Monday, continued yet again!
Surely, you are thinking to yourself....nay, you are muttering under your breath, "seriously, Michelle. Finish up with the trip already." And...you'd have a good point. And, I got to use the words "nay" and "mutter" in the same sentence. Clearly, I'm sort of losing my mind.
There won't be any pictures with this post. This will be where I finish up writing about Monday in Madrid, which I have mentioned before was one of my most favorite days on our Spain trip. Madrid is just an amazing city. Knowing what I know about life, I'm sure I'll be back there someday. Because life is good and lovely. And I'm an optimist.
So, after my little shopping trip, I tried to take a little nap. As I recall, this wasn't too terribly successful. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but the bed in the apartment in Madrid was very noisy. The slightest movement set off a series of squeaks and groans that would only be rivaled by the ominous noises made by carnival rides. I was also rather excited about our evening plans with Kym and Kyle and this kept me up as well. And, it was the middle of the day and not very dark. Overall, bad napping experience.
Okay, I am completely exaggerating the "rather excited" part. It's a good thing Kym and Kyle wanted to go to the Flamenco show, because I think had we been left to our own devices David and I would have done what we do many a night at home - sit on the balcony, drink some wine, eat some cheese, watch the traffic go by. Okay, we don't have a balcony, but I think you get the general idea.
All day, we'd been sort of debating and wishy-washy about whether we wanted to go to this Flamenco show. The bar/club/restaurant had been recommended to me by a co-worker who once lived in Madrid. The show was at 10:30 p.m. (past my bedtime as we all know) and I'd read some Trip Advisor reviews and had heard that we'd be packed in like sardines. We also had to get up early the next day to head to the airport and being the last day of the trip we were kind of tired. But, we had a reservation and Kym and Kyle still wanted to go, so we decided to do it.
We decided to take the subway over to the neighborhood where the flamenco club was located. Our first stop was to find dinner. I have to say, on on way there, I thought the neighborhood seemed a little sketchy. But, we did find a nice place for dinner where we were able to be seated rather quickly. We of course had tapas: Spanish Omelet, some asparagus, some other things I don't remember. The place was pretty crowded, but we managed to get in and out in time to get back to Casa Patas for the show.
Casa Patas has a restaurant in front and the Flamenco Club is at the back. We checked in, got our tickets, and then found our seats, about 5 or 6 rows back. And yes...we were most certainly packed in like sardines. There were very tiny little tables and when you were seated, it was nearly impossible to move around. You got either a free Sangria or glass of wine with the show and you could also order tapas. Mmmm...wine and food. We skipped the tapas. The wine was okay. About what you would expect for a "complimentary" glass.
A few minutes before the show started, I headed to the restroom and when I walked in was quite shocked to see a very, very tall man in there! Eeek! Was I in the wrong place? Nope...apparently the women's restroom is also the dressing room for the dancers.
I've only seen Flamenco once...in Mexico and then it was two women. This show was comprised of a male and female dancer and three guitarists. The show started promptly at 10:30 and wow...it was AMAZING.
First of all...I have to say. The male dancer was freakishly tall and skinny. And when you are looking up at a stage, he looked even more freakishly tall. But he was an amazing dancer, as was his female counterpart. There was so much energy in their dancing and so much emotion in their faces. I don't have any photos or video because you were not supposed to use cameras or recording devices during the show. This did not deter the Japanese businessmen sitting in front of us though. Oddly, they also left at the intermission and never came back.
I really don't see why. It was that good. I was disappointed when it was over.
The first dance was the man and woman together. Flamenco is a very passionate dance. You're probably thinking of castanets, but they were never used in this show. The guitarists would play, clap, sing a little. It was really an excellent show. I couldn't tell how old either dancer was. When they were dancing, they looked so much older, particularly the woman. Her face looked so determined and had so much emotion, she looked to be in her late 30s or early 40s, but when she was not dancing, it was obvious she was much younger.
For the second number, the man came out and danced solo. When he stepped from behind the curtain, we saw that he had changed into a red, velvet suit! The entire crowd reacted....I couldn't tell if it was laughter or more of an "oh my, I'm looking at 6 feet 8 inches of bright red velvet!" Regardless, we were quickly mesmerized by his dancing. The speed at which he moved his feet...amazing.
Later there was a number of just the guitarists and then the woman did a solo number as well. Then they danced together again. The show was over by midnight.
Despite my earlier hesitation about actually wanting to go, I was thrilled afterwards that we had. The show was amazing and I wish we had made more of an effort to see a show in Sevilla as well. Perhaps others from the group would have joined us. I really do recommend going to see Flamenco if you are ever in Spain.
We made our way back through the sketchy neighborhood to the Metro and were back at our little apartment before 1 a.m. We tiptoed around our sleeping friends and then crawled into bed. One last night in Spain. We'd be up bright and early the next day to head to the airport. Sigh.
There won't be any pictures with this post. This will be where I finish up writing about Monday in Madrid, which I have mentioned before was one of my most favorite days on our Spain trip. Madrid is just an amazing city. Knowing what I know about life, I'm sure I'll be back there someday. Because life is good and lovely. And I'm an optimist.
So, after my little shopping trip, I tried to take a little nap. As I recall, this wasn't too terribly successful. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but the bed in the apartment in Madrid was very noisy. The slightest movement set off a series of squeaks and groans that would only be rivaled by the ominous noises made by carnival rides. I was also rather excited about our evening plans with Kym and Kyle and this kept me up as well. And, it was the middle of the day and not very dark. Overall, bad napping experience.
Okay, I am completely exaggerating the "rather excited" part. It's a good thing Kym and Kyle wanted to go to the Flamenco show, because I think had we been left to our own devices David and I would have done what we do many a night at home - sit on the balcony, drink some wine, eat some cheese, watch the traffic go by. Okay, we don't have a balcony, but I think you get the general idea.
All day, we'd been sort of debating and wishy-washy about whether we wanted to go to this Flamenco show. The bar/club/restaurant had been recommended to me by a co-worker who once lived in Madrid. The show was at 10:30 p.m. (past my bedtime as we all know) and I'd read some Trip Advisor reviews and had heard that we'd be packed in like sardines. We also had to get up early the next day to head to the airport and being the last day of the trip we were kind of tired. But, we had a reservation and Kym and Kyle still wanted to go, so we decided to do it.
We decided to take the subway over to the neighborhood where the flamenco club was located. Our first stop was to find dinner. I have to say, on on way there, I thought the neighborhood seemed a little sketchy. But, we did find a nice place for dinner where we were able to be seated rather quickly. We of course had tapas: Spanish Omelet, some asparagus, some other things I don't remember. The place was pretty crowded, but we managed to get in and out in time to get back to Casa Patas for the show.
Casa Patas has a restaurant in front and the Flamenco Club is at the back. We checked in, got our tickets, and then found our seats, about 5 or 6 rows back. And yes...we were most certainly packed in like sardines. There were very tiny little tables and when you were seated, it was nearly impossible to move around. You got either a free Sangria or glass of wine with the show and you could also order tapas. Mmmm...wine and food. We skipped the tapas. The wine was okay. About what you would expect for a "complimentary" glass.
A few minutes before the show started, I headed to the restroom and when I walked in was quite shocked to see a very, very tall man in there! Eeek! Was I in the wrong place? Nope...apparently the women's restroom is also the dressing room for the dancers.
I've only seen Flamenco once...in Mexico and then it was two women. This show was comprised of a male and female dancer and three guitarists. The show started promptly at 10:30 and wow...it was AMAZING.
First of all...I have to say. The male dancer was freakishly tall and skinny. And when you are looking up at a stage, he looked even more freakishly tall. But he was an amazing dancer, as was his female counterpart. There was so much energy in their dancing and so much emotion in their faces. I don't have any photos or video because you were not supposed to use cameras or recording devices during the show. This did not deter the Japanese businessmen sitting in front of us though. Oddly, they also left at the intermission and never came back.
I really don't see why. It was that good. I was disappointed when it was over.
The first dance was the man and woman together. Flamenco is a very passionate dance. You're probably thinking of castanets, but they were never used in this show. The guitarists would play, clap, sing a little. It was really an excellent show. I couldn't tell how old either dancer was. When they were dancing, they looked so much older, particularly the woman. Her face looked so determined and had so much emotion, she looked to be in her late 30s or early 40s, but when she was not dancing, it was obvious she was much younger.
For the second number, the man came out and danced solo. When he stepped from behind the curtain, we saw that he had changed into a red, velvet suit! The entire crowd reacted....I couldn't tell if it was laughter or more of an "oh my, I'm looking at 6 feet 8 inches of bright red velvet!" Regardless, we were quickly mesmerized by his dancing. The speed at which he moved his feet...amazing.
Later there was a number of just the guitarists and then the woman did a solo number as well. Then they danced together again. The show was over by midnight.
Despite my earlier hesitation about actually wanting to go, I was thrilled afterwards that we had. The show was amazing and I wish we had made more of an effort to see a show in Sevilla as well. Perhaps others from the group would have joined us. I really do recommend going to see Flamenco if you are ever in Spain.
We made our way back through the sketchy neighborhood to the Metro and were back at our little apartment before 1 a.m. We tiptoed around our sleeping friends and then crawled into bed. One last night in Spain. We'd be up bright and early the next day to head to the airport. Sigh.
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