So that's where plaza del neptuno is...

--THE BEST THINGS I'VE DONE SO FAR HAVE BEEN WHAT I'VE STUMBLED ACROSS BY ACCIDENT--
And what a great accident last night and tonight were:
I think everyone has the common stereotype of associating futbol with Spain, but up until last night I had not watched a single game.
Normally my host Mom complains about how my host Dad is watching yet another soccer game, but last night while I was eating she went in the other room and checked the score and I heard her ask if we had scored. She was excited when she found out we scored which I've never seen happen before. So I decided to go see who was playing and sat down to watch for a bit.
When I asked my host Dad who the other team was (FUL) he also told me it was the European League Championship. Go figure that the first game I decide to watch in my life is really important and I don't even know it.
Then FUL scores and it's tied. And it stays that way through the end of the second half and goes into overtime.
Twenty-Six minutes into overtime Atletico Madrid scores!!! And they win for the first time in 48 years!!
My first soccer game and it's a championship winning game. Wow!

So Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid each have respective plazas that the fans gather in when the team wins. (This will be relevant later)

I also learned yesterday on a completely different note that el Museo del Prado (ie the art institute equivalent of Madrid) is free every day from 6-8pm so I decided to go tonight and see some of the paintings I've been learning about in class. It was really cool because I actually knew the history and stories behind these famous paintings and could recognize them on sight.

The interesting thing in all this though is there happens to be this plaza outside the museum and there were a lot of people gathering there before i went into the Prado. But when I came out that's when I knew...this must be plaza del neptuno and that it was! with tens of thousands of people yelling, singing, and cheering in the streets while wearing atleti jerseys, scarves, and other apparel.

So what do I do? Go check it out of course! I decided to stay on thee outskirts of the crowd and watch them sing, dance, and cheer for awhile and see if I could figure out what everyone was waiting for. Only thing is when I turned around a few mintues later several hundred more people had come and I was trapped in the crowd! So I decided I'd just stay a while longer. The crowd was multiplying rapidly and it was almost 8 so I figured hey maybe something will happen at 8...only it didn't.

After awhile I figured out a bus was going to come (with the team I assumed) but I couldn't see anything because I was stuck behind tall people...being short and in a crowd doesn't work so well. But there was this nice guy in his fifties or sixties next to me who said something, i forget what and then we started chatting. I told him I wasn't from Madrid and didn't know what to make of it all. We chatted for awhile and when people started chanting he would say the words normal for me so I could understand. Eventually he decided to go though and then I was on my own with no idea what I was waiting for. He said he thought they were supposed to come at 8:30 but they didn't so around 8:40 I decided I had seen enough and was going to try to push my way to the back of the crowd and leave.

Only when you are in a crowd of Spaniards they don't even say no when you try to pass they just give you a various serious look and shake their heads (not the first crowd I've been in where this has happened..3rd or 4th actually and it's always the same). Eventually I made it to the back though and saw to my relief and empty blocked off paseo del prado. Except when I looked up the road 500m or so I saw something a little out of the ordinary. And then people started to run and cheer. The bus with the team was coming! So what do I do? Follow of course. And I ended up at the road on the other side of the park at the curb with no one in front of me just as the bus was getting there. I got to see the double decker with the team on top carrying the cup and all because I stumbled across the situation at the right time.

The random experiences we stumble across are far more memorable than the planned ones. A little spontaneity goes a long way.

Now if atleti can win for the first time in 48 years maybe there is hope for the Cubs yet...