Noche en blanco

Last night was Madrid's annual Noche en Blanco, a city-wide cultural event which took place from 9pm - 6.30 this morning. Many of the streets down town are closed for the night, since they become stuffed to the brim with people. Some of the events included: poetry, live music, bike tours, open museums, exhibitions, dancing, performances, etc.

I headed out with some friends around 10pm, and couldn't believe how many people there were! And this was throughout the entire downtown area where events were taking place. Look at this map and see how spread out this event was - every blue dot was a different happening.

The line for the Prado was ridiculously long, and I remembered our grammar professor had warned us about that. She said people will spend 2-3 hours waiting in line at the museums during noche en blanco, which really cuts down on your time to explore other parts of the city. So we didn't wait, which was perfectly fine with me.

There were a couple of screens throughout the city projecting dance instructing movies. "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho! Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho!" It was fun to watch everyone try the dance - I sneakily snapped some pictures of these kids:


After being amazed at how many people were out last night, I was even more taken aback at how many people were squeezed onto the metro when we headed home. The metro stayed open until 3a last night, rather than its usual 1:30a. It was as if the train was a clown car - except nobody came out... yet more kept going in. We didn't fit on the first train at our stop, but decided to force ourselves on to the next one - no matter how tight it was.

There's a 'noche en blanco' album up on my Shutterfly site with many more photos, so take a look!

Also, click HERE to see a two-minute movie with footage from the night.

Well, did my first load of laundry in the apartment this afternoon, and I think it's time for me to hang everything up outside. Hasta luego!