So we rose early and the three of us piled in the car to head to the airport. Mom was going to catch her morning flight back to the US and David and I were going to stick around until our flight to Spain in the afternoon. The time passed quickly and before we knew it it was time to board and a short time later we were landed in Madrid.
First of all, yeah for a European Country that drive on the right side of the road with their drivers on the left side of the car (as we do in America). It was slightly comforting. However, only slightly as I noted the cab driver (and all the drivers around him) press what I would consider the limits for tailgating and pushing yourself in to merge. The lightening reflexes of all the drivers amazed me!
Second . . what a spectacularly diverse city. We saw some buildings with "old world feel" and some modern skyscrapers. And the city seemed to stretch for such a long way. This photo was taken from the Copula of our Hotel and as you can see the city stretches for MILES.
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| From 2008-1201 Madrid Spain |
Third, the Hotel Atlantico was fantastic. It is in the center of Downtown and so you are quick walking distance to just about any shopping or walking about you may want to do. Which worked out well especially for me since I was going to be doing some walking about while David was at work. The rooms were fabulous as well.
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| From 2008-1201 Madrid Spain |
And the staff was great!
Now, on the downside . . . My Spanish is TERRIBLE. I took Spanish in the 9th grade and really wanted to take French, which I took the two following years, and so I don't remember one lick of Spanish. Thankfully, there were the local KFC and BK where I could order by number and pointing at the picture. I did make an attempt while I was there to listen around me and see if I could pick up or remember ANYTHING of my Spanish and had very little luck. I wonder, does English sound that fast to people who can't speak it, I suppose so. The Spanish I heard was beautiful though and I found myself regretting not having paid more attention to my lessons in High School, not just from a communication standpoint but from an enjoyment of the language standpoint.
So anyway, that first night we headed up to the hotel bar to meet some of David's co-workers and have dinner. I was amazed to discover, that Madrid doesn't really come alive at night until 8 pm. Matter of fact, most restaurants don't open before then either. So we hung around for a bit until it was time to start walking to the restaurant. We followed Collen blindly (since he was the only one who knew where this place was) and enjoyed seeing the Christmas Decorations of Downtown Madrid. We arrived at La Casa Argentina (I hope that is correct) for a fabulous meal. I opted for the goat's cheese ravioli which was superb. After dinner we parted ways so that David and I could take in some more architecture (and take some pictures).
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| From 2008-1201 Madrid Spain |
Spectacular and tomorrow I would have most of the day and some sunlight to see more.
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