Cultural Extremes

Talk about a world of difference. Before I traveled to Spain, I was in Yukon, Oklahoma during it's coldest winter yet (-4 degrees) and experienced my first snow storm. And made my first snow angel as well. The weather got significantly better with sunny skies and warmer temperatures throughout the week. Now Yukon is a suburb of Oklahoma now and the hometown of Garth Brooks. Our hotel was on Garth Brooks boulevard, in fact. It's only about 30 minutes away from OKC. We didn't venture out much and our highlight was hitting the casino for my birthday. When I say casino, you may have Vegas in your mind, but delete that. It's totally not like that. It still has the slots, the booze (luckily since some Native American casinos don't), and a few table games. But they only sell beer and its really bright in there. No decor and folks pretty much come in right after work which may include construction, ranching, or farming. Yukon itself is also known for Grady the cow. Grady got trapped in a silo when she was pregnant and it was a big deal. And the oldest thing you'll find around there is late 19th-century farms and buildings.

Pulpo

Madrid, Spain on the other hand has been a city since before Christ around 200 BC. Their "antiques" are literally medieval. The architecture in the city spans from the 16th century to now. Madrid is not typically a tourist destination, but it's getting there due to its reputation for its tapas. Our first night (which was the same day we arrived) we took a tapas tour. Although me and JP were exhausted (even after two naps) we trucked it through the rain downtown, Puerta del Sol or Sol, the city center. It's called Puerta del Sol since a medieval gate with a sun atop of it once marked the entrance to the city. We met up with our guide, Kayo an Irish dude and the rest of our group. Kayo, which later changed to Kyle, Kale, etc. as the night drunkenly progressed was fantastic. We went to really local tapas bars as we were the only non-Madrileños there. We gave him total control and her ordered everything we ate.We hit four tapas bars and he gave us a bit of a historical tour of the central city between each one. We had so many delicious things and it was fast-paced too. Arrive, order drinks, get 1-3 tapas, order another drink, get another 2 tapas, pay, and move on. And for the most part, you're standing up the whole time. Everything was soo good but my favorites were the chorizo, blood sausage, and octopus. Yes octopus. It was crazy good. So tender it was ridiculous. By the time we were done with our tour it was only 11:30 pm. We started at 8:00. And being that it was a Saturday night, the streets were busier than earlier. Everybody, all types of young and old were out. Going from one place to another.

Blood sausage

Madrileños are hard core. They work from 8:00 to 1:00pm, take a huge lunch and nap from 1:00 to around 4:00, sometimes 5:00, work again till 8:00, go out for a drink after to several bars till around 10:00 then they have dinner around 10:30, move on to various bars for tapas till around 2:00, then have another "night cap" of "copitas" of gin-tonic or vodka soda till four, then finish off with churros and chocolate at 5:00 am. And they start this on Thursday. Well we bailed after we were done even though Keel was ready to keep going as he was now officially "off" the clock though. But we were fading fast and JP was still feeling a bit woozy from the plane that morning. But it was a great introduction to Madrid. One of these nights..... we're doing churros at 5:00 am.