Madrid 10 - 14 September 2015

* when I happened to browse around in the Internet one day in June 2015 and see which concerts we could find, I ran into that of Suede's: a festival, really, in Madrid on the 12th of September. Voila! And so we started to think of all good reasons to travel to Madrid in September and came up with those:
- Suede's concert,
- our third wedding anniversary,
- never been to Madrid,
- nice whether and not too hot in September,
- plenty of time to plan,
- Monica whom I met at my Swedish course in Stockholm back in August 2014, lives in Madrid.
Decided. We were going to travel to Madrid in September.*

Trip started around noon on the 10th of September. And how lucky we were - Lufthansa, the airline that we were going to fly with, had strikes on 8 and 9 September but not on the 10th!
First we flew to Frankfurt, spent around 1.5 hours at the airport, and flew to Madrid then. It was around 8.30 pm in the evening when we landed in Madrid and were greeted by beautiful mountains and sunset. Walked to Metro and found our way to a Metro station called Principe Pio. Hotel, a rather old and simple one but still with a renovated and fine room, was just 5 minutes from the metro station. As we were really tired of the trip, unpacked and had a shower, and had a quick sushi dinner just a few steps from our hotel. What a nice surprise it was to discover that almost everything is cheaper than back home and restaurants opened late at night. The weather was rather warm, around 24-25 degrees in the evening and the entire being a lot more humid than in Estonia. Andres did not like to smell of humidity in the hotel room which I did not find unpleasant whatsoever. Have obviously been used to Australian humidity and this felt just quite nice and kind of homey. :)

On 11.09 woke up, were greeted by a nice sunny weather and had a quick coffee + croissant breakfast   next to our hotel. Started with this piece of writing here :) and soon we headed off to the city center.

Lovely boat trip on a lake in Retiro Park (Parque de el Retiro)

This was such a fun city: beautiful, warm, friendly, cheap... what else could one wish for? Spend couple of hours shopping and walked to the pretty Retiro Park. It was getting rather hot when we got there, around 28-29 degrees, and the lake with a romantic boat ride was just that we needed. Rented a boat for 45 minutes and absolutely loved it!

A great shopper (having just returned from a United Colors of Benetton store, as you can see at the back-round, freshening up with the help of Starbucks

At about 6 pm we traveled back to hotel, had some quick nap and soon were back in the city where we had agreed to meet Monica, a nice Spanish girl from my Swedish course in Stockholm back in August 2014. We met her at 8.30 pm at the Sol Square (Puerta del Sol) and had a lovely walk in the nicest parts of the city.

Monica and Andres on our walk

A pretty piece of art on one corner

A famous bullfighters' hotel in Madrid

Having walked for a while, we sat down in a winery that Monica often visits, and had a nice long talk and equally nice glasses of a Spanish wine. It was about 9.30 pm when we sat down and at about 10 or a bit later we walked on to a restaurant. Rather late for us, but perfectly normal for locals. 

We found a nice place where we could try lots of Spanish specialties and when wines and food were all consumed, we said bye to her and agreed to host her in Tallinn when she travels there.

On 12.09 we did a lot of shopping again (for Spain indeed is a shopping paradise!), later had a short sleep and then it was time to go to the festival. The name of the festival was Dcode and it was held on a university campus, not far from us. The event was nice but unfortunately all artists, except from Suede, where Spanish and therefore not quite to our taste.

Andres on the festival

Suede started at about 11.50 pm, the show was super as always, and as soon as they had finished, we hurried home. 

On 13.09 we slept a bit longer than normally. Done with sleeping, we went to the city and drove all the way to the stadium of the famous football club Real Madrid. Andres is not a fan of them but since they really are a great team, we had to see their arena.
The next plan was to travel to Segovia , a lovely town North of Madrid with a rather hilly surrounding but all trains were full and we could not get the ticket. Well, something for a next time, I think. So on the last day in Madrid, we had to forget about Segovia that Monica had recommended to visit if one would like to see outside of Madrid, and went back to the city. There we did some shopping and booked a table for dinner in a nice back-street restaurant.

View from the other side of the river (Rio Manzanares) that ran behind our hotel, and here on the top of the hill, behind the trees, is the Royal Palace 

I just had (!) to take a photo of this. Why? Because when we decided to try something Spanish, Andres ordered a dish like this and it was - to put it mildly - quite disgusting. Tomato sauce with big fatty bacon pieces 

Andres next to the Read Madrid's stadium

Garden behind the Royal Palace 

Palaca Mayor

Evening in Madrid. People were walking on the street since it had been a bike competition on those streets and no usual traffic was restored yet

Andres on our 3-years anniversary dinner

... and me on the dinner

And here were are having the very last bites of our dinner :)

The dinner was great. Had really tasty main courses and deserts, and a lot of wine that came by a jug, by our meaning. So now we have been married for 3 years and there have been a great time together.

Early morning on 14.09 we took a taxi to the airport and flew back via Frankfurt again. Was lovely to be on the same country with my cousin Ülle. My warmest greetings to you, my dear!

End-of-the summer trip in Sweden and Finland on 09.-16.08

Started the trip in Tallinn at 6 pm on the 9th of August. It was a lovely, peaceful weather and we said good bye to Tallinn with lots of noisy seagulls flying around the ferry. Trying to recall whether I have ever been traveling on such a calm sea, and it might be that I have not.
On the 10th of August we arrived Stockholm at about 10 am, drove to our Stockholm home of that 4 days called Motel L, a hotel where we would stay anytime again. Such a great value of money, nice location and clear and modern place.

Andres in our room in Motel L

Having settled in the hotel, we traveled with metro to the city, had some work-related things to do and walked in the city. Later had a dinner in the city and walked to the old city (Gamla stan) metro station to travel back to our place in Hammerby sjöstad. Weather was lovely - not too hot, not cool. Had a nice relaxing evening in our room.

On 10.08 I did a morning ran in Hammerby Stöstad and then we had a breakfast. As we both can work where ever we as, as long as the internet is around, that is, we worked a bit too. Duties done, took a tram and metro to the center of the city. While I visited the Estonian House where I had a few hours business meeting, Andres did some work in Folkuniversitetet in Kungstensgatan. At 5 pm we met in a place in the center, had a dinner in Kulturhuset's restaurant and walked in the city. Back in our area, we walked there also, had some more bites and well a sleep soon.

Hammerby Sjöstad

On 12.08 we worked in the morning, as usually. Finished with that, we walked to the parking place we kept our car and drove around 40 km to east, Värmdö. Walked around and enjoyed beautiful views over the sea. Then we drove back to Hämmerby Sjöstad, had a nice run in the forest where I had been running a lot some years ago.  Later, in the evening, we drove to north, Täby and Brottby. Loved that gigantic super modern Täby shopping center!

On 13.08 the plan was as this: to drive to south, to Kungengs Kurva center and to Järna, Kallfors Golf Club. And so we did. While I played 9 holes in the golf club, Andres worked in the clubhouse. Not exactly how I ideally would do, but since Andres does not play golf and had much work to do, this was it.
The golf club was lovely: beautiful fairways and greens, lovely whether and the whole field rather similar to hilly Otepää.
Done with sports, we drove to Kungengs Kurva shopping center. Ate in IKEA and spent some time in Media Market where Andres bought some really nice and fancy headphones. Around 8 pm we were back home.

Kallford Golf Club

And then in the evening, we went to the city center too. Visited an open air cinema on the top of Kulturhuset and walked on the streets where close to the Opera House was a stage. Unfortunately, the music was nothing of our taste and so we just walked in the Old City (Gamla Stan), sat down in a caffee to drink a cup of tea and soon it was time for bed.

The long-waited forth book of Millenium was just about to come out at the of August*

On 14.08 it was time to pack things and move on, or better to say, time to move eastwards as our trip was going to continue to Helsinki. The ferry was going to leave at about 5 pm and since we had loved Täby center, and of course had something in mind that we absolutely could not live without (!), we drove to Täby and spent the last hours in the center.
At 5 pm we were on the ship called Silja Serenade. The ship was big, as I remembered from a trip with it around 1995, but rather tired and warn out. No TV in the cabin either. But the good thing was that the sea was calm and smooth as a mirror again and we had a nice long sleep.

Arrived in Helsinki at about 9.45 am on 14.08 and first drove to our hotel Glo Art. Parked the car on the side-street, settled in in the hotel and since Andres was not feeling too well, he stayed in the hotel and I walked to the center to meet with Dea. Dea wished to find and purchase her first golf clubs set and so we visited a few sports stores. As in one of them we were told that there was a set in one store outside the center and we had enough time, we made the trip over there. Unfortunately, there was no such set left when we arrived and so we traveled back to the city. Luckily, they had the same set in an e-shop and Dea got the set at the end.
Back in the city, we had a lunch and agreed to meet at the Flow Festival arena around 6-7 pm. It was the festival, at the end, that we had traveled to Helsinki.
Having had a short break in the hotel, we took a metro to the festival and spent an evening listening to different sorts of music. The highlights were Róisin Murphy and Pet Shop Boys. The first one I loved for her music of a certain CD but since she did not sing any songs from that, I did not like her that much. Pet Shop Boys was as Pet Shop Boys always, to my husband's happiness mainly. :)

At the festival

And on the 16th of August it was time to turn back home. Home, sweet home!