(

Anyways, after we came back, within 10 minutes, we met Richard and his brother, I forgot his name :x
Adrian :D
His name was Adrian lol *thanks, Monica :x

We took the cab (all four of us) to Hotel Senator :D
Apparently, it wasn't the hotel we first thought of lol.


Cab drivers! They drive on the left, cool :o
After I get my license, and should I ever migrate to overseas,
I'd have to get used to driving on the left XD

Cab scenery!! :D


This was the... bull fighting ring (Plaza de Toros). Where the metador was.

It was so sad :'(
I heard that they had six bulls that day, and the metador makes the bulls angry before killing them.
The bulls were stabbed in the heart to be killed, once it's tired.
If that stab doesn't kill the bull, then the metador will stab it's head D:

Animal cruelty in the name of entertainment *shudders*

Oh btw, if you decide to go, you'll be watching a killing show.
People there will cheer for the bull to kill the metador,
so it's either the bull dies or the metador dies :/


Puerta de Alcala
This was an important Madrid landmark XD
And apparently, I didn't know. rofl.

Sis was sitting behind the cab driver (as you can see), that's why she got a ton
of cab scenery photos :o


Random building with statues on the top.


This pink church.
We think it's THE church that Uncle Paul said was so beautiful that he cried.
I think o.o

Oh, there was a WYD-after party, I saw.
People were dancing and playing music on the streets.

Unfortunately, I wasn't invited for the spontaneuos, informal, not-on-the-schedule afterparty :'(

That's all for cab scenery :D

But because the road was blocked, the cab driver had to twist and turn so much :'(
When we finally arrived at the hotel, the fare climbed to 20 Euros something D:
Damn expensive leh >.<;;

When we arrived, we wanted to check-in... but unfortunately,
the hotel didn't have our rooms ready just yet :'(
Only one person in the whole 10+ of us had their rooms ready,
so we placed our bags there and went our exploring 8D

Step out from the hotel, look to the right, this was the picture :D

Across the road of the hotel :D
Apparently, it was this Hotel Senator Espana.
Not Hotel Senator, Grand Via :x


I think my sister got a better shot :)

The huge sign-words?
I wanted to say signboard, but there aren't any boards :x

Wah, National Geographic! :o
But no, we didn't go in there XD

We wanted to grab lunch first, since it was almost lunch time... 11am, people :D

Oh yeah, I've already entered this restaurant, and got my dished mixed up.
As usual, I forgot to take it's name down =.=;;
*this was a chain restaurant

But you see those things hanging above the ceiling?
I thought they were whole chicken birds with the necks cut off.

But they turned out to be whole pig legs.
Yes, people. Pig legs.
Not just any part too. The hind legs. The spanish take their pork VERY. seriously.

Unfortunately, they weren't open for lunch yet :'(
and anyway, they didn't have chicken ._.
So I was thinking that chicken in Madrid was as scarce as ever ._.

Outside the restaurant, they were playing music :D
This group was from another country XD
The Dominician Republic :D

Read the sign, people.
It's T.G.I.F!! in black o.o
In Malaysia, TGIF has two colours: black and red :/
No, we didn't eat here because we still wanted to use the coupons.

A newspaper stand :o
Nice shape, right? :D

I took this pic because... it's 3D effect :o
Right?

Uhm, yes. Read it XD
A random shot at a building :D

We passed by a park, and here is a monument :D
There was a fountain nearby, but I guess from the masses, it was kinda dirty :/

Random building shot :D
Solaria XD
Doesn't it remind you of Solaris in Soho? :D

We finally reached a restaurant that would take us in :D
Nebraska *another chain restaurant there

So, while waiting for our food to come,
we took one picture :D


:D

Then our food came :D

Mixto de Paella :o
Paella was like seafood fried rice, I think XD
Since this restaurant served it, I wanted to try it :)
It was okay.
The best paella costs 13 Euros, I was told :o
*that is damn expensive o.o
But not everyone liked it (those who tasted it), so I guess it's all down to one person's taste :/

My paella? Twas free 8D

Fried fish. Unfortunately...
the other fish dish I ordered were available :'(
So I had this instead. GAH! Ate the onions, it stung ><;

My sister's tortilla lol
When in Spain, that's all she ate. Eggs ._.

After eating, we left and went out to walk :D

Random building shot :D

Another random building shot (I thought).
Turns out, it was Plaza Mayor, another landmark o_o

Ze Senado building :o
Like building where there's something special about the Senator, or something :/
*sorry, ain't sure XD


HAH!!
I've got proof that I was there *pbbbbffffffffffffffftttt!!*

Random zoom-in shot of the building across the very busy highway :/


Yup, read it.
Ice-cream :D
You know once we turned into this street, it was ice-creams all the way o.o
It should've been named something like, "Calle de Gelato" XD XD

Palacio de Real
Omigosh, here was where the royal kings and queens of Spain resided in those days :o

A better close-up

Before going in there, we decided to enter a souvenir shop.
I curi curi take a photograph :x

The famous landmarks of Madrid.
I only know the
Puerto de Alcala (Alcala Gate) and the Bear with the Strawberry tree.
Not sure what's the legend behind it, though :/

Actually, the tree isn't strawberry, but Madrid is named after the tree
(like Malacca and the Malacca tree o.o)
The Madroño tree isn't a strawberry tree, neither is their fruit red nor good to eat while raw.
They should be eaten when made into jam :D

Sabatini Garden :D
We entered this garden and got lost in it ;-;

Anyways:


I was hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D
My first time near a ROYAL PALACE 8D 8D 8D
and lols! A lot of my first times (swimming properly, riding motorbike...) are all done overseas XD


My sister :D

Oh yesh, it was a beautiful cloudless day in Sabatini Garden that day XD

I just can't stop taking photos of the Palace XD


Unripe pine cones? :o

Could this be a king? XD

See how huge that pin tree is!!! O_O
I'm wondering if I'm looking at a Christmas tree, ya know? XD

They had a concert here, perhaps?
The backstage :o

Statues around the empty fountain :o

Yeah, that's what the hedge looks like.
A maze :o
Oh, you can't enter the maze, btw.
The space is a little too small to squeeze in XD
And anyways, the entry point will lead to dead ends XD

The fountain in the middle of the hedge mazes :D

The Palace's dome :D

Random building shot.

One of the inscriptions lol

Plaza de Mayor building? :o

A pine cone? :o

After that, we left the Sabatini Garden because we wanted to enter the Palacio de Real.
Mainly because some of us needed the bathroom... and we wanted to see what the
royal bathroom looked like XD

I'm very sure that this was an important landmark,
because of the man charging with his horse, but I ain't sure :/

Random building shot.

Richard posing with the statue :D

The other statue :o


And me in the middle :D
My sis was like, "Why you so high?" o.o

Oh me gee!! This guy o.o
btw, yeah, I took a pic with him rofl.
He wanted us to drop coins in his tin nearby after that lol.

After much walking, we arrived at this church (but as usual, I forgot it's name)



Google says: Catedral de la Almudena (Almudena Cathedral)
Omigosh, it was HUGEEEEEE :O
The most interesting part is that it had a ray of light shining on the dome *tho it's small :o

See the white block on the far left of the church?
It's the block below:

Pedro, te dare las llaves del reino de los cielos.
Google translate: Peter, I'll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

This must be St Peter. No doubt.


Yups, I was here :D

You know what this was? The Palacio de Real.
It's actually the front entrance :)


Monica was here!! :D

The door of the Catedral de la Almuden.
Yes, it's all carved. From metal, I think o.o

The other side of the door.

In the church.
As you can see, it's a tourist attraction o.o
When the Mass isn't going on, the church becomes a museum o.o

The organ in the church. :o

Various murals :o

This is the Marian sign.
Mother Mary and two other saints beside her.

Stained glass window art.

Above the above statues :D


I think she's a saint. Seriously.


Another saint :D

The Confessional

:D


The Lord Jesus with St Peter at the Gates of Heaven.

After we came out from the cathedral, we went down the hill,
and you could see the Madrid skyline from there :D

Okay, fine, so it wasn't so clear :'(

Then, we went to another church (this time it was a crypt, I think o.o)
So dear. Apparently, we came out from the main entrance and
went to the back entrance of the church, where the crypt was.

The inside of the crypt:

Do you know why there were people looking down on the ground?


They also buried people in the crypt O_O

So becareful not to step on their graves, people D:

We attended a Mass here, and then we walked out from the crypt.

This is the Italian and ??? embassy :D :D

Pretty soon, we came to this church o.o


Nope, I don't know it's name :'(
Can't even Google it ._.

I took this shot for the statue, not the lady posing there :/

Second shot of it :D

Seen this before?

There were two of them that day in the street that afternoon :D

Random street name.
But if you were looking closely, most of the street names weren't on a white background
and had a nice painting to accompany the name of the street XD

In an alley

There was a church far off to another street o.o

You know, the day I thought I'd go visiting Madrid like a tourist became
the day I wore short pants and entered about 5 churches in Spain D:

Here we go, another church lol:

Right in front: The painting in which Lucifer is thrown down to Hell by Archangel Michael.

The grotto of the Holy Family, I think o.o


This is a very famous life-size statue of Mother Mary.
I think she's the Virgin Macarena. Not sure, because I googled her :/

Outside the church :D

Yup, I think this was its name :o

Moving on :D

I like the way the light gets caught by the window in this photo ;D

See the Vatican flag?
It's yellow and white :o

Were those palms since Palm Sunday? :o

While walking, we decided to go to Puerta de Sol.
There was where the famous souvenirs were sold... with a fan costing 1.75 Euros :o
You know, the cheapest fan was 2 Euros per fan :o
That's why I was sooo into getting fans 8D

*had 6 fans that time o_o
And I still wanted moaarrrrrrrrr :D :D

Somewhere around here, we bought ice-creams I think.
Each person had 2 ice-creams, because each of us had a buy one free one Magnum ice cream :D
Oh, yesh. They had Magnum ice cream :D

I took one Original and one full Chocolate one :9

This guy riding his horse o.o
At the Puerta de Sol? :D

Random colourful building shot :D

This thingy at Puerta de Sol :o

We went shopping and I had an argument with Adrian.
According to Adrian, guys buy, and girls shop.

Guys don't care about losing money.
They may enter shop A to buy keychain at 3 Euros,
while in shop B, they'd get it at 2 Euros... but they'll buy at shop A anyways :/

Now that's a waste of money.
You should enter as many shops as possible to find the best bargains o.o
If you're a guy, tell me you don't do this lol.

Because according to him, entering the shops to look for the best price is considered shopping o.o
*because you waste time entering and leaving the shop rofl.

Well, he had no choice when we were out looking for souviess for our parents lol.
He was told to follow us on our mini-shopping trip XP

After we spent our Euros in exchange for souvenirs, we went to look for food to eat :D
Actually, we wanted to go and eat at McDonalds,
*because of the pork burger

See these?


In McD, there was a drawing of the pork *gasps*


Yeah, I was damn excited XD
Short pants on the day we visited various churches :'(

but the rest of the group wanted to eat using the free coupon...
so we ended up eating at Burger King :'(
ah well.

The next day, we'll be having the pork burger for lunch :D

After that, we walked from Burger King to our hotel room,
where we washed up and talked to Mum and Dad before going to sleep.


*Due to the photo overload, Imma going to have a Day 11 o.o
Perhaps it'll be super short lol

PS. Photo credits to Monica, unless stated :D

To continue, click World Youth Day Bonus 2 Days