Please forgive me if I start to make no sense---I am sleep deprived to the max. We have survived the 13+ hours of two plane trips, the time change and a full day of walking and using the Metro around Madrid. That said, Mike crashed as I started typing this. It took all of one minute to go from awake to snoring. No joke. I pretty much pulled an all-nighter packing to get us here, then sleep on the plane was here and there. I'm holding in there, though---and loving this Spain thing. We will both sleep soundly tonight, and hey, the breakfast bar is open until 11am.
So here is a rough run down of our Saturday/Sunday rolled into one:
When we checked in at the airport we discovered one of our bags was over the 50 lb. limit by 7 lbs. Luckily I had brought an extra backpack and we shuffled things around to make it all work. Because of an awesome 120 mph tailwind we made it to JFK in NYC an hour EARLY---but then had to circle while they got the gate ready, then sit on the runway while Air Force One landed (yeah, Mr. President was in town and the whole airport went on standby and no one moved on the tarmack until the tower gave the go ahead), then we had to taxi around in a couple circles finally arriving at our gate 20 minutes LATE!) So much for that hour early thing. We did see the skyline of New York as the sun set.
We had a nice layover and then got on our plane for Madrid. We booked the exit row and were very grateful for the extra leg room. Overall I probably rested more on this flight overseas then the others, but still it is hard to sleep up right comfortably. Everything went well and our luggage came with us (always a bonus!) We exchanged some money, found our shuttle (Mike talked to the driver in Spanish the whole drive. I think Mike was pretty stoked to use the language again,) and drove into the city to our hotel. We are staying at the Hotel Atlantico. Here I am on the balcony overlooking the Gran Via. I'll be getting more from the rooftop and at the front entrance another time.
First things first we bought a metro 10-pass and headed to Madrid's flea market, named El Rastro. It was really awesome. Already bought the kids some gifts, plus some sunglasses for Mike. It is stall after stall of scarves, jewelery, shirts, fans, purses, etc. Too bad the dollar is so weak compared to the Euro right now. It's like the opposite of a sale, everything costs MORE than the price tag. I love deals, so it's not as much fun.
While we were talking to one of the owners of a stall we noticed he had just gotten lunch. It looked great (he even let us try a couple patates ajillo) and he pointed us to the restaurant where he had gotten the food. For you Food Network junkies out there, that is one of Rachael Ray's travel tips: Eat where the locals eat. Ask around. Any way I am still savoring lunch---my first true Spanish meal.
A lomo con tomates y pepitos bocadillo (a pork loin, tomato and green pepper sandwich), patates ajillo (french fries with an AWESOME garlic and vinegar sauce), complimentary green olives and a bottle of Kas Naranja (orange soda). It is the custom in Madrid to eat up at the counter. It was so fun to watch the one-man show behind the counter calling back orders as others chose items like snails and soup. I thought of all my family and how I wished they could experience this with us. Too fun. Notice the serrano ham legs hanging on the wall? They are all over. We will be trying some soon. Anyway I loved those fries and the pork was seasoned so yummy-nummy. I talked to one of Kyle's friends (Heather's cousin), Matt Bushnell before the trip because he served his mission here in Madrid. He said I would probably be drinking a LOT of orange soda on our trip. I will also be inhaling a lot of second-hand smoke. Yuck. He warned me that everyone smokes here and he was correct.
Okay, next we rode Metro and walked on the Prado de Paseo to get to the Prado Museum. On the way we saw a handful of fountains. (Race is on Harmony---you've got competition in the "take a fountain photo" game!)
The Prado has free entrance in the evening (and on Sundays for an extra hour longer). That was my good deal of the day---no pay for our tickets in, very cool. Mike and I saw paintings we had learned about in our college humanities classes. Our instructors would be so proud of us---extra credit or something. We saw Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, El Greco, Bosch, Velaquez, Goya. None of which I could take any pictures of, of course.
Anyway, now we are back at home base. Dinner, maybe. It is 10:30pm and that is when dinner is in full swing here. Because of mediodia you don't eat lunch until between 2-5pm and dinner very late. But, there remains this little issue of waking my husband up. . . until tomorrow's post, hasta luego!
