Best Week(end) Ever...

This evening, I woke up from the best 4 hour nap I have ever taken. That in itself is a bold statement considering that I am the Queen of Naps. But this nap trumped them all. I finally hit my pillow after being up for 30 consecutive hours; my springy, creaky, puny bed felt exactly like one of those puffy, perfect clouds you see when you look out the window of an airplane. What was I doing in these 30 hours you might ask? Well, living it up in Madrid of course.

At 7:30 a.m. this past Friday, I boarded the plane to Madrid to begin one of the best weekends of my life. Thank you EasyJet. We arrived at Cats Hostel, which was AMAZING by the way, at around 11 a.m. and began roaming the city. Abi, Brooke and I wandered through the streets of Madrid, stopping at beautiful plazas and churches and admiring the beautiful people of Spain. With no direction and no plan, we decided to spend our first day enjoying the sun and hustle and bustle of the Plaza Mayor. Gelato in hand, we sat basking in the rays and watching all the street performers and people go about their day. It was amazing and a great change of pace for all of us. Then we reluctantly made our way back to the hostel, took a 3 hour power nap and decided to kill some time and a couple pitchers of Sangria while we waiting for the rest of our group to get in.

Dressed and ready to go at around 7 p.m., we found our way to a restaurant called La Tia Cebolla (accento sobre la "i") and decided this is where we were going to satisfy our sangria fix. All I can say is...buena idea. The waiters were friendly, the sangria was tasty and the bar snacks kept on coming. By 9:30 we were feeling good and ready to meet up with the guys and take on the evening. And so we did. It was a full night of laughing, dancing, drinking and soaking up the perfection that is Spain. And so at 4 a.m., when I couldn't bare my heels anymore, we made our way home for a few hours of shut eye.

The next morning, after my complimentary croissant and orange juice, I got ready to greet the day in Spain. All 9 of us set out to see the sights of Madrid. We made our way to La Reina Sofia, the Prado and   the Royal Palace but these places were nowhere near my favorites. For me, it was sauntering through the gorgeous parks, eating peanuts and laughing. It was sitting in the Plaza Mayor with frozen yogurt, taking pictures of a sad excuse for a Spiderman and talking about how lucky we felt being in Spain. It was sneaking back into our hostel to snag a spot on a couch and relax after Brooke, Abi and I had already checked out. It was the witty banter, toasts over dinner and side streets less traveled that made the trip what it was. Perfect. The churros and chocolate at 3 a.m., between the nightclub and the flight, wasn't bad either. Though admittedly, and please do not judge, I might have preferred the Dominos around the corner.

And so, at 4:30 a.m., we cabbed it to the airport. I had another croissant and slept in the terminal while we waited for our plane to arrive. Even though my feet hurt (I'm still having trouble walking), I looked like a hot mess and was delirious from lack of sleep, I would not change anything about the trip for the world. I'd like to leave you with my final exchange in Spain before boarding the plane.

Me: "I am going to leave Spain with as much dignity as I possibly can."

Brooke: "Alisa, you have croissant in your hair."

Me: "Right. Obviously..."

And we all erupt with laughter...which seemed to be the theme of the trip. Cheers!