MY MADRID FAVOURITES

Some Hot Spots for your trip to Madrid.

Where to SHOP:

Cloths, accessoires:

Blanco
http://www.blancoint.com/
Shops:
Metro Goya - Calle Goya – direction: Plaza de Colón – on the right handside
Metro Sol – Calle Mayor – on the right handside

Topshop
www.topshop.com
Metro Sol – Puerta del Sol x Calle Carrotas


Books:

Casa del Libro
Metro Gran Vía – direction Plaza del Callao


CDs, DVDs, …

FNAC
Shop Callao
C/ Preciados, 28 28013 MADRID
Monday – Saturday 10-21:30
Sunday and holiday 12-21:30


Apple
Premium Reseller

Benotac
Doctor Castelo, 35

ADEMAC
Castelló, 109


Souvenirs:

Hard Rock Café
www.hardrock.com
Paseo de la Castellana 2


Shopping Streets:

Alternative:
Calle de Fuencarral

Exclusive:
Calle Serrano

Market:
Mercado del Rastro
(Sundays)


What to VISIT

Museums

Museo del Prado
Paseo del Prado
http://museoprado.mcu.es
must see: Las Meninas (Velázquez)

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
http://www.museoreinasofia.es
must see: Guernica (Picasso)

Museo Thyssen Bornemisza
http://www.museothyssen.org

Museo Naval de Madrid
http://www.museonavalmadrid.com
must see: globes, documentation of underwater recoveries


Where to RELAX

Parque del Buen Retiro

Bus trip to Toledo
Estación Sur de Autobuses
Metro Méndez Alvaro

Happy Birthday Michi!

... birthday reloaded ...

November is a month of many birthdays. So aswell of Michi's!
Happy Birthday, Michi!

We celebrated together in Xampanyera "El Xampanyet" in Carrer Montcada and enjoyed a bottle of "Cava de la casa".

¡Salud!

Birthdayparty in Barcelona

My first birthday party abroad!

Exactly 10 days after my birthday I organized a little party in Barcelona.

Once again I discovered that my sense of orientation seems to need some private lessons, because I was walking in several wrong directions until I finally found my target destination: L'Ovella Negre in C/Zamora 78.

L'Ovella Negre" (or: "Oveja negra" in castellano) is a fancy bar especially for students. They offer several popular drinks and also food to quite economical prices. Due to the fact that the "Ovella Negre" near las Ramblas is usually crowded of people, we decided to meet in Poble Nou, where there is plenty of space.
Although there were many tables free when I arrived at about 10:30pm, lateron, when we left, all tables were, surprisingly, full.




After L'Ovella we decided to head to the center and went bar-hopping to different clubs near "Plaza Reial".

It was really a lot of fun, thanks again to all who celebrated my birthday with me.
I enjoyed it a lot!

¡Cumpleanos en Barcelona!

¡Hola!

My birthday-party had to be postponed because of my journey to Madrid, but luckily there was FMUAB06 what stands for Festa Major UAB and means that it's the day of the Party of Universitat Autónoma!



Together with Ana (Poland / France), Eva (Germany) and Markus (Austria) I enjoyed a glass of CAVA during enjoying almost festival-atmosphere at university campus.

So, now I have to do my Spanish homework and try to get some sleep although life is going on outside as loud as possible. But I am going to Madrid tomorrow and I want to be fit for the journey as I know that we'll have a tight and full programme of activities!

Stay tuned!

Yours
Claudia

¡Madrid!

I was selected out of 1,200 applications (that's at least what "Der Standard" says) for an internship at a foreign office of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce!
That means that I will spend July 2007 in Madrid!!!

Quite a Spanish (or: Spanish/Catalan, just to put it politically correct) year for me.
I am looking forward to it!

Hasta luego

Claudia

Journey to Andalusia

From October 26 to October 31, 2006 I travelled together with a whole bus of exchange students to Andalusia, which is an autonomous region in the South of Spain.

We left Barcelona on Thursday at night from Plaza Catalunya and arrived in Sevilla on Friday at 12:00 am. In the afternoon we strolled through the historic part of the city and went to enjoy some "tapas".




Quite surprising for me that I met 3 very sympathetic girls at the journey who also come from AUSTRIA and study at UAB in Barcelona!
Of course we had to go for a coffee! Unfortunately I cannot recommend Spanish coffee as it cannot be compared with Viennese coffee CULTURE.


(from left to right: Lea, Iris, Kathi)

At night, Spanish Party Culture: In Spain you don't need to enter a discothec or bar before at the earliest at midnight. So we spent the hours before in a park and mixed our own cocktails. That was great fun. In Spanish you say "hacer botellón" what can be translated like "drinking from the bottle".
I found a German translation that explaines "ir al botellón" with "eine Flasche machen".


Just to get an idea about the quantities: 2 huge bowls filled with special Spanish cocktails each. In total 100 l of alcohol for 60 people!
We drank "Agua de Valencia" which is typical for Catalunya and consists of vodca, cava, sugar and orange juice and "Rebujito" which is typical for Sevilla and consists of wine and lemonade "Sprite".



Lateron we went to "Salon Sevilla" to enjoy a Flamenco performance and Erasmus party.



On the next day we visited the interior of the Cathedral of Sevilla ...



... enjoyed the marvellous view over the city ...


(from left to right: Erica (South Corea / Great Britain), me, Sabine (Germany) and Vera (Switzerland)



... the "Patio de los naranjos" ...



... and visited "Placa de España".



At night we saw another performance of Flamenco which was really breathtaking. The bar was crowded, the temperature hot, the atmosphere tense to see the spectacle. And it was really worth a visit - if you ever have the chance to see Flamenco in Andalusia - don't hesitate because you will never forget it!



On Sunday we headed to Córdoba to visit "La Catedral de Cordoba" which was originally built as an islamic mosque and transformed to a christian cathedral in 1236. Our guide was very motivated and professional. I have never had such a funny and at the same time informative and interesting guided tour of a cathedral before!



After visiting Córdoba we moved on to visit Granada where we celebrated our last party of the journey. First again "botellón", to be continued in a nice little bar that was within easy walking distance from the residence.

On Monday we visited "Palacios Nazaries" and "Alcazaba" of "La Alhambra".

A glimpse of Mallorca

Impressions

Together with my parents I visited Mallorca for a weekend.
I personally think that Mallorca is a beautiful island. Although we had only a few days to explore we enjoyed the beautiful landscape and tried to catch as many highlights as possible.



The capital "La Palma" with its beautiful cathedral and picturesque buildings is really worth a visit.



People are very friendly and helpful and if you listen carefully you can recognize the difference in Catalan pronounciation compared with Catalan in Barcelona.

Unfortunately the region around El Arenal, where we stayed in a really comfortable hotel is already quite touristic. Hotel staff speaks German and yes, you can order "A großes Bia!" and everybody will understand you. ;-)