may – just meesh

Before this trip I had never been to Spain before. So the only pretext I had was what I had learned about Spain in my Spanish classes all throughout school. And my main takeaway from class was siestas and sangria. Shout-out to Professora Thoms, hope you are well and drinking some sangria rn.

Anyways I didn’t really have many expectations for Spain like I did for Paris or for Rome (still mad about the trevi fountain incident). And when we arrived in Madrid I was blow away. First off I had no idea that Madrid is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, cue people everywhere. Secondly the style of buildings and overall architecture is so unique in comparison to other European cities.

After arriving, we headed out to explore the city, and at the top of my list of things to do in Madrid was to row boats in the park and get some chocolate and churros. First stop the park….the Parque del Retiro is a mix between all your favorite parks, it has classic French symmetry, but also lots of trees, a palace and a conservatory and a pond for rowing boats, as mentioned before.

If you couldn’t tell already I was very excited about the boats. I feel like everyone I know that has been to Madrid has rowed boats in the park and I was so excited. It was literally the first thing we did when we got there because I couldn’t wait. I will say I got a little nervous because I don’t have any prior boat rowing experience and there were fish in the pond and I’m deathly afraid. There was a brief moment in which I almost said no to rowing boats but tg I didn’t. I wasn’t a very good rower but I certainly would not call myself the worst…but my mom might lol.

To be completely honest this was the highlight of the trip. I loved every minute of and it did not disappoint.

We laid low the rest of the day enjoying the double decker hop-on hop-off bus and the sun.

But, our day wasn’t complete until we had our first taste of sangria. And after just one sip we were hooked, we enjoyed our sangria and paella in the Plaza Mayor. And I think we’d both agree that our first day in Spain was a success.