Arriving Madrid

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Arrival

The sunrise was a pinky-gold, fading to bright pink. It was gorgeous. Going through customs, I started talking to a woman in a western shirt, hat, and boots with a *huge* belt buckle. She is a champion rodeo rider, and was with a team having a Rodeo here in Madrid. She is also working on her International Communications Masters, and using this experience for her paper. I told her she sounded busy, she agreed.

I got through customs, and headed down to the Metro. Was buying my tickets, and talking English to the computer (English text was available, I successfully got my ticket on the second try); a nice man attempted to help me. His English was as bad as my Spanish; we ended up using my dictionary and got it sorted. He was on the same train, so we chatted until his exit. He was very sweet, and enlisted the help of fellow passengers to assist with communication.

Found my hotel after a couple false starts. The streets are labeled, but not always close to the intersection. After checking in and having a shower, I determined to go for a walk.

Lost in Madrid (sort

of)

One of my travel books had a 'Welcome to Madrid' orientation walk, so I thought to do that. The path wanders by the three big Museums in Madrid, several gorgeous buildings, a bunch of Tapas bars, and ends at a huge park. One is supposed to find Plaza del Angel, and take the Pedestrian Walkway to the Museums. I never found Angel Plaza, and ended up wandering the direction I thought led to the Museums. I walked right into them. I then walked through Atocha Station (this is where the bombings took place), it has been rebuilt and is gorgeous. As a bonus, on my way back I found this plant wall I'd read about in someone's blog.

It is now 4pm, and I need to stay up a few more hours. Time for another adventure!

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