We arrive in Pamplona a couple of hours later, it is a much bigger city than we expect and English speakers are few and far between, after a couple of trips to the informacion desk we realize we are to get on a bus and head to the city center where we can catch the second bus we need. About two bus stops past what we later found out was our stop we got off the second bus and started our hike to our hotel, complete with a couple of jogs along guardrail lined blind curves with no sidewalks we finally made it to our hotel.
We are here! And ready to check out the festival. By now we have figured out that we are not dressed correctly for Pamplona, everyone is dressed in white pants and shirts with red belts tied around their waists and red bandanas tied around their necks. So we are off back to down town to get our garb, lunch and a bottle of sangria! Good times! We’re now wearing our new stuff, we are full and on our way to our second bottle of sangria. We were hanging out on the fence that lines the Bull Run when the crowd started filing into the stadium for the bull fight. Scalpers were out in full force and we scored tickets just before the start, although I hate blood and we don’t really like the idea of killing animals we were going to give this a shot. Hemmingway made the spectacle famous in the US, enough so that he has a street there named after him right next to the Bull Ring. We headed into the stadium and up to our seats, fairly high up on the top tier and in the shaded area, later we found out this is the dry area. In the sunny area of the stadium, fans carry in huge jugs and coolers full of sangria and spend the whole Bull Fight covering everyone within range with their special sangria concoction.
Even being pretty far up in the stadium the scene is definitely gruesome and for me almost stomach turning. Leslie and I made it through two Bull Fights, after the second dead bull was dragged from the stadium we left and to the unknown pleasure of the people in front of us I didn’t end up throwing up on them, they never knew how lucky they were. We came to the consensus that although this was definitely not our thing we were glad we experienced it. We conceded that if we ever go back that we would participate in the ‘Running of the Nudes’, a demonstration we saw on TV prior to going where a bunch of protesters dress up, well don’t dress up and make their way through the streets of Pamplona.
July 12: 6 am and we are on a bus on the way to see the Bull Run, which starts in 2 hours. We are decked out in our festival garb, and half asleep, but excited. Surprisingly we were not the only people on the bus at this hour, but it wasn’t overly crowded either. So we got off and started walking towards the Bull Ring to scope out our spots. On the way there we saw a guy passed out in a bank by the ATM, which was enclosed by glass! We also saw many people passed out on benches and grass in the middle of the sidewalk. These people must have thrown in the towel, but there were many more sangria covered people that had been out all night and still drinking! Once we got to the running area the number of spectators that were already claiming their spots surprised us. So we found a windowsill of a bank and thought that it would probably be the best spot we were going to get. So we climbed up into our spot, which was right behind the two fences where the bulls and runners come from the streets into the bullring! The first fence is off limits to spectators (mainly used for photographers and media) but many people were sitting on the second fence. The police, and emergency personnel, used the space between the two fences. This space was also used as a little safe haven for a few injured or feeing runners. Most of the running took place through the streets that are completely blocked off creating no space for runners to hide for safety; only the end of the track from the streets to the bullring had some kind of escape.
Now we wait! We stood in our windowsill for almost 2 hours just watching all the people walk by. Many people watch the very end of the running inside the bullring when the runners and bulls enter the bullring. Most the people we saw on the streets had been up all night drinking etc. Across the way two men climbed up a pretty large tree for a great view! Then the firework was lit and heard by all, runners, bulls and spectators! For a little while we were wondering when we were going to see them. That is when a large group of people really started running by and we could see the tops of the bulls. E and I thought to ourselves… is that it!? But it seemed like there was more going on. Then another group ran by…. This running took about 7 minutes. Most runs last for 2-3 minutes, but this morning the bulls (and steers) got separated which is the worst thing that can happen. Once the bulls get separated they start getting disoriented and start running the wrong way etc. I think some of the bulls got turned around 2 different times: once in the streets and once right in front of us! A bull stopped and turned around and charged right at the fence (and runners) right in front of us. I think two people were injured, one person was gored in the leg (shin) and the other had a head injury. To make a long story short we were very happy that we didn’t run, because this ended up being the most dangerous run of the festival. There were a total of 12 people injured, 7 people gored, and 2 people were in critical condition in the end. There was a Mexican man who was gored in the gut and thrown up by the horn of the bull (we saw this on TV later that night), then trampled. 2 men from Ohio (brothers) were gored (in the butt) by the same bull at the same time (one of them now lives in Hermosa Beach).
We went back to the hotel room to grab some breakfast and a little nap before going back down to the festival. That night we went to the park to watch the best fireworks show! Each night the city puts on a fireworks show… actually the fireworks are a contest between different city’s around the world… so a different city sponsors the fireworks each night during the festival. After the amazing fireworks show we grabbed some food and went back to the room since we were leaving early the next morning for Madrid! All in all Pamplona was quite the experience and we were very happy to have been able to take part in the celebrations!
July 13: Today we woke up early to catch the bus to the train station for our train to Madrid. We were sad, but ready to leave the party town of Pamplona for a new adventure. We got into Madrid and found our hotel quickly. Then we took a walking tour of Madrid, through the Puerta del Sol and to Plaza Mayor. Our walked ended at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) so we decided to buy a ticket to see the inside. This palace was simply amazing. It is said to the Europe’s 3rd greatest palace. Maybe it is because it is still a working palace, although the Royal Family does not live there anymore, they live in a mansion just outside of the city. The inside was very impressive… just a few things that E and I thought were funny. The Royal dinner chairs were just a couple inches taller than all the rest of the dinner chairs and the 3 feet in-between the doorways were for the servants! The servants would work and walk in-between the walls to get around the palace unnoticed! The Throne Room was covered with Red Velvet, and the dinner table was the size of a bowling lane (seats up to 150 guests).
This evening we went to a restaurant called Restaurante Puerto Rico. We had fried chicken, even though we ordered grilled or roasted chicken. The food here was ok, but not really our taste? We should have brought our translation book so that we could have ordered what we thought we were ordering ☺
July 14: We slept in today, but made our way out around noon. We went to Chocolateria San Gines for some of Spain’s famous Churros con chocolate for breakfast. They give you a bowl of chocolate (with a pudding consistency) to accompany your churros. All the people in this café had ordered some. They were very unhealthy but tasted very good. Our next stop was the Retiro Park. The park was very pretty and well maintained! It was extremely hot outside, but we made our way to the lake to rent a rowboat! E rowed us around the lake a couple of times (I took the oars a couple times too). It was a neat experience, but you had to be careful of all the other boats and unskilled rowers! We made our way back to the hotel to take a break from the heat. Later that night we had dinner near our hotel in search of something healthy! Then we went to bed because we had another early train to catch the next day.
July 15: Waking us early has become a habit now again (not really). We got on our train to Barcelona, we were both ready to be by the water! The Barcelona train station was a wreck, with people everywhere. We waited here for an hour to try to make our reservations for Monte Carlo to Milan (later in our trip), but only to find out that they could not make reservations for other countries? Spain, Italy, and France are all this way… seems like the best place to plan trips and make reservations is in Germany! We made it to our hotel right on the Ramblas (very exciting pedestrian street). Our hotel was great, we had air conditioning, free drinks and snack bar all day! Yes, beer was included with the free drinks. We also had breakfast every morning. We drank a few drinks and took a walking tour of the Ramblas all the way down to the ocean. We had a great time looking at all the street performers etc. We passed and old burial ground that was discovered during the construction of a new building. We bought some pop corn and strolled across the La Rambla del Mar (wooden pedestrian bridge). There was a huge Columbus Monument there, strange since his discovery of the New World hurt the Spanish trading power and economy. E started feeling bad so we headed back to the hotel for a rest. By the time we got back E was feeling worse. He was sick for the next three days with a bad case of food poisoning!
July 16: E was not feeling better… very sick and in bed all day. I went down stairs to read a little, and checked on him every hour. Started to feel a little scared since we were in Spain…. So far away from home and Germany.
July 17: E was still sick… but he was able to keep down some fluids. Things started to look just a little better as the day passed. I went to the beach for a little 2-hour site seeing adventure. It was a little nerve racking to be by myself in a foreign city. I took the subway to the beach area and took some pictures to show E! I went back to the hotel after a quick 20 min rest in the sun. E was still feeling a little better. I grabbed some pizza for dinner at a restaurant next door. We decided to see how E was feeling before heading to Nice tomorrow (it was a 9 hour travel day). All in all I think Barcelona would have been a cool city to see…. I know Eric was very frustrated that he was unable to see most of the sights here. Maybe we will come back sometime????
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