Calle Gran Vía

Reunion in Madrid; one of Ginos and beer

Today has been a day of Erasmus reunions. I'm prepared to tell you about my great Sunday. Who said that Sundays weren't cool!? Here I present mine today:

We had already spent many days talking about an Erasmus get-together. We had to see each other again, even if it was to have a drink. After a lot of debate during this week, we finally decided that Sunday was the day.

Javi and his girlfriend Upe (the two friends who were working in London) had already returned to Spain for good in February; so this was one more excuse to see each other (all those who could come), as well as to see them. My boyfriend came to Guada to see me on Friday and has already stayed up until Sunday (today) so we were taking advantage of this in order to see everyone else, as well as to be together. So on the 6th March (this morning), Alvari and I went to Madrid and we all got together in Sol. We left at around 12. 30, catching the RENFE (train) and got there just after one. The first thing we did was go to Ale-hop, my favourite shop. I discovered there was one in Sol a few weeks ago. It's right on the street heading towards the Plaza Mayor, just before the Opera. For those who don't know of the shop I'm talking about, I'm sure it will ring a bell if I describe it you. It's a shop you can find in almost every city in Spain. It distinguishes itself by having a black and white cow in the shop entrance. In Ale-hop you can find things such as super cool mugs with phrases, country blankets, bags, purses, slippers, key-rings, laptop cases, cushions and much more. It's not a clothes shop. I would say it's more of an accessories shop. I encourage you to go in, especially if you're a girl (I think we just like petty things). Well, we went into the shop. I bought a little blanket and we saved a bit of time in order to see everything in Sol's Apple Store too, which is spectacular. It's right in the building opposite Sol's fish. I have my back to the shop in the following photograph.

As you already know, you can find all of Apple's products in this shop; from mobiles, Ipads and Macs to the Apple TV (which is a devise you can plug into your television and navigate with). Everything is very cool as well as being so well presented, it makes you want to take absolutely everything and buy it. The problem is the price. Everything is very expensive although it's true the quality is good. Well, I don't want to go on and on about the Apple store since we were there for a while looking at things. Miguel and Meriem got to Sol at half past one, more or less. We gave them a hug and went for a stroll to kill time waiting for the others to come and also to think about where we were going to eat. We had many options including Pans and Company, McDonald's, Wok, a Mexican restaurant, a KFC, Ginos and a few others. As we were wandering around Sol's streets (Preciados and the one opposite), Miguel was making suggestions as to where we could go. All of this said, Sara hadn't arrived yet. As we were unsure of everything, we returned to Sol and stayed at the fish (the metro entrance), waiting for her there. She didn't take long. When she arrived, we had been thinking of more options. Finally Javi and Upe were going to come later on because of work related reasons so we could go and eat (they came during the beers). After walking around looking at restaurants on the Gran Vía, we didn't take long in choosing Ginos, an Italian restaurant that is currently very much in fashion. I don't know if you know it but if not, it's an Italian restaurant with a lot of variety in food and it's very, very good. I had heard of it but had never been there to eat before. In Guadalajara, they put one fairly recently in the Ferial Plaza, next to the Kebab shop. I was always saying I needed to go to eat there one day to try it out, since everyone spoke very highly of it.

Finally as I told you, we went in to this restaurant on the Gran Vía and we decided to stay there. There was a sort of shop in the entrance with accessories and Mrs Wonderful objects, books, magazines and some other stuff out there. The thing is that Ginos was inside this shop and down some stairs. It was truthfully quite welcoming. Once we had sat down at the table, they brought us the menu and we decided what we wanted to eat. Amongst the dishes there was:

• Spaghetti
• Ravioli
• All kinds of Pizza
• Macaroni

And well, generally every kind of pasta. What they didn't have (or at least I didn't see they had any) was Calzones. It's a dough that can contain cheese, York ham or whatever other ingredient. You can usually order it how you would like it most, in an Italian restaurant. I ate a sort of Gorgonzola cheese ravioli. They were super good but there weren't many of them. That was the downfall. Ál ordered a vegetarian pizza. It was quite good despite being vegetarian (pumpkin, pepper, onion and black olives). Sara ordered spaghetti Carbonara, which were very delicious. Meriem had the same as me and Miguel, macaroni with a bolognese sauce if I'm not mistaken. Everything was very delicious. The only downfall thing was that they didn't give Meriem and I very much on our plate. We were expecting a dish a bit more substantial, like Sara's spaghetti or Miguel's macaroni.

After having eaten, we were talking for a while and we decided to get up and go to another place to have a pudding and to wait for Javi and Upe who were missing as soon as the moment arrived. The food was very good. We liked it a lot and I personally recommend this place to any pasta lover. It certainly won't fail you. What's more, the presentation of the dishes was quite positive and before I forget to say, water is free. If you order any other soft drink, beer or whatever else, you have to pay but water is free. It's another positive point and not like other restaurants where they charge you two euros (or even more) just for a bottle or jug of water. We left Ginos very content. We will return.

Leaving with a full stomach, some of us fancied a pudding. Thus; the final decision was to go to a bakers which was also near to Sol and to have a coffee with donuts or any other sweet. The two remaining members came within a short while. As there wasn't anymore space, we went to another bar in the Tribunal area to turn towards some beers to our health.