It is 2pm in Madrid, and 6am in Denver. That means that we have been up for almost 24 hours at this point. I didn't sleep one bit on the plane. I just wasn't tired. Daniel slept for about an hour. The flight was pretty uneventful. The second leg went pretty fast with all the on demand movies. I watched two full movies, an episode of The Office, and an episode of House. The sun was setting as we took off in Newark, and we got to watch the sun rise (very quickly) over the ocean about two hours before we landed in Madrid. The flight to Newark was 4 hours, then we had about a 2 hour layover, and then a 7 hour flight into Madrid. It's been a long day. We were both really excited to see New York City. We saw the statue of liberty and it looked so tiny from way up in the air! They served us three meals between the different flights. We had a hot dog and salad on our first flight, then lasagna for dinner on our way to Madrid, and a croissant and fruit bowl about an hour before landing in Madrid. Daniel and I also got some food in the airport during our layover.
Once we landed in Madrid, things went very quickly. Our first focus was to find our bed and breakfast. The website had fabulous directions how to get from the airport to the B&B on the metro. We paid 2 euros a piece for our ticket, and had to transfer trains 3 times, but we made it. Once we got off the metro, we had to pull out the GPS to find the actual location. It wasn't super well-marked, but when we saw the address of the building, we knew that was it. The hosts are so nice! They welcomed us and asked us where we were from. The husband speaks fabulous English, his wife doesn't. Daniel and I have used our spanish so much already. I'm surprised how much I understand and can use myself. Our room wasn't ready yet (obviously, it was only noon local time) so he showed us where to leave our bags. He recommended a place just down the street where we could get some food.
That turned out to be my first sort of panic moment. It wasn't really clear if you were supposed to order up at the bar, or sit down and get served. Also I didn't understand pretty much anything on the menu so I had no clue what to order. The guy at the bar spoke no english, and when we used our limited spanish he gave us a look like we were stupid, or crazy, or both. I just got a croissant which was enough to hold me over for a few hours. I figured the word "croissant" is the same in English and Spanish (since it's French anyways). Daniel wasn't hungry.
We walked just down the street to the Palacio Real. There was a looooong line to get in. We decided we better get there first thing tomorrow to avoid the crowds. Right next to it was a huge cathedral. It was only 1 euro suggested donation, so we killed some time until our room was ready. It was a very beautiful cathedral. And it is so hot and humid outside, I was just glad to get inside. Though it seems they don't really believe in air conditioning in Madrid. I am definitely going to have to dress cooler.
Once our room was ready, the hosts let us in. Then they sat down at the table with us and another couple that arrived today and basically gave us a little tour of the whole city. He had a map that he marked up with his favorite restaurants, where the good shopping is, all the museums, and how to get there. He also told us when to get into the museums for free, and where we need to be extra careful of pick-pockets. Our room is absolutely beautiful. We have two big windows, which are actually kind of balconies, that go out to the street. The room is decorated and painted beautifully.
2 comments:
Hola amigos! Me encanta los photos de Madrid! It makes me miss being there, Spain is such a lovely place!
Buena suerte, I look forward to all the upcoming pictures!
Welcome to Spain! I'm so glad that your host were so helpful and friendly. That will make your time in Madrid very special. Please take a picture of them.
Have fun!
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