Rewind

What I would give to rewind to our 5 days in Madrid *sigh*, dream on woman!! 5 days of glorious sunshine, relaxation and doing pretty much what we pleased. Here are some snap shots that I took on our trip. Not my usual way of posting photos but I thought they made them look more interesting :) hopefully.

Our night at Las Ventas for Redbull XFighters 2011 was fantastic, and with it being the 10 year anniversary that just made it all the more spectacular. I swear we were almost deaf when we left the Bull ring, I don't think I have ever experienced anything else like it. Its official I love the Spanish!! :D

We spent our days walking in the sunshine and doing some of the touristy stuff we didn't get round to doing last time. We even went on the cable cars which was a little scary at first but the view was amazing. I loved the botanical gardens and couldn't resist another visit to Retiro Park (that's it in the photo of me stood in front of the boating lake). I'm hoping that C will not notice the photo of us sneaked in (he doesn't like me posting photos of him so shhhhhhh don't say a word ;) lol) We had such a lovely time it was over too quick and back to the good old British weather. Peeing down when we got off the plane, what a welcome home!

Only one thing left to say : Madrid = B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

Madrid 2010 Part Two....and BIG NEWS!!!

As promised here are some photos from my trip to Madrid, I could almost feel the heat as I browsed through them. Ahhhhhh.................

Beautiful architecture

Under perfect blue skies :D

Very cosmopolitan restaurants

Stunning Royal Palace surrounded by lush greenery

We visited the Palacio de Cristal in Retiro Park which was modeled on London's Crystal Palace. There was a strange art installation inside made from plastic house hold items.

Plaza Mayor is a beautiful square with many restaurants situated round the outside

We ate here most nights because it was so pretty and romantic, there were accordion players walking round which filled the square with ambient music.

And we visited here, I took loads of photos inside of the BERNABEU but I know there aren't many football fans in the craft world so I haven't bored you with them. The tour was amazing and I got to sit in the dug out!! :D

Back in Retiro Park we walked round the boating lake, watched the fish being fed and laid in the sun whilst eating ice lollies......

Everywhere should have one of these indoor markets, I have never seen anything like it before. Inside there were fish stalls, meat stalls, bread stalls, olive stalls, fruit stalls, a wine bar, a sushi bar, a caviar bar...........and many more. You could buy to take away or you could buy and sit at the many tables in the centre and enjoy the delicacies whilst chatting with your friends. It was AWESOME!!!!!!

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And if you've managed to hang in there throughout the photos and commentary.....time for my big news. On the Sunday evening we went to a lovely restaurant where we ate Paella and drank Sangria, we took a long walk back to the hotel where we were staying and in the courtyard Chris asked me to marry him.........and I said YES!!! I am officially ENGAGED!!!! I was sooooo surprised and found myself not really hearing anything he was saying because I was too busy gawking at the ring and thinking OH MY GOD. I am so happy, I've been bursting to tell you all but I had to make sure that all family members were told before I announced it here. I cant show you my ring yet as its being re sized but as soon as it is back on my finger I will post a pic. And on that note I'm off to skip......tra la la la la la.

Madrid 2010 Part One

Madrid is starting to feel some time ago now. Its a city I definitely fell in love with and would love to go back to. Even though we had some pretty major delays getting there, and at one point I did think that we were going to have to give up and miss the Red Bull Xfighters....it was worth it in the end.

Thankfully we made it and even had time to change before we went to the event. For those of you who do not know what its all about....they call it 'Motorcross Gymnastics' where the riders have to perform tricks with their bikes whilst in the air!!! I know crazy!! But very entertaining. The tricks are named things like, The Stripper, Dead Body, Cordoba, Nic Nac.....even the names are crazy. This is a photo of the main entrance to the Plaza Del Toros in Las Ventas, beautiful building and absolutely ginormous!!!

Inside there were about 25,000 spectators inside and boy did they know how to show their support to the riders!! We went to London last year and the atmosphere was no where near what it was like in Madrid. It was so exciting and I lost count how many times we did the Mexican Wave :D

Sponsored by Red bull it was a fantastic show. Lots of other entertaining segments too, a sand buggy, matadors, flamenco dancers, bmx riders......it was f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c!!!!

This was me before the show with my bandanna in my hand.....it was waved around lots during the night. Cant wait to go to London on the 14th and watch it all again. Go Levis Sherwood!!!!

I have lots of photos of our trip and I've selected just a small few ;) to show you tomorrow, Oh and to tell you my BIG NEWS!!

Viva Madrid!

Oh what a lovely trip I have had, even after all the rigmarole of actually getting away it was sooooooo worth it. We had an amazing time. We took some bus tours, walked LOTS, ate at some really lovely restaurants, took the tour around the Bernabau Stadium, had a day in the national park, spent an afternoon on the terrace soaking up the sun, did a little shopping and of course went to see the Red Bull Xfighters.

It will be showing on Dave (sky channel 111) in the next couple of weeks, it was totally awesome the atmosphere was unbelievable. The Spanish sure do know how to show their support in style. More on that to come with some photos.

The weather was absolutely glorious, most days 33 degrees and even the evenings were about 30, it was so nice to walk around in dresses and shorts all the time. Not like here in the UK where that is a rarity.

The best part was getting the chance to spend quality time with C. We laughed LOTS, chatted constantly, and soaked up the atmosphere together. We're both sun lovers so we made the most of the sunshine too by spending all day and most nights out doors.

I am now completly and utterly rested and recouperated and raring to get started on my next order......its my first day at part time on Monday and there are some surprises in store. Hope you didn't miss me too much ;)

France air controllers' strike disrupts European travel

This is the reason why I am still here in old blighty.....and the ranting begins!!!

We got up super early to drive to Luton this morning, from Nottingham, to find that the flight was cancelled (yes we could have checked before hand but since we had text updates set up on our mobiles we didn't think necessary). There was nothing on the news about the strikes??? We have battled all day to try and get some flights and finally after we had travelled back to Notts we've managed to book a flight for Friday. Which does mean that we miss the first night of the Redbull Xfighters.......I'm soooooooooo angry.

I just have to cross my fingers, toes and eyes that we do make it there in time on Friday to see the final.

Oh and did I mention that we did get a text to say the flight was cancelled, bearing in mind that we were due to fly at 1pm and had been at the airport since 11am, at 12:45pm!!!!! Now tell me what use is that??? And if you ever fly from Luton don't expect any of the staff to sort anything out for you.....the only answer that we got was to "Go round to the Internet Cafe and try and book another flight". Which was £1 for every 10minutes, so after some lunch we were a burger king heavier but £15 lighter, I know!! And it wasn't even fast broadband either!!

I'm pleased that I'm home, some poor buggers that were there with their children are now stranded in London desperately trying to find accommodation until they can fly!!!

I understand that these people (traffic controllers etc) are just trying to protect and fight for their jobs but when its at the expense of hard working peoples well earned holidays its just not on!!!

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest, back to work for the day tomorrow so that I can have Tuesday off for the extra day flying.

Dear eyelids....

....I know that you are sooooo tired after me keeping you up til 2:30am and then rudely awoke you at 6:30am this morning but please, please could you manage a few more hours and stop me from falling asleep. I am by no means complaining, Oh no.....I've had a manic but enjoyably busy weekend and yes not much sleep but its OK. I love to sew!!! And at the moment until I can get things into place there are a lot of things overlapping. Not leaving much time for sleeping or relaxing.

There are so many tasks left to be completed and silly things like the day job getting in the way. But I promise that I will let you sleep properly after Wednesday and not disturb you too much. There is a holiday and some other good news (fingers crossed) coming so you can be rest assured that I will not abuse you again (don't hold me to that!!) by depriving you from rest.

thanks muchly.
a very tired bagladee :D xx

to my readers: I am exhausted but I'm not letting it get to me just yet, I have a lovely 5 days in Madrid all booked for the 21st July and I cant wait!!!! Lots of rest, shopping, eating amazing food, spending time with my gorgeous fella and a break from work!! Yippeeeeee!!! Viva Espania...........