Saturday 17th March 2018

A very early morning wake up call at 3am or rather an unplanned all nighter for me we were off on another adventure. This weekend to Madrid to explore the city and to also watch the NZ Ice Fernz play (NZ Women’s Ice Hockey team). It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already since I myself was playing at world champs with the girls in Akureyri, Iceland! Now it’s an excellent opportunity to fly across Europe to catch up with some of my besties. The train ride was once again smooth getting out to Luton airport but as we emerged out of the train we were hit by  the blizzard of snow that was expected this weekend. Clearly it hasn’t made it way south into the city just yet. Going straight through security which I feel is going to get to the point you may just have to get naked sometime soon since they want everyone to take off basically everything these days, it may just be easier to strip off. They also have fancy X-ray machines but still need to pat you down and all that carry on. You always fob it off reminding yourself it’s all for your safety and hey it gives people jobs?. The airport was super busy considering it was about 5.30am and we were much much earlier than we needed to be. Our gate came up at 6.30am and it seemed as though everyone in the terminal rushed to gate 14. Then we stood for about 45 minutes in a line before we could board. Today we are flying with easyJet and to make things confusing all these airlines have different carry on baggage allowance. This one is just the one bag within their size limit with NO weight limit. Most of the carry on bags seem to be tagged to go into the hold anyways so I hid my handbag under my jacket so that I at least had some things with me since they had tagged my small suitcase. At some point in time they opened the doors onto the tarmac and we all rushed to board in the snow. The blonde flight attendant was too busy and no one ever told us where to put the bags going into the hold so I took it with me, subtly ripping the tag off as I walked down the isle. Thank goodness I had since the planes all needed de-icing which delayed us by 1 hour 45 minutes, we ended up leaving Luton at 9am instead of 7.15am like we were supposed to. To be delayed waiting for baggage at the other end would have been super frustrating. The flight itself was fine and Lew and I snacked on bananas and a raspberry loaf I had made since by then it had been awhile since breakfast. We touched down in Madrid and had a long taxi to the gate making it 12.15pm when we were supposed to land at 10.50am. We rushed through customs and walked the four terminals following the signs for the metro (later finding out the train goes to all terminals and we just wasted more time!). We purchased a card for 10 train rides on the metro and made three different changes to get to the station Tirso de Molina where our Airbnb was close to. We had slight issues finding our place having to ask a local who then proceeded to take us in a very small elevator to the right floor. As expected the cleaner was still finishing up when we knocked on the door and she didnt speak much english so it was difficult to tell her not to rush we were leaving shortly. We quickly changed and ordered an Uber to take us to the Francisco Fernandez Ochoa Ice rink in Valdemoro 30 minutes out of Madrid. We booked this early flight so we could be there to watch the Ice Fernz first game against Romania which started at 1pm. Unfortunately we arrived just as the third period was about to start. Surprisingly they made us pay €6 (£5.20/$10.20 nzd) each go watch the final period which I found insane but we had paid £31 ($60 nzd) for an Uber to get there anyway rather than taking public transport so we might as well watch. We set up some seats before the rest of the girls support crew came in from enjoying the sunshine outside during the period break. Hugs galore alright and I caught up with Jon the manager with all the marmite and goodies brought over for us! Jon has coached/managed all of us Kennedy kids in national teams so we have a special bond - he would deny it but I think he misses having a national team with no Kennedys to keep him entertained and on his toes this year. He is the prank meister after all. The girls cleaned up 6-3 as I expected and I was able to see them all after they cooled down. I forgot how much I missed the hockey community at home and the many weekends travelling with both the Auckland and Christchurch regional teams as well as the Fernz last year allowed me to gain some special friendship. Andy, Jeff and Kiri the coaches arrived and we all got to catch up also. Jeff produced some marmite and pineapple lumps and Katie the physio also brought some face wash and more marmite across for me. Thoroughly spoilt that’s for sure. We ended up taking the bus back with the team to Pinto where they are staying from which we could catch the metro back to Madrid. It was feeding time for the athletes so we left them to it and found the train station a short walk away. Although we hadn’t eaten since our small snack on the plane and with it being 4.30pm we were ravenous and would have eaten any left overs they provided! The station was deserted and then all of a sudden hoards of Spanish people suddenly turned up and we hoped that meant a train was due to arrive since we had been waiting at least 15 minutes. Us snobby Londoners don’t like waiting for more than 2 minutes for a train these days! The hour train ride back to Sol station was unpleasant and we stood the entire way in our hungry exhausted state. We met up with Becca and Nick (to make a long story short they are friends with Fuchsia who we met through ice hockey in Auckland and she is playing in the team. Fuchsia put lewis in touch with Nick who offered Lew a job and now work together) who have come across to watch Fuchsia play and we are sharing an Airbnb. Our Airbnb was in a reasonable location in Centro which is a short 20 minute walk into the main sights of Madrid. It was everything we needed for the next three days as we explored the Spanish capital. We had an experience booked though Airbnb which was a tapas tour at 6.30pm so we quickly showered and headed back to the metro. We had to meet Rahul our host at a station north of Madrid and when we arrived we gathered around with another 5 couples as Rahul explained what we would be doing tonight. We had 5 different venues we would go to in this particular area which he believed is some of the best tapas in Madrid. We would get a drink at every place and food for a total cost of £54 ($106 nzd) each for this and we were all starved and planning to eat our fair share of food. Knowing we had 5 drinks total I quickly grabbed a bread roll on the way home from the rink so I could make it through the night. The first place we walked to was called Ponzano where we were given a large glass of red wine paired with some bruchetta with some Spanish salami as well as bread dipped in some beautiful olive oil. Lew and I tried to eat a lot of bread feeling the effects of the red wine kick in asap. We were determined to sample as much as possible along the way including the alcohol provided. After around 25 minutes the group moved along to the second tapas restaurant called El Doble which is a “cerveceria” and also served well pulled beer which gives it better body...whatever that means? The wall are covered with photos of the owner and what we think are famous Spanish people or celebrities since the only person we recognised was Rafael Nadal. They served us potato chips (Lew was very excited) with skewers of anchovies, olives and gherkins as well as some cockles. Lew was forced to eat some of the anchovies much to his disgust but peer pressure is never a bad thing (mostly) when it comes to trying new things. The other three loved the beer which made it easy for me to take one sip just to try and then pass it over to someone who appreciates it better. I think we managed to steal more than our allocation of tapas as the workers left a large container of the anchovy skewers within reach and we helped ourselves! They did notice me at one point and it was removed out of our reach into the cabinets! Rahul came over to chat to us about the food and speed up our drinking. We also discovered we are the first bunch of Kiwis he has had our his tour. Place number three across the road is called CLaXon and we felt a little under dressed as we walked in there were other diners dresses in costumes for some strange reason. We were taken to a table over the back where we were given a tasty glass of something uniquely Spainish called vermouth which is a fortified wine flavored by various types of flowers, roots and spices which makes it very aromatic. In Madrid, many bars and taverns serve “Vermut del grifo” (Vermouth on tap). This place was our absolute favourite as they brought out some more bruchetta with a potatoe/pea mask (and other mystery ingredients) which was chilled but as it warmed up in your mouth the taste was lovely. But our all time favourite and something I could have eat a LOT more of was the slow cooked pork. It looked a little bit like bread the way the had cut it up but it melted in your mouth. It was certainly impressive and we all savoured our two pieces, fat, crackling and all. Since we were around the table we were able to begin chatting to some of the other couples. There was one couple from the States, an older couple from the UK, a quiet Romanian couple (who I thought looked down on us Kiwis laughing, drinking and eating louder and louder as the might went on...but Becca spoke to them and they were just shy), a English guy with his Kiwi GF, another younger UK couple who were extreme foodies and Becca exchanges a few details of restaurants with them later in the evening. Rahul moved us onward despite us all feeling like we could have eaten the entire slow cooked pig between us. Venue number four is Alipio Ramos and we were greeted by their bar filled with beautiful old bottles - clearly a little difficult to dust as most of them were covered in it. We had a square of seats set up in the back ready for us with more red wine (this one apparently has a vanilla flavour but I didn’t notice it), more bruschetta, bread and olives with fresh olive oil. Plus a traditional Spanish dish which is the Spanish omelette made of potatoes, onions and red pepper - rather tasty. We ate as much as we possibly could cleaning up all bit of food on our end of the table. The other side wasn’t so good at clearing their plates but we didn't feel we could eat their share as well! Rahul spoke to us a little more about how he started doing what he’s doing now and how this was his second tour today and he also has to go DJ until 4am since it’s St Patrick’s day. It did look like he had a long day and he did the bare minimum of eating, drinking and talking throughout the night. He’s lucky his food basically speaks for itself and us ‘foodies’ enjoy each other’s company. The final restaurant for the night is Ni Subo Ni Bajo in which Rahul said we would now have dinner. The daycore of the place was quite lovely and it has a more of an elegant feel to it. We had a large long table to for us all and once we sat down the waitresses hastily loaded the table up with cheese, olives, ice tea (Actually sweet white wine- YAY) and shortly after blue cheese croquets and calamari was brought out. Rahul had also organised for me to have a replacement for the cheesy dishes I couldn’t have and I had a tasty bread and ham sandwich basically - I can’t explain it but I was much better than what your thinking! Conversation flowed and the names of recommended restaurants in different parts of the world were exchanged. Dessert was served which was a crepe like chocolate dish that looked tasty. Rahul apologies for not having a substitute for me but I wasn’t concerned since I had probably consumed about three peoples servings of calamari. The night drew to a close when Rahul said his goodbyes as he had to go and Dj and the restaurant politely shooed is away shortly after. We had already had a long day we weren't concerned. We walked to the metro and made the journey back home where we called it a night just before 11pm. Oh by the ways it’s our 7.5 years anniversary today 😋

Sunday 18th March 2018

The Airbnb has pathetic curtains which would stop your neighbours seeing your naked but not enough to fabric to keep any light out. Lew and I had planned to run this morning and despite feeling a little off from all the different food and alcohol we tried last night we decided to stick to our plan. We planned to run to a park close to us to Retiro Park and set off in our shorts and singlet in what was thankfully a morning warmed by a clear blue sky and sunlight. The park was stunning and we would imagine it would be even more lovely in the summer time or when the trees grow their leaves back. We did a loop around the park admiring yet another castle on a lake. Basically every man and his dog was out and if they wernt walking their dogs the Spanish could be found running in groups in colourful lycra. We were impressed by how energetic everyone seems on his beautiful morning and we were forced to finish our run at 7km as food was calling. Nick and Becca were up and getting some work done whilst Lew and I got ourselves ready for the day. I had read about a famous flea market called El Rastro which was a short 4 minute walk away from our place and we decided to begin there in the hope of also finding some food stalls. The entire road was full of stalls with locals selling all sorts of goods from shoes, hand bags and even bras. Alas there was no food in sight and we were forced to find a cafe just off the street called Mamua. The menu took a little translating and questioning to finally understand that we got to choose tea/coffee, muffin/biscuit/croissant, and then a main meal. This also came with yoghurt and granola and an orange juice for €10.50 (£9.20/$18 nzd). We were pretty sold but discovered it was rather tapas like and the portions weren't as big as we anticipated! Never the less we left feeling ready for a few more hours of exploring. We continued down the other direction of the market but got sick of the amount of people we were having to push through. We decided to head to the main square of town called the Plaza Mayor which was very similar to the square of many other European destinations. It was surrounded by buildings with a statue of a man on a horse in the center which happened to be King Philip III, built int 1616. The square was used for many public executions during the Spanish Inquisition but now all you see is tourists, buskers as well as women shaking cups in your face for money. We then walked in the sunshine to Círculo de Bellas Artes to get a good view over Madrid for €4 (£3.50/$6.80 nzd) each. There is a rooftop bar and we were surprised to see right out to the mountains covered in snow at the edge of the city. Parts of Madrid were rather beautiful especially coming from the very communist looking city of Warsaw last weekend.  We got a few snaps and contemplated sitting for a drink but thought we should head to the park which Lew and I ran around this morning and then the food market for a late lunch. This afternoon at 4.30pm the Ice Fernz are playing Iceland. I knew this would be a close game after we snatched the bronze medal from the home teams grasps in the last moments of the game in 2017 World Champs. We walked a couple of blocks and enjoyed the sunshine whilst strolling around the Retiro park gardens again. They have a lake in the middle which you can take a row boat out on and we contemplated having a race but didn’t have much time up our sleeves. Becca had discovered a restaurant and a food market we could try out and we decided to take the metro in that direction. The restaurant was a little busy with no seats but we could hear a lot of Spanish voices indicating the locals like it then it must be good. It was called La Ardosa. We left the boys to try and find a spot whilst us girls went to check out the market mercato de San Iidefonso. There was a lot more variety here and seats so we called the boys to come across to us instead. We all got a selection of food but the Japanese Lew and I chose took forever to be prepared and we were going to be late to the game. We threw the food back in less than 5 minutes before waking as fast as possible to our apartment to change for the rink. Lew ordered an Uber and we turned up 5 minutes into the first period much to my disappointment. I was told that someone would wait outside with tickets for us but I knew because we were late this wouldn’t be the case. They allowed me to go in to grab the tickets but the other parents ended up just giving us theirs that hadn’t been ripped yet. All four of us got in for free instead of paying €24 (£21/ $41 nzd) between us all - score! The game was such a nail biter and Iceland was ahead 2-0 end of the 1st period, we managed to come back and were up 3-2 in the third period. We got some silly penalties making the crowd sit on the edges of their seats hoping Iceland wouldn’t make the most of this. In the last 4 seconds Iceland scores shattering the hard work of the team throughout the game! The next step was 5 minutes of overtime but that counted down fast with no goals for either team. This meant it now went into a shootout, a 50:50 chance for either team and just pure luck. The ice was quickly groomed and some words of encouragement said by both coaches to their respective team. After a few shots Hannah got one past the Iceland goalie and cheers erupted from the bench and stands. We thought we had the win until we discovered it was out of 5 shooters. Iceland got a point themselves but Anj put us up another point which Iceland quickly evened out making it 2-2. The players kept rolling and it was now sudden death with whoever scored first and Iceland sealed the deal with a shot from their captain ‘smiley’ taking the win. NZ did everything possible and played their absolute hearts out. I think every single person- parents, coaches and supporters were proud of them. There were tears and a few hugs but the Iceland players and supporters are so kind and humble it’s hard to hate them. We will get them next year I’m sure. Post game I had organised with brown bear (coach Andy) and panda (manager Jon) to steal Krystie and Fuchsia out for dinner after the game. Becca had booked a table for 8.30pm at Los Galyos which had been highly rated. We had an Uber issue since we were in the middle of nowhere and had to use Anj and Fuchsia's limited Spanish to order a couple of normal taxis. The girls were excited to be “free” for the night and equally we were happy to show the kiwis some of Madrid’s excellent food! It really didn’t disappoint with starters of bread and olives and two large dishes of paella a traditional Spanish food ordered. The mixed version came with meat and seafood which was delicious and the other a vegetarian version. Post dinner some of us squeezed in some dessert chased down by some homemade liquor from the restaurant made from cinnamon, apricots, raisins etc 👌🏻. It was getting late in the evening and we took a group photo before putting  the girls in a taxi back to the hotel. Dinner was expensive at €56 (£49/$96 nzd) for each couple but well worth it. We even took leftovers home for tomorrow. The four of us walked back to the hotel feeling full and like we had made the most do the day in Madrid. Also hopeful of seeing some colour in our checks from the sunlight today. Goodnight everyone!

Monday 19th March

The alarm woke Lew and I up at 7.30am since checkout was 10am and we wanted to get a run in before having to leave. It was difficult dragging ourselves out of bed so early after another late night of eating and drinking. Lew quickly planned a run to a different park called Parque de Oeste as I got changed. Picking up our shoes off the balcony I knew it was a lot colder than yesterday and threw a merino over my singlet. The sun however was still shining threw as we made our way past the Palace of Madrid, Cathedral de Santa Maria and the Templo de Debod to name a few sights. The hills were a slight struggle after London being so flat but they allowed us to see the houses and parks below. It ended up being a good 8.4km run and on the way back we planned breakfast. We quickly showered before heading back into the streets to grab some pastries/bread, fruit and also a smoothie for all four of us for breakfast. Missing out on pastries myself and with just a poppy seed bread roll I was determined to see whether I could eat some left over paella as well to keep me going. The stench of fish coming out of the microwave and wafting into the apartment was horrific and almost put me off trying to eat it, however it would be such a shame to waste such tasty leftovers. Although I can now say it definitely tasted better last night. We packed up our things and our kind Airbnb host had allowed us to leave our bags there all day since we had a late flight. Some of the Ice Fernz were coming into Madrid for the day and we planned to meet up with them. By now it had started to rain and it was rather miserable really. With out umbrellas, jackets and merinos on we left the apartment and walked into the main station Sol. We briefly looked around the market mercado di san miguel Before catching up with some of the girls in a shop called Natura. We did some brief shopping before they headed into an souvenir shop. Lew and I didn't have any room for souvenirs so we used the time to go to a post office in the mall so that I could post my marmite and face wash back to London. It ended up costing €20 (£17.40/$34 nzd) and we probably would have been better to get a checked bag, but never mind. The team was heading back to the market at 12.30pm but since we had such a late breakfast (I still was regretting my paella decision) we decided to catch up with Nick and Becca at the palace instead. It was pouring with rain and rather cold compared to the previous days so it made sense to do something indoors, and try and fit a few more tourist adventures in before we had to leave. Thankfully they accepted my student card and I lied saying I was 24 since that’s the cut off age which made it cost €15 (£13/$25 nzd) instead of €20 😁. Now we have seen a lot of castles and Chateaus after travelling through France and I can 100% tell you this one is worth visiting. The Palace was rebuilt in 1734 after a fire and still houses the Spanish Royal family today. It has an incredibly large courtyard before the entrance in which you walk into a foyer with marble staircases and intricately painting ceiling. I would even go as far as saying it was more impressive than the Sistine chapel (but you still have to go to that just because). There is over 3000 rooms of which we only got to see a handful of them and unfortunately you aren’t allowed to take photos inside so there isn’t as many as I would have hoped but we still got a sneaky few in. Every single room was decorated with different colours and patterns that somehow managed to look just right, although never would you decorate your own house like this. One room was covered in hand stitched detail, another entirely in porcelain. All of these rooms are still in use and they just roll the carpet back across the public walkways and it’s as good as new - although the carpets did look like they could use as good steam clean. The most impressive room would easily be the chapel covered in so much gold. Lew thankfully got a photo of this but I wasn’t quick enough and got told off. If anyone knows why they bother to say “no pictures” in places such a this please tell me? I find it a colossal waste of time and energy for the security who have to tell people off every 2 minutes. What harm is a photograph anyways right? Once we had made our way through the Palace Becca and Nick had already met up with Fuchsia at a restaurant for lunch called La Musa Latina close by and we went to join them. This I guess was going to be dinner until we got back to London. There was a decent spread of food including make your own guac which Lew was in heaven with and everything else was tapas style and allowed us to try a variety of things. 3.15pm came around fast and we had to walk Fuchsia back to the Sol train station to join back up with the team so they could head to the hotel. We had a few photos and said our goodbyes to those who had come into Madrid. We made our way back to the Airbnb and decided to head to the airport shortly afterwards. We wandered the streets to waste a bit of time since out flight wasn't until 6.50pm before packing everything up and making the three train changes to reach the airport. Iberia was surprisingly ok and got us back unto London Gatwick before our expected arrival time. I got to use the E-passport gates for the first time since I signed up to be a registered travel member costing me £70 ($137 nzd) for a years membership but probably the most valuable time saving ever. Especially when you see the line for "other passports" and it means I dont have to fill out an arrival card each time plus Lew and I are not separated. It was easy enough then to take our pre-booked train tickets to Clapham junction and then transfer to the overground to Clapham High Street and walk a short distance home. London was certainly freezing cold compared to the mild weather we had over the weekend and we raced to the front door of our house. Another successful weekend done and dusted! Next up is Belgium for Easter weekend :D