Madrid Day Four: We Keep It Real With the Re-Al

My powers of the pun are amazing, yo.

You know what's crazy? As I sit down to write this, I was about to say that during the day on day four, it wasn't so much exciting for me because I had to hang in the hotel and work. But then I remembered brunch.

Firstly, because I know you will say "What the hell? You went to Spain and worked?" -- that is just how it goes. As Deanna said it, "If my job allowed me to make the money you make to travel the world like you do, I would let it own me, too." That said, the fact that my job owns me right now is a topic for another blog entry at another time.

Anyway, I had forgotten about brunch. Yes, brunch. Which in Spain happens at 1:00pm. Because they do not eat breakfast at inhumane morning hours like we do. They eat it at what we would call brunch time and then they have brunch at the more reasonable time of 1:00pm.

We had brunch at the Sunday opera brunch at the Westin Palace where Halff was staying. This is brunch (for rich folk) served in a glamorous setting (for rich folk) with paella and brunch tapas and endless desserts (for rich folk) and champagne (for rich folk) and people singing opera to entertain you (because as rich folk and people acting like we're rich folk, that's what we want). It is SO GOOD. There is salmon mousse. You know how I feel about salmon mousse. Anyway, we enjoy our beautiful brunch.

And then the rest of the day happens, in which I work.

So, the plans for the evening are to go and see the Real Madrid ... FROM THE THIRD ROW. Let me just say, firstly, big ups to the concierge at the Westin Palace. The concierge (and staff there) completely delivered on our request for Real Madrid tickets. They were third row tickets, and though the were black market, the mark-up wasn't as bad as you may expect. And, also, the concierges at the Westin Palace LOVED Larry Halff. They knew who he was and where his room was without a bat of an eye. He's all VIP.

You know, as an interlude, there was some discussion when I got back about how bougie this trip was. Even the cheaper place where the girls and I stayed was still a really NICE place. And we didn't do cheap in any way at any point. I mean, we had third row Real tickets and went to nice places. Anyway, it's true that, in some ways, when you travel like that, you miss out on parts of the story where you would pick up travelers or get into screwy "I have no money for a train ticket" situations. But sometimes it's just nice to travel nicely. We traveled nicely in Africa. We have also taken trips where we stay in $10 a night hostels.

So, the other month I was talking to a nephew of a friend who is about to graduate college, and he's thinking of taking a year off and traveling - poor style. And his sister had told him not to do that. She had instead told him to go work on Wall Street and make a bunch of money and then travel - rich style - when he was older. And he asked me what I thought he should do.

And I told him that he should do both. Because I wouldn't trade either experience. I wouldn't trade all of the ten dollar hostels and hustling to get a train ticket and scrounging for food and camping out in a park full of gypsies. I'd still do it today. But don't kid yourself. There's also something to be said for four star meals and third tow tickets to premier sporting events and your very own private room in a nice hotel. So that's my advice. You need to do both. Staying in the nicest hotels and doing the nicest things isn't "traveling." It's vacationing. And vacationing is still wonderful. It's still educational, and as Africa and Spain proved, you can vacation and still come back full of amazing experiences and stories. And it's nice to have nice things. That is all.

Anyway, so the plan was to meet up for one last early evening of sangria at the bar in the Vincci Soho. And that was lovely. And I decided to Euro-Trash it up for the night and tuck my jeans into my boots. And people were horrified. And Lisa gave me a beautiful bowl from Uganda for my birthday. And I loved it, but she loses because Larry got me a third row ticket to see the Real-Madrid. And Deanna bought me my favorite face product from Denver and gave me the most awesome eighties mix dvd ever. And I loved it, but she, too, loses because Larry got me third row tickets to the Real Madrid. And I'm sure that I love whatever you sent me, too. But you lose, and Larry wins.



Yes, Candy Woo, Halff is Hot. Just look at him!

After sangria, we head out into the night and to the stadium, and we enjoy the energy, and then we go to our seats. And they are AMAZING. And even if you're not a soccer fan, live soccer is unbelievable, especially when you're practically on the field. And I think it meant the most to me of anybody there, but it was very religious. And no, I'm not exaggerating, so shut up.





And then our last night in Madrid. Tear. We have dinner at Botin. We in fact have the roasted suckling pig that you may have seen on the food network. And many, many tapas. And sangria. And the dining room is like a cave. And we're happy. And there are four guitar players hiding in the hallway on the way to the restroom. And when we walk outside to walk home, it's raining for the first time on the trip, but somehow it feels perfect and cool, like it's waking me up for a whole new year.

That's right, I went all deep on you after four entries about being drunk. But I am who I am.

It was a perfect birthday. It really, really was. I couldn't have asked for more. I mean, that's not true either because I am who I am and it's my nature to always ask for more. But if I'm working on being the person that I wanted to be at 34, then I know that you take what's good as it is. And this was good. Very, very, good.


Thank you, Deanna.


Thank you, Lisa.


Thank you, Larry.


Thank you, Spain.