Airplane adventures and our eventual arrival in Madrid

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So here I am, reporting from a curiously tucked away marigold colored cement basement filled with computers in Madrid! It was a hectic flight in every way imaginable....

first, our flight was delayed two hours and our butts had long fallen asleep from too much airport sitting before we even boarded.

secondly, I was sitting across from a very rowdy and unhappy toddler who took it upon himself in between pounding his mom and dad in the face with his pillow to break out with a series of ridiculously loud screams, no widow shattering, eardrum busting screeches rather.

thirdly, the trainee flight attendant accident flung an entire garden salad doused in italian vinegarette into my lap.

BUT, we survived, and I´m happy to report that we´ve had fun today exploring the city, despite our rocky start to the day, and very sketchy hostel (which also happens to be painted this wierd yellow color....)

We went to Plaza Mayor, a major tourist stop even though we weren´t quite sure what photo ops to do since there was only a horse statue in the center, a few scattered lampposts, and lots of cafes surrounding the square. But it was nice all the same, and the coca cola delivery men insisted on joining in for one of the shots.

Then came the delightfulness of all savory goodness delights. Chocolate y Churros. Delicious! It was a little cafe, or ¨Chocolateria¨ nestled at the end of a random alleyway, but Lonely Planet thought we ought to go, so off we went. The mugs of chocolate were ridiculously thick...our spoons stayed boyount on top it was that rich. I guess you could tell our enthusiasm if you knew the number of pictures we took....

Next we were of to the famous Museo del Prado, which has famous works by Goya and Velasquez, but my favorite was definitely bosche´s Garden of Eartly delights (thanks for the correction susan..). We covered some major ground, walking all over the city, but this was primarily because we were continuously getting lost. We we finally did figure out where in the heck we were going, we hit a street barricade and had to go around. The policemen here are exeptionally beautiful, all of them, young and in shape. Not at all like the average middle-aged carrollton cop. So I don´t mind all that much if THEY are telling us to walk three extra miles and pointing us in the direction of the detour.

We took a nap in little room that is actually quite nice except it reminds me of that creepy poem ¨yellow wallpaper¨ that probably no one except from Molly and I have heard of it because we read it in high school lit class......

Finally after a fruit and granola bar dinner we headed out to explore the nightlife which we realized was way over our heads. The streets were crowded (and well lit mom) and bars were jam packed with people from all over the world. Tons of American study abroad kids mixed in with a slew of Londoners and Spanish guys with their eyes glued to the televised soccer games. We even talked to a guy from Emory here on a research grant, who knew kids from west georgia.

Today we are headed to Valencia, lugging our gazillion pound packs to wherever the train station might be. The weather is perfect!! Sunny and clear, but not too hot, with cool and breezy evenings. I´lll write more in a day or so........

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Comments

[Dad]

MMMM...chocolate
Bring me some of that thick, rich chocolate, would u please? Love you, Dad

[Ant Suzan]

Go Girls....
O.k. so I wasn't concentrating too hard on what was going on INSIDE the plane, just that it STAYED IN THE AIR and was not 'flapping' it's wings ($%^$#%^).....how ya'll can look so fresh and pulled together an d ready to 'rock and roll' after all that waiting, flying and yellow walls, is beyond me --watch out those Spanish cops don't cite you for a 'moving violation'(!)= I thought 'Garden of Earthly Delights' (well the most famous one) is by Hieronimous Bosch, but there could be others---should I look up Il Bacio's ? Is it THAT good? Guess they don't let you make pictures in the museum, huh? (RATS) - GREAT to hear your 'travel voice' again....Ant S.

[Molly's uncle]

Oh, yeah, chocolate
I would definitely travel to Spain for a cup of chocolate. Oh, yeah! Bill

[James and Deb]

Food service karma
Thanks so much for the book and nice card. Hope you're having a great time, and see, those treadmarks on the Foccacia create their own food service karma.... :-) James and Deb