Our first day in Espana!

(Museum of Ham)

(Monday)

So it's 5AM and we are wide awake - and have been since 3:30! Ugh ... combination of the obvious jet lag and the insiduously unexpected and hideously loud garbage trucks that came down our street and emptied about 50 garbage cans right under our (open!) window.

What better time to post an entry about our first day in Spain! I have a feeling I won't remember the details as well in a couple of days from now.

We left Phoenix on Sunday at 11AM and arrived in Madrid at 8:30AM Spain time with one short layover in Atlanta.

We did have a slight mishap in Atlanta - as we were heading to the international terminal. The airport has a cool little subway and we needed to hop on to get from A to E. Unfortunately, the shuttle was pretty packed and somehow Scott managed to squeeze his way on right at the last second thinking that he could hold the door for me as I was right behind him. But, alas, the door wouldn't stay open and it was either sacrifice me or his arm ... he chose me. It was actually quite hilarious. I yelled out to him as the doors were shutting and when he turned around the other people that had made it on with him looked at him increduously and said, "Was that your wife??" and started chuckling. It turned out ok - I just got on the next shuttle 30 seconds later and met him at E. Good thing I knew where we were going.

The flight to Madrid was LONG!Luckily the plane was only about halfway full so we got to spread out a bit. We each took a separate row and hunkered down for the long flight. I watched a couple of movies and might have slept for an hour or so. Scott wasn't able to get any sleep at all. When we were arrived in Madrid we were pretty exhausted but soon got a boost of energy and adrenaline. We left the airport straight into the Metro, took 3 different connections to get to our stop. We both realized later that our subway experience can be best described as a painting by Escher - you know the one with all the broken stairs going up and down and all around? We felt a little like David Bowie in the Labyrinth. (My sisters will totally get this reference!) I'm so glad we only packed carry-ons, I couldn't imagine hefting a bag any bigger than the one I had packed. After being in Madrid for nearly two hours (but not seeing anything except the underground) it was quite the shocker as we emerged from the Metro straight out into the heart of Madrid on the Puerto del Sol. Oh my goodness, the building are so amazing and so very old and ornate. It is beautiful. We made reservations at the Petite Palace de Puerto del Sol and had a quick little walk to our hotel that sits right on the the Puerto del Sol, a bustling pedestrian street and social center of Madrid. We were not expecting they would let us check in so early but had our fingers crossed anyways! Sure enough, they handed us our keys and we about jumped for joy. The room is pretty tiny but has some nice amenities like a cool shower and an beautiful little balcony.

Our plan for the day was head down the pedestrian walkway and straight to the Palace. Unfortunately for us - it was closed! We did the self-guided walking tour of Madrid to the Plaza Mayor and saw so many interesting shops, bars and restaurants. All the old buildings are so amazing. We found a market and had fun checking it out. Oh my goodness, I'm sure we are the most touristy looking tourists aorund. I took a picture of Scott eating his first Iberico ham sandwich. The Plaza Mayor was definitely a sight to behold. We walked back to our hotel and had a choice to make - take a nap or push through till evening. We decided to buy a 2day pass on a double decker tour bus and took a tour around the city. This was the logical choice - to push through but after all that walking and being up for 24 hours we realized that we are getting old. Ten years ago we totally could have stayed up without needing a nap but we both were buzzing and literally about to pass out. I was actually naseous with exhaustion. So we chose a nap. So we got off the bus and went back to bed. After a quick nap we called the kids (hooray for Skype!) and felt much more refreshed. We went around on the bus a bit more and got a really cool view of Madrid.

That took us till about 9pm, when the locals were just coming out to dinner by the way! We went back to our room and fell asleep listening to the pedestrian sounds coming from the Perto del Sol wafting in through our window.