This is no time for jet-lag...

The ladies outside El Mercado de San Miguel

The whole gang's back together again!! On the Friday after my birthday my family came! After waiting at the airport for...a few hours or so for their delayed flight, the wary travelers finally made it to Madrid all excited and ready...for a nap. I quickly informed them, however, that there would be no time for napping--we had a whole city to see in only a few days! My parents, Sarah, Nana and I then made the long trek through the interchanges of the metro/subway system back to our stop: Opera. Needless to say that after lugging their luggage through the subways, they opted for the slightly more expensive but wildly more convenient airport shuttle service for their return trip.

Our tour guide..
and her furry coat

Once everyone got changed and settled in, and I delivered my carry-on suitcase full of the essentials like gum, cookies, peanut butter, and almonds, we set out for a walk around my neighborhood. The walk quickly turned into stopping for a drink and some tapas (as most walks do around here) at el mercado de san miguel. It was so nice to be reunited with everyone once again! We grabbed some dinner late (when in Spain...) and I tucked all my sleepy little world travelers into bed.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early for a trip to Avila and Segovia. Our tour guide wore this big fuzzy fur coat that, while I had first made fun of it, it was clear to see that this lady knew what she was doing--it was FREEZING. For those of you who haven't been paying attention to the news...most of Europe has been dealing with unseasonably cold temperatures which has caused excessive snow and freezing weather in many uncharacteristic places at this time of year--namely Spain.

This one's for my mom:
she loved the view from the Plaza Mayor in Avila

Despite the cold, Avila was beautiful, as was Segovia. This was my second trip to Segovia, but the weather was much better than the first time. The fog had cleared so we could actually see the breathtaking vistas from the fortress that we could only imagine before. I loved it!

Entrance to the old town of Avila

After our day trip to Avila and Segovia, we got back to Madrid and decided that it was time for a Spanish tradition: a drinks and tapas bar crawl! What fun, let me tell you. I took them to all the hot spots I knew of (various bars/restaurants where you can get a beer for a euro...they may not have been clean, but at least I was saving them money) and we had a great time. In one of the bars, after Mom and Nana had definitely entered their happy place, they insisted that the beautifully handsome spanish waiter take a picture with Sarah (...ironic how that one didn't make it on facebook). We then cleaned up shop with a few pitchers, or jarras, of wine and sangria..and then took about 6 pitchers home with us too! Every college student needs an authentic spanish pitcher from Madrid for their apartment..

Momma and me at El Alcazar, Segovia!

Just two gals having a ball at happy hour

Saturday was a very long day, so we all got some sleep to get ready for an early start on Sunday morning for the world-famous outdoor market. El Rastro happens in Madrid every Sunday and is a market close to the Plaza Mayor full of street vendors selling things from sunglasses to t-shirts to purses to scarves to army gas masks to extension cords--they have just about anything you could imagine! El rastro is famous not only for it's bargaining and variety of products, but also for its pick pocketers. I'm sure you can ask my Dad, but let's just say that people were getting fresh with his back pocket if you catch my drift...luckily the "all-knowing" Rick Steves guide to Madrid (the book--rather, bible in the eyes of my family--that was always in hand giving us advice about just about everything we needed to know for the entire country of Spain) had forewarned him about this, so we were sure to keep our money in a more secure place; the Campbell's are obviously much smarter than your average tourists.

El rastro

 After El Rastro we took the metro (without the luggage this time) to El Reina Sofia, the contemporary art museum. After just a little bit of culture, we headed back to Opera and had some lunch and went for a siesta. Sunday evening we tried to make it to mass at the Cathedral...but apparently they had changed mass times without updating their website, so we only caught from the "holy, holy, holy" on...some could say that the amount of churches and cathedrals we'd visited the past few days would make up for that, but thanks to Mr. Bill and his nifty iphone we went back to the hotel for our own mini liturgy of the word..complete with a sung responsorial psalm (nice pipes, faja). Unlike the rest of my vacationing family, I had school the next day, so I headed back to Mar's (as in the host mom, not the planet) to work on some homework that I had been shamelessly neglecting all weekend.

Monday morning I met my family for a trip to the palacio real, the royal palace right next to my apartment. I had not yet visited the inside of the palace (it costs money), so I was very excited to go while my family was here! The palace was absolutely beautiful on the inside..too bad we couldn't take pictures. I guess you'll just have to come visit me if you want to see it! (if you do visit, please bring snacks).

The rest of the day I went to class and then we went to dinner that night at a local Argentinian steak house (before you judge, this place was GOOD) for the last meal before the rest of the clan hopped in the rental car off to France. Only a few days stand in my way between a quick flight to San Sebastian to meet them in the Basque country!

Until then,
Rachel

A view of the Cathedral from the courtyard of El Palacio Real!