I'd considered asking NBF all week, but I've never been one to invite others to do things, and so I kept putting it off. And so you can imagine my surprise when I got a txt from him Friday afternoon, asking if I'd like to go skiing on Saturday!! O_O
Whoa.
After serious metro circles and running every which way to get the next train/bus leaving for the mountains, we finally ended up on the proper train around 10 am (never have I been awake so early on a Saturday morning that I did not have class on). All that running and all those circles had made me famished, and so I was more than delightfully surprised when, seemingly out of nowhere, my newest favorite cookies appeared in my lap, along with a beverage that tasted almost exactly like Odwalla's Mango Tango smoothies!!! ^_^
An hour and a half and lots of Bad Pigs (it's an app) later, we were to the next train... only, there was no next train. Turned out, a tree had fallen on the train tracks the night before and they still hadn't managed to get things back up and running. >_<
The next hour was comprised of us waiting for a bus that (we realized embarassingly much later) didn't run on weekends at all, walking in the wrong direction (but in the right direction of the coldest, snowiest wind I've experienced since Wisconsin!) for a good 15 minutes and, finally, going on a very zig-zaggy (and sometimes icy) "straight" shot into town. The cutest part of the totally tiny, two street down? A really jolly looking statue, in honor of Spanish gold medalists (I think?). Haha.
As it turned out, there wasn't. By this point it was 1pm and we'd had missed half the skiing day anyway, so we decided to catch a train back in the general direction of home.
Although skiing didn't happen this go around, I absolutely loved the ridiculous adventure. As the morning went on, more circles were walked in, we began to freeze, and things weren't going any smoother... but we maintained our chipper spirits of adventure endured. It became totally obvious by 1 pm that we were both experienced travelers, and it made me start to giggle.
Throw 75% of people I know in that Saturday morning and they would have been whinning, complaining, begging to go straight back, out of the cold. They would have been angry at the train, angry at the situation and generally unpleasant to be around. But him and me? Our most frequent display of emotion was sticking out our tounge and crossing our eyes, ready to continue going with the flow of it all.
There's a Lao Tzu quote that goes, "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." If that's the definition of a "good traveler," then let me just say that NBF and I are BAMF level "good travelers"!! ;)
Which brings me to this: I find the quality to be able to go with the flow and to always find a hint of magic and gratitude in no matter what happens... to be flexible and able to giggle about things... to be divinely curious and adventurous... I find all of THAT (I wish there were one word for all of THAT) to be one of the qualities I most admire and adore in myself, as a well as one of the main qualities I admire and adore in others.
Sometimes getting lost or going off course turns out to be even better than the original destination. Sometimes it's just about exploring and doing something different. Sometimes it's just about being spontaneous and open. And I don't think there are a whole lot of people who are able to grasp that.
Another thing that made the silly adventure so nice was that it was the first time in two years I'd been on any sort of adventure with a guy, and I'd totally forgotten what it was like. Guys on the whole are so much more easy going. With girls, I feel like it's easy to have one come out as the dominant travel partner, but with a guy, you're pretty much just equals in the whole thing. Whereas a girl would have sat there and argued with me when I said that the train that was about to leave was heading in the direction we needed, a boy looks at me for a second, doubting me, but starts running for it anyway! :) What's the worst that can happen? I'm wrong and they get to make fun of me for it for forever? Haha. ;)
My suggestion was, instead of going back home after all of this traveling, to find another place to visit for the afternoon that was relatively nearby. He proposed El Escorial and I jumped at it. It's one of those places that you always hear about as being so wonderful and famous, but one that always receives humdrum reviews. But, we were close, and it was probably the only time I'd ever actually get my butt there. And afterall, what else were we going to do? Watch TV for the rest of the day? That's exactly what I'd gone on this adventure to avoid!!!
As it turned out, El Escorial WAS pretty dull. I mean, the building was massive and quite impressive, and some of the art was very nice.
On the train we'd been playing a round of Bad Pigs in which you have to find skulls hidden around all of the levels. When we got to the painting section of El Escorial, he spotted a skull in the corner of a canvas and whispered over to me, "Bad Pigs!" and pointed, smiling.
Um, adorable.
It was like a scene you'd see in some cute/strange Jennifer Lawrence movie. ;)
We continued the game for the entirety of our stay (he won - 5/4), and also added a few items to our search list. It was like playing a not-so-grown-up grown up version of "Where's Waldo," but in a giant museum/monastary/palace in Spain. But jeeze, you can bet we scrutinized every single painting that was hanging in that place!! ;)
As we walked along, I'd point out small details that amused me and he'd always come over and investigate them, a small smirk apparent on his face, too. Never have I had such an equally matched museum goer accompany me to something that should have felt a bit tedious a dry, but made me feel so delighted and silly! <3
A few hours later when we finally got through the maze of the place and were back out in the bitter cold, I off-handedly remarked that all I wanted in that moment was a mug of hot chocolate. And just like that, five minutes later we'd found ourselves in a bar, with two mugs of hot chocolate in front of us and a slice of cake.
^_^ Hell yes.
Another hour of a train ride spent playing Bad Pigs and we were finally back in Madrid proper. While the whole skiing thing was a huge bust, I secretly was happy the day had turned out the way it had. All day I'd felt so indescribably free to just be my silly, chill, happy, adventurous, random self. And all day I was so grateful to be around someone who - despite everything going about as wrong as it could have, considering our original mission - was good humored and superb at going with the flow.
XOXO
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