On Saturday we made it our mission to go to Madrid Zoo, it being first on Niamh's priority list. We left the house early in the morning, getting the bus to Moncloa, where we hit a snag in the Metro station.
We topped up our travel card (Spain's answer to the Leap Card) and we strutted confidently to the gates, having just done it the other day when - bleep - a red light flashed and the screen said the tickets weren't valid. We tried again, and nope, wasn't working.
At first we didn't think we bought tickets for the right line but after going to the information desk three separate times we were pretty much stuck. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but I'll say, hell hath no fury like Niamh denied her train ticket. At one point I was ready to sprint through the station waving my arms and shouting for everyone to take cover, hoping at least a couple of commuters would understand English and alert the others.
We were finally shown to an attendant who put in our cards and re-bought our tickets so they would scan for us (We didn't see what exactly she did, her hand was a blur across the self-service screen) and we were away.
Leaving the station in Casa Del Campo we trudged through the scenic but rocky park towards the zoo, having to consult a park ranger for directions, who told us to just follow the family in front that he had just directed towards the zoo. When we got to the zoo the first animals we saw were the flamingos. One of them left through an opening in the fence and we contemplated whether that was actually supposed to happen or not, but people went up to it and fed it from their hands. Niamh and I walked off to see the sea lions and seals. Practically being the dogs of the sea, I loved them, they even reminded me of my dog at home- sleeping and ignoring everyone.
Walking around we saw rhinos, owls, sheep and a sleeping leopard (I really resonated with this one, hanging off the branch) before we came to the main event.
Niamh is obsessed with tigers, and she wouldn't die a happy woman unless she saw Madrid Zoo's tiger enclosure, including a white tiger.
Majestic, beauty and grace are probably the words that were running through Niamh's mind, but for me it was just nearly fifteen minutes of watching her stare lovingly at the tigers and taking endless pictures. We eventually moved away from the tigers (Niamh promising to return to her "babies" before leaving). I honestly have never seen her so obsessed with anything else other than a man.
Now I don't know about you, but when I see a sign that says "Please don't feed the animals" I don't get the urge to throw any piece of food into the enclosure, however, I can't say the same about the crowds in Madrid zoo. When we were at the bear enclosure, the bear itself actually sat up straight and caught food in it's mouth (mildly impressed, but still).
Having trekked around the whole zoo, we decided it was time to head home. With our souvenirs from the gift shop, we walked back through the park to the metro station, feeling that nothing could go wrong this time.
Hahahahaha nah it went wrong again.
We bought our tickets but it still wouldn't let us scan through the gate, and asked an attendant to help us. He looked at us sideways and realized he didn't speak English, so he went off and we had to wait for him to find someone who did. Eventually another attendant sauntered over, and she informed us that we bought tickets to go to the station that we were already in.
Not our finest moments, but we kept face. We bought the right tickets this time, and were back in Moncloa hopping on the bus in no time. When we got home, we changed out of our shorts and t-shirts and went out for dinner. Before we stopped at the restaurant we went to the church where a band was performing as part of the festival in the village. It was weird, hearing them talk in Spanish and then perform a song, singing in perfect English with American accents to boot. We stayed there for a couple of songs, and then went to the restaurant.
The next day was a much more chill day. With the intent of going into Madrid and visiting the Parque del Buen Retiro, we got on the bus and hoped there wouldn't be another problem with the metro. Getting to the Metro, and successfully buying our tickets, we discovered that the line our train is on was closed. So things were going swell with the trains so far. We were told that the other side of the same line was still running, so we risked getting on, and it just went the opposite direction, so turns out that there wasn't a problem getting to Peurto del Sol after all.
Walking down towards the park, we kept taking pictures of the buildings around us, and walked across the road to admire the Fountain of Neptune (Spain's very big on the fountains it seems). The park was amazing, the statues and monuments never being anything like I've ever seen.
After the park we went to the botanical gardens, and frankly the four euro entrance fee was not worth the growing weeds we saw in the garden and the potted plants that looked like something off the shelves at the garden section of B&Q. Other parts were nice, with the colourful flowers and trees covering everything.
We had a quick dinner in Burger King (With more ice cream, we really are disasters) and went home. When we got to the station in Moncloa we had to sprint for the bus, it being a couple of minutes before it left otherwise we'd be waiting around for an hour for the next one. We made it just in time, and were home within the next hour, wrecked after our day out in Madrid.
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