Madrid

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Well, friends and family -- Our last stop before we come home -- Madrid.

In an unbelievable stroke of synchronicity, the plan for us to rendezvous with Rachel worked, despite the discovery that the airport has four terminals, and she was in T1 and we were in T4. It wouldn't have worked out better if we had known exactly where to go and what to do.

We have the strangest safe in our room -- it works with any card that has a magnetic stripe on it. Just swipe the card while the safe is open, then close it and swipe the card again. I used my Starbucks card -- and it worked.

Speaking of Starbucks, we have seen at least five of them today, the first one about three doors from the hotel. Three doors in the other direction brings us to Italian Ice Cream. We weren't sure before, but we think we'll like this hotel.

We have seen Plaza de Cibeles, Retiro Park, and Real Jardin. Not bad for one jet-lagged person and two that had to get up at 4:30 a.m. After a good night's rest, we'll be ready to tackle the Palacio Real tomorrow.

We have a hard wire Internet connection in our room, so we'll try to get up some recent photos while we're here.

More soon,
Wendy

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Comments

[Nydia]

Oh, Starbucks!!!
You are back in civilization! I've so enjoyed reading your adventures abroad. Keep 'em coming. Your Paris experience sounds like it was a bit different than mine. I think it proves my theory that, at least in France, it's best to know the language before you go. Be safe. See you soon! Nydia

[Wendy and Adrienne]

What happened to you?
We have had so many comments about Parisian rudeness, but encountered none of that. Was that what your experience was? W.

[Nydia]

Parisian Rudeness
Oh yes. When my friend and I were there last year we had one incident where we went to the subway station to buy tickets through the city. We approached the ticket counter and asked both of the attendants if they spoke English even though we had just heard one of them speaking English to the couple in front of us (we just didn't know which one it was). The one woman very bruskly said, "NO" and waved us away with her had while the gentleman smiled rather meekly. At that point we decided we'd continue taking taxis regardless of the expense and I decided I wasn't going back without a much better grasp of the language.