Day 5

Got up extra early to catch the 45 minute ride to the airport on the Metro. This time, the airport was a lot calmer. Bought some wine and dark chocolate at the airport. We were still able to catch our original flight on stand by and got first class. I was completly blown away. I thought we would be stuck in Madrid for another week.


Madrid is a lovely city with so much to do and see. I just wish I had packed the right clothes and figured out a way to cure my jet lag. There are so many differences between Americans and Spaniards. They dress very nice and are very fashionable. They wear a lot of dark colors. Everyone there is thin. They walk with a purpose. They must think us Americans are so sloppy in a frayed jeans and tennis shoes and tangled hair. I love how they eat late at night and drink wine every nite of the week. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is out until at least 2 in the morning. It was great to experience such a neat culture. I'd love to go back again in the spring or summer when it's not so freezing.

Random pictures..

My Metro (subway) ticket stubs.

Busy sidewalks at 1 in the morning.

Plaza de la Independencia (the post office).

Tapas!

Plaza de la Villa

Plaza de la Villa

Day 4

By day 4, we had both had enough of walking and being freezing. We thought we might try to leave a day earlier. Went to the airport and we came across madness. All of the air traffic controllers in Spain went on strike around 5 PM Friday. From Friday evening until Saturday night, there were no flights coming into Madrid nor leaving Madrid.



We hopped on a hotel shuttle van to a local hotel to gain some internet access so we could read what was going on in English. The hotel was pretty crazy and people kept pouring in. We were there for a long time trying to figure out things. After we realized we couldn't do anything, we needed to get a hotel for the night. We took the subway back to downtown. Found a hotel in the Plaza Mayor area. We had some dinner next to the hotel and did some last miunte shopping.

My receipt from dinner.

Money exchange at the airport.

Day 3

After getting caught up on some much needed sleep, we had another productive day.

Started with breakfast then headed to Parque del Buen Retiro (Park Retiro) . It's very similar to Central Park. The park is very well taken care of and the landscaping is beautiful. While there, we seen advertisements for a Flamenco show. We had talked about how that was something that we absolutely had to see on the trip.


Finally after figuring out how/where to buy the tickets, we made our way to El Corte Ingles (like NYC Macy's). Bought our tickets then went back to the hotel for a nap.

Went to a restaurant near the hotel. Seen they were having a band later that night and we agreed we'd come back after the flamenco show.

Walked back to Park Retiro to find Teatro Casa de Vacas. We thought we knew where it was but we were wrong. We walked all over the park (about 2 miles) looking for this theatre. We asked two locals in the park if they knew where the theatre was and they offered to walk us there since supposedly the park is a little unsafe at night. We arrived at the theatre about 5 minutes late. They took us right in to our seats. There was about 15 other people watching the show. I'm pretty sure it was most of the performers' family. It seemed like we were the only tourists there. It might have been more of a "local" performance like something a school put on. Either way, it was fabulous.

After the show, we went to an overcrowded restaurant where everyone was dressed up. We were in our jeans and coats and our hair was a mess. Ordered some more tapas and wine.

Ended up buying some castanets at a gift shop that night. Checked out that band at the restaurant from earlier.

My receipt from the flamenco show

The flamenco show brochure with the actual people on it that were in the performance.

Where we ate before the flamenco show and where we drank afterwards.

Estanque del Retiro in Park Retiro

Puerta de Alcala

Day 2

We slept in til 3 PM! It got dark around 5. Such a wasted day. Went to one of the only restaurants open before dinner time (8 PM) called VIPS.

Made our way to Plaza Mayor and did some shopping. Ended up at Plaza de Espana and stopped to see the fountain/monument of Miguel de Cervantes. Strolled by Placio Real and by this time it was dark. Walked back through Plaza de la Villa and Plaza San Miguel. At Plaza San Miguel, we ate at Mercado de San Miguel ( San Miguel Market). It's an indoor market with all different types of food and wine. We tried some different cheeses, olives and wine.


Called it an early night.

Our receipt from VIPS on Gran Via

My money exchange receipt. I got 41.77 Euros for $60.00.

Day 1

We arrived in Madrid around 9:30 AM, 2:30 AM our time. This was our most productive day of the trip. I don't know how considering we got about 3 hours of sleep. I think we were just so excited to get our feet wet in some new culture. Once we figured out how the hell to get to the downtown area from the airport, we made our way to the hotel area. Found a decent hotel and took a snooze. We woke up at about 4 PM and we were starving! Got showered and ready and left on a misson for some good (but quick) Spanish food. We came upon a vegetarian restaurant. Fueled up on some bizarre food and headed for Museo Del Prado. Seen some famous works by Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Hieronymus Bosch, Diego Velazquez, and many others.

Afterwards we stopped at Miau in Plaza Santa Ana for some cafe leches and water and to make a game plan for the rest of the remainder of our trip. Got hungry and went to Kaixo Taberna and had our first tasting of tapas! While there, we met two young girls from Amsterdam. We decided that we would all go to a salsa bar/club down the street. We tried dancing but it was too fast paced! We made our way back toward the hotel, by this time it was about 3 AM and seen a karaoke bar!! This was the best way to experience the local culture. They were singing a lot of 80's songs from the U.S. They could not seem to get enough of George Michael's hit "Last Christmas".

Went to bed around 5:30 AM. And oh did we pay for staying out so late!!

Here we come Barcelona...I mean...Madrid!!!

My non-rev, first-class plane ticket.

Mimosas in real champagne glasses!

Look at all that leg room!

What was supposed to be a trip to Barcelona turned into a trip to Madrid. Delta has some strict checking in policies. Needless to say, we missed that deadline and took the next international flight to Madrid.


First Class! Oh how I am spoiled now! First let me say, I have never seen such beautiful flight attendants in all my travels! I don't know if it was because it was an international flight or what but, man! We started the trip with a mimosa...in a real glass! While we sipped our mimosas, Jessica and I looked over the menu for the flight. Honestly I can't remember what I had, but I do remember the spinach salad and warm nuts being my favorite. Oh and in first class, you can have all the wine/beer/cocktails your heart desires! We had several red wines and then it was time for a movie..or two! Dozed off for a little bit then woke up to the smell of breakfast! We planned our trip a little bit on the way, but for the most part we decided we would wing it.