Hey guys!
I just made it home, it was a long night partying for me, but another kind of partying.... :o
Fernando, I'm so sorry we didn't get to get together, and I'm glad you guys had fun. We had been dancing at the Fontaneria also the night before, so....
Andrés, what's with all the **** kissing, are you trying to make up for what you said to me?, just kidding, he, he! . Seriously now, many thanks.
However, I guess some of you noticed that I wasn't "at my happiest" last nite, it was a little frustrating to have spent three hours calling every restaurant I knew to beg for a reservation and then ONCE AGAIN, have someone order just 4 things!, yes, we only ate: patatas ali-oli(lots of them), tortilla de patata(too much), croquetas, and calamares(only a few people tried them), I was left wondering why we weren't having: the mushrooms, the chistorra, the morcilla, the boquerones en vinagre, the shrimp, the ham, etc, etc....I guess we might as well have stayed at Moore's eating some Irish specialty and not go through all the trouble.
(BTW I know 10PM wasn't probably the best time to have made the reservation, but it was give or take, I didn't have an option)

So, to sum up:
The cons:
Incredibly enough, since this had been being planned since before the summer, for some people the time of the meeting was 9PM, for some of us was 9:30PM, others thought it was 10PM, and finally, others meant to show up at 10:30PM!!!
The choice of food.
Also, Replay/Rafael showed up at Las Cuevas but didn't quite look for us enough to find us in our little saloncito.
Chica/Becky had forgotten about it so she didn't come .
I didn't get to hang out with my great friend Iwa and Sue! , the group was way too big, and the streets were so crowded, we kept getting lost (that's why I left).

The pros:
I loved meeting Anne-Chloé and her friend Cristina, Chris (the Brit ) and her bf, Aine¿?, Jill, Andrés :p , the male nurse from SF (sorry I wasn't told his name), etc....
And hanging out with Natalia, Richie, Nate and Ann, THE OTHER redheaded Ann from NY, Shawn, Antonio, my beloved Barry and Pablo, etc....
Madridman, a true pro for me was that Chris was one of the ones that did make it on time!, she was there at Moore's even before I could arrive, after the poor thing had been calling me from a taxi in the middle of a traffic jam worried that she'd be late.
I was worried that the place where I'd booked wasn't exactly of the unexpensive kind, but at the end, €10 each wasn't bad at all (of course, we basically ate potatoes!)
The sangría, though it had too much sugar in it, must have been top quality, because this morning I feel great (or maybe that has more to do with Elias....), unlike yesterday morning when I woke up with the worst headache from all that white wine and champagne mixing!

Thanks Pim for organising everything, you made the event possible. I know you went through a lot of agravation to make the evening possible, and we all appreciate your efforts.

The sangría did taste sweeter than normal, but I have sweet tooth so I thought it was tasty. Likewise, I did not wake up with that wonderfull sangría feel , so it must have been pretty good stuff.

I enjoyed the potatoes, but your right we should have ordered a bit more food. Oh well, the ali-oli seemed to mix well with the sangría.

It was great to meet so many new people while saying hello to old friends.

Thanks MadridMan for having this site, without it there would not have been an event.

Yes Pim, thank you very much for organizing it. To gather that many people and surviving it is really something extraordinary (we get lost twice during the rest of the night...).

I wish I could have arrived earlier to help something more and taste the sweety sangría

Fernando

Ok, ok, I feel like I must get something straight since I'm getting a few mails about this.
I do not think I "organized" anything really; it's just that a previous experience made me feel like it would be a good idea to secure we had somewhere to eat (imagine a night of just a lot of alcohol and no food!). Also, in case someone was going to join us later, I thought it'd be better if she/he called and we could tell her/him we were seated somewhere, than to just say; "well, you see, we're walking around La Latina,....but the twenty-three of us will be waiting for you by (wherever)...." (But if the people wouldn't have liked the Las Cuevas option, we wouldn't have gone there, we asked everyone at Moore's what they wanted to do, the problem is, some people didn't make it to Moore's).

I hadn't heard from Iwa and Sue all day so I was a little concerned, and I went (with my sis and Elias) by their hostal looking for them; when we were leaving we accidently ran into them, they told me they thought the meeting time at Moore's was 10:30PM, it was already 9:15PM, and that's when I knew we were in a little bit of trouble.

Well, then when most of us were finally settled at our huge table; someone who seemed to think I was bossy or something ,(because I had made the reservation), decided to order the food, we had said we wanted a number of things, but I guess he really, really liked potatoes !
I guess the fact that I was dissapointed at this, (sorry, but we could have had a great dinner) showed at some point, because Elias told me he hadn't seen me like that (a little mad) yet, and we've known each other for over 7 years. SO, SORRY PEOPLE!

And that was it, nobody was organizing anything, which is why each group would, for instance, exit the restaurant through a different door and so just to get from the eatery to the statue at the Plaza Mayor instead of 1 minute took us over 30mns.

WOW!! Some of you stayed very very late!! MUCH later than I could have survived. hehehe...

Sorry to hear about the logistical problems, but hope everyone had a good time. Next time, how about meeting at the terraza at El Brillante for the first drinks while people straggle in. hehehe.. I'm sur eyou all knew I'd say that. Did Chrissiij and JoeSambuca even make it??!?!? Who all attended?

To pim, I/we all appreciate your efforts. Don't worry about it too much, okay? These things happen with large groups.

Did anyone take photos??? Hope so! When I come to Madrid next, during/surrounding Semana Santa/Holy Week, you can be sure we'll arrange another "Party With MadridMan". Can't wait!

Saludos, MadridMan

Yep! at least Anne from NY (JoeSambuca(Richie)'s friend) took several photos which should come out great!
I think EVERYBODY but Chica, Replay, and my friends Raquel and Mª Paz made it at the end

Ummmhhh I liked what Pim did, the pron and con thing:

Con:

1) Going out in Madrid has a problem: sneakers
Please if you intend to go out here don´t wear them (you won´t be able to make it into the good Discos)bouncers will stop you and you will put the rest of the group in a difficult situation.

2) Complete, stark lack of a plan. My advice here is that next time we all go to Palacio de Gaviria, Why? becuase the Palacio has 3 different atmospheres (modern music, electronic, Caribbean) so everyone finds what he/she wants.

pros:

1) Pim, yes. She is quite a thing. She looks NY but will talk to perfect Spanish with a half South American, half Duquesa de Alba accent which make your mind boggles.

2) Antonio, this guy is and iformation source, we knows everything, ask him ;-D

3) Shawn and Barry, I had read their messages but didn´t know them personally, so it was a blast to be able to do so on Saturday!!

4)Jill keeps joking about my "pijo vino" sth like I am very pompous about wine which is true.She smiles in the cutest way when she picks on me ;-D I ll try to take a photo of such and event next time.

5) Anne: yeee, she told I and Jill part of the history of their family, they landed in America in sth like 1637!!!

6)The lack of a plan made as land in this terrace I had not ever been. There was this pretty waitress who refered to me as "cariño" 8-D
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When is next one?

Andres

Hi, I´m one of the totally useless people who didn´t make it Was havin a totally crap day, got wallet stolen on metro, things takin longer to do than they should, people I was gonna come with showin up really late, so it wasn´t til after 11 that I made it in. Barry got your message, rang the no but obviously it was a landline and you wern´t gonna b there. Wish I could have been there. Sorry!
Aine
(must a been there in spirit cos some people seem to think they met me!)

HIIIIII!!!!!!! Thanks to everyone for sat night! What a brilliant time I had! Madridman, would like to point out that I was more or less ontime! Thankfully, my plane was not delayed, but got stuck in a traffic jam in the puerta del sol, and the taxi driver got lost!!! Then he had the cheek to charge a supplement! On the way back, I´m getting the metro!
PIM, it was lovely meeting you! (My eyes are so much better now, by the way).
Riche, hope you had a good flight back / birthday (you old g!t!!!). Buy any souvenirs?
Thanks again everyone! Let me know when the next one is!!
Christine xxxxx

Hey all!
Just got home to NYC and I'm exhausted. I had a super fantastic time at the fiesta.

First Pim deserves a great big round of applause.
She did spend a good amount of energy and time trying to organize us. But as everyone knows its not easy to organize 20 plus semi drunk people in a busy city as Madrid.

Overall I think everyone had a great time because it was about the people. As Andres said, meeting that person face to face and discussing MAdrid or whatever. I do have more to say about the evening and events but I'm not feeling that particularly evil right now...... :p

okay one thing....Felipe III wasn't that lonely at the Plaza MAyor....

We do have some photo's to develop!!!!

Now I'm going to bed to cry because I'm depressed.