On to Madrid

Hello All,

After arriving in Madrid, we started the day off by visiting the Bernebau Stadium, Real Madrid's home turf.  The stadium was yet again amazing even though it was a little messy after a big European Cup game versus Bayern Munich.  The tour gave us the chance to sit on their "VIP Fan" benches, get an up close view of their locker room, three floor sport shop and actually touch the grass.

After visiting the stadium, we headed to the famous Prada Museum of Art.  They were showcasing the most incredible paintings we have ever seen by many famous artists of all eras.  We enjoyed a small tour of Madrid as we headed to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

On our way back, our bus got stuck in the driveway of the hotel as it bottomed out going up a steep incline.  After hours of trying to push it out with no luck, our great idea was to call two new buses, problem solved!  When we got to dinner, they were very patient as it was already 12 o'clock here.  They had the food ready to be served.  We were shocked after finishing one plate, when they brought out an entire second course following with dessert.  After finishing dinner, we were all stuffed and exhuasted and ready for bed.

 Day six began with a good breakfast to energize us for a long day in downtown Madrid with lots of fun places to see and things to do.  We started with a walking tour through crazy, people filled streets.  We walked through Plaza de Mayor which is the main square of Madrid, similar to Times Square in New York.  Madrid had many historical buildings as well as many fountains and statues.  We hopped on the bus for a quick tour of the main streets of Madrid where we got to see a lot of beautiful parks and gardens.  The buildings resembled those of Rome with many narrow streets and crazy drivers.  The traffic was the worst the tour guide had seen in years. 



Both Teams at the Plaza de Mayor

We headed back to the downtown streets for some free time to roam around on our own and visit the little shops along the way.  A highlight of downtown Madrid were the delicious Churros, which are a freid dessert with sugar.  A nice pre-game treat! 

Women's Team in Madrid

Men's Team in Madrid

We then headed to our final games verse two semi-pro teams.  The boys lost 1-0 after a hard fought game.  We also lost 1-0, though we played very well.  Since soccer is of such importance here in Spain, it was fun to be a part of these games and socials.  At the social that we had tonight, we exchanged one Wartburg shirt for one of their team shirts to commemorate our game.  Some of the girls knew English as well as our little Spanish which made it fun to converse.  As day six comes to an end, we are still having a great time.  Everyone is loving Madrid, but can't wait for the high-speed train ride to Toledo in the morning.

We look forward to updating you about our adventure tomorrow.

Katie Reinhardt and Ashly Frush

Class of 2015

Women's Soccer Team