Oh, How I Love Madrid!!!

Wednesday, May 23 -- Madrid

How often do you get a chance to say Thank You to your children, probably not often enough.  As I think about my meanderings around Madrid, I need to give shout ou to Jill and Emma for getting us to Spain and to Madrid.

When I got off the plane yesterday at Barajas, I immediately felt like I was home, a strange sense for someone who's only been here a couple of times and who can barely order breakfast in a cafe in the local language.  But I did feel at home and knew my way around as we walked.  I even knew which shop to visit to buy the soccer "kit" that Jill wanted.

The first victory of the day was the fact that my ATM card worked to get some Euros and later my credit card worked, too.  For more on this, ask Jill :-)

We were met at the airport by Ricardo, our bus driver for the trip.  Because it was only 09:00 when we arrived, he drove us to a couple of the interesting sites in Madrid--Las Ventas, the bullring, and the Bernabeau Stadium, the home pitch of the Madrid Real futbol team.  We arrived at the hotel about 11:30 and decided to meet at noon to walk around the center of old Madrid.

Understandably, our first stop was at a chocolateria for churros con chocolate.  Maybe not the most typical snack for lunch but I rationalized this one by saying it was just breakfast on "stomach time."  We walked to the Puerta del Sol, the Plaza Mayor, the Mercado San Miguel (and I just happened to snack on a few lovely tapas) the Royal Palace and the Almundena Cathedral.  We paid to visit the palace (it was closed last year when I was here with Jill) and that was intriguing.  

About 4:00 we stopped for a cana y tapas (a little draft beer and some jamon y queso, ham and cheese, -- my staple foods in Spain).  Roy and I walked back to our hotel and had a late siesta.  I unravelled a problem with my phone -- Verizon Global Assistance lived up to their name -- and caught up on my e-mail and posted yesterday's blog.  The pervasive access to Wi-Fi is remarkable. I even made a Skype call to Jan last night using the hotel Wi-Fi.

The entire group convened at 7:00 for a brief meeting for devotions and some orientation to Thursday's agenda.  Afterward, most of us enjoyed a lovely meal of tapas and sangria. For you foodies, the meal included jamon y queso (ham and cheese), huevos rotos com jamon (fried egg with ham and fired potatoes), patatas bravas (fried potatoes with hot sacue) croquettas mixta (mixed --ham, cheese, cod,-- croquettes) ensalada verte con atun o con pollo (green salad with either chicken or tuna), chipolitos (fried baby octopus), calamare (squid), lomo con  queso fundido(pork loion with melted cheese, and fried potatoes), and chuletas de cordero (lamb shops).   And, of course, postres mixta (mixed desserts) to finish things off.

We ate early. about 9:00, by Spanish standards, but considering our accumulated sleep deficit, we did pretty well.  It was a little after 10:30 when we got back to the hotel and went to bed.  In those proverbial words--I think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.