Bienvenida a Madrid!

Well, I'm here! I arrived on Tuesday, and the past few days have been a whirlwind of jet lag and apartment hunting. I won't give the blow-by-blow, but here are some of the highlights (and low-lights):

Katie's friend Martín met us at the airport and helped us schlep all of our luggage to our temporary apartment in Moncloa. Like a good macho español, he took 2 of our 4 suitcases. We were both so glad to have him there, because we probably wouldn't have been able to navigate the metro with all of our luggage without him. Gracias, Martín!

The next day, we began our apartment search. We called and set up appointments with some of the ads we had seen on the Spanish version of Craisglist, Loquo. After the first day, we had one possibility in mind - an apartment in Tribunal that we would share with 2 Italian guys. The apartment was pretty nice, and was one of the only ones we had seen in our price range with a decent-sized living room and bedrooms. We also saw some pretty dreadful apartments that day - the worst definitely being a top-floor "loft" in Lavapies. The "bedrooms" were up in the loft of this already tiny apartment, and consisted of a large space divided in 2 by a sheet, with mattresses on the floor.

Our apartment search continued the next day, where we had a frustrating near-miss with an apartment in Embajadores. The place was absolutely perfect - 2 bedrooms for rent, with a lovely living room, a nice kitchen, terrace, and entirely new furniture. However, just as we arrived and started to look through the apartment, a French girl who had visited the apartment earlier in the day called the landlady and said she would take one of the rooms. Since we weren't up for sharing a room, we pressed on.

And it's good that we did! We found the perfect apartment later in the day, in Legazpi. It's situated in a nice residential area, with plenty of stores nearby and easy access to the center of the city by metro (5 stops from Sol on línea 3, for those of you that know Madrid) and bus. The living room was the largest we'd seen, and gets a lot of sun. Three bedrooms (two smaller, one "master" bedroom with it's own bathroom), and a nice kitchen. The only problem was that the landlady wanted to rent out the apartment as a whole, so we would have to find a 3rd roommate. We left the apartment grinning, already thinking of ways to get that 3rd person. In the end, we decided to take the apartment in Legazpi, and we're moving in tomorrow! It will be nice to be able to unpack and start to make a home here in Madrid.

Other than the apartment search, I've been enjoying being back in Madrid. Katie and I have already hit up some of our favorite restaurants from last time, and found some new ones. I had forgotten how amazingly cheap good wine is here - a glass of Rioja at a bar one night cost me 1.75 euro (about $2.50). And last night was "La Noche en Blanco" (The Night in White, or something to that effect), a celebration of the arts and community. Most of the main roads in the center of the city were closed to traffic, and in different plazas and streets there were performances, installation art, etc. For example, in Plaza de España there was a hip hop concert, while at the Temlpo de Debod, there was a belly dancing performance. The museums were open all night, and there were stations set up around Plaza Santa Ana and Huertas where you could sit down with an artist, tell them your problems, hopes, or dreams, and they would interpret them in a drawing that you got to keep. It was a pretty amazing event, and the entire city came out to participate. For me, it was a great welcome back to Madrid, and a reminder of all the amazing art, performances, and cultural events that make this city a great place to live. It's good to be back!