Madrid part 2 of day 1. FOOD FOOD FOOD

    After freshening up, we planned to meet Carmen and Carlos, Amanda's friends who live here in Madrid. We were going to meet them at the Plaza Mayor at 3:30ish but as we walked down the street we heard “Andrea!” and there was their beautiful little family a couple paces behind us. 

    Carmen and Carlos are two of the most wonderful people you will ever meet. Their baby girl, Clara, is completely precious and genial, always smiling and interested in everything. Although the three girls had never met the couple, they made us feel comfortable in no time, talking to us like they had known us forever. The Spanish accent is hard to catch for me yet so I didn't always understand everything they were saying, but I picked up some and continued to catch more as the afternoon went on. Carmen and Carlos first took us out for tapas at a stand-up tapa place and treated us. It was lovely! They ordered us three different fish tapas – white fish, tuna, and something else I didn't know. They also ordered us some really really good grape juice. It came in a little glass bottle and I din't know what was different about it, but it was very delicious. 

We then proceeded to walk around the city for almost five hours! My sandals are turning out to be trusty and that is such a relief. We saw a lot of Madrid! We saw cathedrals, castles, trendy streets, plazas, post offices, a huge park, and good restaurants. Jill has many more pictures of these things on her blog, http://sprintthroughseville.wordpress.com/. One of the cool things we saw that I particularly liked was a car charging station for electric cars.

(I'm in this picture even though I'm very small here.) 

Carlos and Carmen were the best of tour guilds. They were so knowledgeable. I kept on thinking about if I had to give a tour of Holland, I don't think I'd be able to tell people very much about it. They seemed to take a lot of pride in Madrid. I loved it. After strolling the huge park, Parque de Retiro, we were getting kind of hungry and tired so we stopped at a place right outside the park. Carlos and Carmen treated us again! I ordered some zanahoria (carrot) ice cream and un café con leche. The funky ice cream was awesome! It was very unique and I loved it. I should try to make some when I get home. 

There is a protest going on here in the Plaza del Sol and a couple other places. There are people camped out in tents protesting the government because they feel underrepresented. Carlos explained to me that the government is too vertical and not enough horizontal. The people don't have enough say in what happens in the government and not enough of what the government does helps the people. It's a very peaceful protest – the people are mostly young hipsters painting mosaics on temporary walls and hanging clever signs. As we walked past, they had created a road block with bodies, cheering for all the cars that turned away. The police were standing close by but not taking any action towards the peaceful protesters. 

    At almost the end of our very long walk, we stopped at a little food shop and I tried another new food – un bocadillo con calamari. It was very chewy but yummy. Also very greasy. But I walked a lot today, right? Once we had cheek-to-cheek kissed our guilds goodbye, we crashed in our beds. I can't believe that we've only been here for one day. It seems like we've done so much already! No wonder we're so exhausted. I'm calling the day a huge succes because I tried four new foods - 1) tostada con anchoa 2) churros con chocolate 3) helado de zanahoria 4) un bocadillo con calamari. HUGE SUCCESS!

Madrid part 1 of day 1 all on jetlag.

Since we had been in an airplane and underground on the metro, as we surfaced with our heavy maletas in tow, we saw Madrid for the first time even we had been in the city for quite some time already. I just stood and gapped.

 The city is beautiful! Almost all of the buildings are old and seem to be built for both ascetics as well as function. There are small shops lining the streets which are very narrow and mostly one lane – no SUVs here. Even the police cars are small.

  We found our hotel, marked by a very inconspicuous sign, and enjoyed the quaint elevator on the way up to the first floor (in Spain, the ground floor is floor 0).

     We were early, so we dropped off our luggage a the hotel and went exploring. First things first, we wanted food. There is a lovely little tapas place about half a block away that was both friendly and cheap. I ordered una tostada con anchoas y un café con leche (a toasted baguette with smoked anchovies and coffee with milk akin to a JPs Hayworth). Delightful and only £2! I went out on a limb with the anchovies but they were very delicious if not a bit salty. Chalking up new experiences today! I'm sure new experiences with be very frequent during my stay. There are so many new things going on here.

After some more shop exploring, jet lag was hitting us hard. We hadn't rested fully in quite some time. I was ready for a nap and a shower – both great things no matter where in the world you are. 

Excitement Ensues

   Our adventures have already begun! Upon arrival at O'hare, Andrea discovered that our flights had been cancelled. This isn't how we wanted our trip to begin! However, this group of international adventurers has backup. Through a series of phone calls, Andrea got a hold of the travel agent who had set us up with this flight. The travel agent, in a flurry of expertise booked a new flight for us with Iberia directly to Madrid – better tickets than our original ones. The agent warned us that US Airlines would not want us to switch airlines as it would cost them much more than switching our tickets within US Airlines. She instructed Andrea to insist that “we are protected per US Airlines!” and to “not leave the counter!” until they agreed to give us the tickets through Iberia.

     In a two hour wait to get to the check-in counter, we encountered a lady in the bathroom who didn't find it necessary to shut the stall door, and a diabetic man who we shared starbursts with because he was starting to sweat. Eventually, we got the tickets switched without much hassle.

The flight to Madrid was uneventful. I was so tired by the time we got on the plane I didn't even make it through take-off before I fell asleep. I napped on and off almost the entire way, staying awake only long enough to watch an in-flight movie with Tyler Perry in it. The food was manageable and the beverages were plentiful. A steward or stewardess walked down each isle offering “té” o “café” a least four times with each meal.