This wanderer is on the move again

Bathroom art

Starting in Madrid was the right thing to do.  Monday and Tuesday I participated in the hostel hosted events - which made me realize I could do a better tapas tour than the owner of the company but that's a separate subject.  The reason I say that Madrid was the perfect starting point is because of the people I met while there.  I'm slowly starting to come to the realization that you really do meet people for a reason...On Tuesday morning, during an unofficial tour of Madrid, Amanda, Laurel, Kelsey (New York) and Lauren (Los Angeles) entered my world.  That same night Lauren and I went on the tapas tour before meeting up with Amanda, Laurel and Kelsey for the pub crawl.

Kelsey, Amanda and I

After spending most of Wednesday recuperating from getting back to the hostel at 6:00A from the pub crawl., Lauren and I were invited to join the New Yorkers for their big dinner out - every city they go to they have one nice dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate their vacation.  A concept so simple yet completely amazing, and being the penny pincher I typically am I would never have thought of it.  It was nice to be able to share that with them.  Now, it's something I'd love to incorporate in my travels.

Dinner at La Gabinoteca, which I'm told was featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, was fantastic.  The restaurant has an eclectic atmosphere with one seat in particular looking like a chair lift, a rooster as their symbol, and teddy bears as their restroom signage.  We arrived around 9:30P and were seated in less than 5 minutes even though it appeared busy.  Kelsey had looked into the restaurant so we steered clear of the items she said had bad reviews and ordered the wine that she suggested - we were not disappointed.  We ordered 4 starters, 4 first plates, 4 heavier plates, 2 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of champagne and two desserts to split between the 5 of us.  Everything was absolutely amazing - all the local tapas with a sofisticated twist.

To travel, friends met, strong women
and finding yourself

To end the dinner, mind you it was almost midnight, we ordered a bottle of cava and two desserts.  Amanda (I think) suggested that we each say one item to cheers to and they all needed to be different.  I don't remember each one but they included:

• to meeting great people in the hostels
• to eating great food
• to being strong, confident, educated women who love to travel
• to finding one's self through travel and adventure

Laurel and the check in a box

These sentiments described that dinner and evening perfectly.  We received the check in a cute box and realized our dinner was much cheaper than we all thought it would be.  Around 12:15, after paying 26 euros each we finally left the restaurant to head back the area where we were staying.

We arrived back in our side of town to have a drink at a jazz club but unfortunately we came in as the last song was playing.  Laurel and Lauren decided to head back to the hostel while Kelsey, Amanda and I decided to go for a night cap at an Irish pub a few blocks away.  Finally after being pushed out of the bar because it was closing we went back to the hostel.  We said our goodbyes and hugged for this was the last time I'd see these amazing ladies this trip.  They were off to Toledo and me, I was off to my old stomping grounds...Salamanca to look for my old host mom and host sister.

So here I am in Salamanca.  I spoke with Candy (my host mom) yesterday and we're going to meet for coffee (tea in my case) and catch up.  I can't wait.

Yes, Madrid was indeed the right place to start.