Rainy Europe | My Family Travels

Rainy Europe

Article By: Nortina Simmons

metro__subway__guy_playing_violin_001
sleeping__barajas_airport_madrid_001
streets_of_madrid_001
sleeping__barajas_airport_madrid_001
spain_001

          ¡Ay Europa! Me encanta esa región. I love that region. From its immense history to the distinctive culture and landscape of each country, Europe is one of the most exciting places in the world and I had the opportunity to visit two European countries my sophomore year in high school with my Spanish III class.

          We took off from the airport on Good Friday, March 21 at six in the evening. I was so excited. Not only was this trip my first trip out of the country, but it was also my first time on an airplane. The plane landed in Munich, Germany on March 22 at around eight in the morning. It was cold and gray there, but that did not bother me at all. I was just too thrilled about being in Europe to care about the weather, plus the international airport in Munich is HUGE! It’s about five Four Seasons Malls combined in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. Even though the whole class was exhausted from not getting enough sleep on the plane the night before, we all decided that we must explore. We walked through the airport in groups of four buying souvenirs from gift shops, clothes and make-up from small department stores, eating frozen yogurt and pizza with weird toppings, taking each other’s blood pressure in the pharmacies -just to come home and say “Hey, I got my blood pressure taken in Europe,” and of course saying “Danke” to everyone we talked to because that was the only German word we knew. Though we were in the airport for the whole duration of our German experience, we wanted to make the most of it. Before long, it was eleven o’ clock and we needed to get to our gate to board the plane headed for Madrid, Spain.

         The flight was about two hours long and when we arrived to Madrid Barajas Airport in Madrid, the weather was the same as Munich; cold, grey, and rainy. Yes, it rained and rained in Spain. When we arrived our tour guide met us at the gate and informed us that we had to wait for another group to come in from Portugal. Unlike our adventure in Germany, everyone was too tired to journey Madrid’s airport. The farthest we walked was to the nearest ATM to get a few Euros and that was it. The entire class was huddled together on the floor and in the chairs fast asleep when the other group finally arrived. Together, we all ran outside into the rain, loaded onto the buses, and headed for Hotel Auditorium Madrid.
    
         When we arrived, everyone got into groups of three and went to our rooms to wash, change clothes and get some much needed rest. It was around six thirty that evening when we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel. It had finally stopped raining and we could see that the dusk sky had presented a pinkish orange color. This was our first day in Spain and everyone wanted to explore Madrid. We left the hotel and walked to the subway station close by. We rode the blue line to Calle de la Cruz and walked through the town looking at various noteworthy stores and other stores a little out of our age group. We took pictures and showed off our Spanish speaking skills to any Spaniard that passed us by. Ending the night, we found a nice cozy restaurant where we ate paella and watched fútbol before walking back to the hotel. I could tell this was going to be a great trip.

Dear Reader: This page may contain affiliate links which may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Our independent journalism is not influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative unless it is clearly marked as sponsored content. As travel products change, please be sure to reconfirm all details and stay up to date with current events to ensure a safe and successful trip.

Comment on this article

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.