- We got up a bit earlier than we wanted to so we could get everything packed once again. Although I think we're finally over our jet-lag, it seemed like it took us an inordinately long time to get everything organized and repacked this morning (maybe it was the late night of partying last night???). Since we now had more stuff than when we arrived (thanks to iPlanet), we decided to ship all of the gifts back home from the hotel. We gave them to the concierge and (despite sending it on a slow boat) it ended up costing us about $150 in shipping. It seemed like a lot of money, but neither of us was anxious to schlep all the stuff to Madrid and back, so we were glad to get rid of it. I hope it arrives in Dallas in one piece
- We took a taxi to the airport around mid-day--Ari, Steve, and all of their luggage had to take a separate taxi. Much to my frustration, I forgot to take my book (Tom Clancy's new book, the The Bear and the Dragon) out of my bag before I checked it to Madrid. In the end, it wasn't such a big deal--it was only a one-hour flight to Madrid, and it gave me a chance to take a short nap (or at least try). Ari and Steve had a bit of a surprise, however, when they tried to check their bags. There's a twenty kilo per-person weight limit for baggage, and they were way over the limit (almost ninety kilos between the two of them). To get their bags on board, they needed to pay a fee that was over $100
- Once in Madrid, we collected our bags and grabbed a couple of taxis to our hotel (the Huma Princesa). At first I was a bit worried because neither of the drivers knew of the hotel and both asked for the address. Although the travel agent told us we were within walking distance of the major tourist sites, I thought maybe she's made some mistake and we were out in the boonies somewhere. It wasn't until we got to the hotel and got a map of Madrid that we realized we were fairly close to the Palacio Real (it might be kind of hard to walk all the way to the other side of town where the museums are, but we're in a good location).
- We weren't exactly sure what we should do with our first afternoon, since we really didn't know anything about Madrid. I was starving, however, so I knew we needed to get some food. We tried to get the lay of the land using some maps and then headed out toward the Royal Palace. We walked to the Plaza de España and then to an outdoor cafe that was in Plaza de Oriente in front of the royal palace (Palacio Real). We had a similar experience to our first outdoor cafe in Barcelona--no one comes to help you unless you insistently wave a waiter down (maybe I'm wrong and we're just annoying them by not being patient enough to wait for them to--eventually--come and serve us). The outdoor cafe turned out to be one of those tourist places where street performers make the rounds looking for tips. We heard several street bands play, including a version of "One Ton Tomato" which I'm sure will become the theme song for our visit to Madrid
- After lunch, we walked to Plaza Mayor where we looked through the gift shops. It was the first time we'd had a chance to shop for friends back home. We found some t-shirts for Evan and Luc. There were artists working in the plaza as well--several were doing caricatures but a couple were doing very realistic portraits using colored chalks. Both Steve and I stopped to watch them work while Ari and Lisa shopped
- We went back to the hotel for a quick nap and a shower. The hotel manager sent both rooms a thank-you gift (a can of Spanish olive oil) much to our annoyance--it was just about the time we were getting to sleep. Ari spent some of her time reading Ann Rule's book, And Never Let Her Go. She's really hooked on the book but I don't think she wants it to end (she's very close to the end, but she won't finish it)
- We had dinner at Botín Restaurant which is near Plaza Mayor. Opened in 1725, it's the oldest restaurant in the world, and one frequented by Hemingway who said it was his favorite restaurant. Legend also has it that Goya also worked there before he became a painter. We had an excellent waiter (who actually gave us excellent service--maybe he was used to serving Americans, because he was attentive without being too intrusive) and we had the house specialties of roast baby pig and roast lamb. It was good food and good wine and good sangria--a great way to start our visit to Madrid
- After dinner, we walked up the narrow street to an underground "mesoni" for some more sangria. The bartender must have been used to having tourists in the bar because he did a really good job of explaining how much the sangria cost despite not speaking any English--he also offered to take our picture. We had a good conversation--it must have been good because we could hear singing and dancing in the next room (it must have been the dining area) and we never even bothered to check out what was going on
- It was starting to get late, so we started to make our way out to find a cab. Along the way, we found a band in costume which served as a quick photo-op