The End Is Near

We're back in Madrid now and we leave in two days. We took a day trip to Barcelona yesterday and boy was it a long day. We woke up a little after 5am to catch our 6:30am train ride. The ride took just under 3 hours, of which we used to catch some more Zs. Upon our arrival to Barcelona Sants station we found the tourist information booth and bought two tickets for an all day bus tour around the whole city, which included 44 different stops. Albeit, a lot of the stops were pretty close to each other, the tour did take us around the entire city. There were two different routes, the red route, which covered the northern part of the city, and the blue route, which covered the southern part of the city, which was longer. We started our journey on the blue route and toured most of the southern part of the city. We decided since we were limited to time that we would only get off on stops that looked interesting or had something interesting to tour. There were 3 stops that we were going to get off for sure and if we saw something else then we would stop.

Our first stop landed us in the middle of the city at the cathedral, which was under construction. We were about to go inside but turned away after seeing beggars line the enterance to the cathedral begging for money. We decided to eat lunch, which took an hour, and then head out to catch the bus at one of the stops. Lunch took forever because there was only one waiter and two other people running the entire place. We ordered our favorite dish, fideguay, and enjoyed a few tapas of potatoes while we waited. On our walk back to the next pick up point we noticed that there were TONS of people walking around, much more than in Madrid. Granted it was Saturday, but we hadn't seen that many people walking around in Madrid. We headed for La Pedrera, a museum dedicated to the mastermind architecht Antoni Gaudi. It was his masterpiece that he created over a century ago and to this day remains one of the finest works of modern architecture in Barcelona. There were two more buildings created by him that we would eventually see after our visit to La Pedrera.

We hopped on the next bus that passed by and were on our way to another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia is a gothic church dedicated to the Sagrada family. To this day the church has yet to be completed, even after over 100 years of work. The interesting thing about this church is that it has been privately funded by anyonomous donations since it's inception to this current day. I know now after visiting why it has suffiecient funds. The entrance fee is 11 Euro per person. It's bad enough to have to pay 11 Euro to get into the place but if you want to go up to the second floor that'll cost another 2.50 per person. Oh, did I mention that there's a line to go up as well? While we were there it was a little over 30 minutes. Anyways, so as soon as we entered the church we noticed there was nothing to see because the WHOLE THING was under construction. Construction of this church began in the late 1800s and probably won't be completed for probably another 50 years at least. It is definitley a sight to see and a very beautifully designed church. There was a museum as well underneath the church in which we toured as well, so at least we felt as though we got our money's worth and we were at least contributing to finishing the project.

Instead of taking the bus all the way around city to get just a mile away we decided to walk back over to Gaudi's third piece of architectural mastery entitled Casa Batllo (pronounced bought-yo). He lived in this house for a while and we decided to venture through it to see what it was all about. First of all, he doesn't use straight lines in any of his work; everything has a curved surface. The concepts and designs that he came up with are mind boggling. To think that this kind of work was done 100 years ago is quite fascinating. The house itself feels like you're walking through a house at Disneyland. One design aspect of this house that I found intriguing was that there was an inside patio with a sky light. The walls were tiled in blue as well. But here's the interesting thing; the higher up on the wall the darker the blue tile and the smaller the windows were. The lower you went on the wall the lighter colored blue the tile was and the bigger the windows were. The reasoning behind this is the darker tiles up near the top were used to absorb more light, thus leading to smaller windows. Gaudi was big on natural light and used nature as his teacher. The lighter tiles toward the bottom reflected light and therefore leads to bigger windows to allow for more natural light. It's hard to describe, so I'll just post some pictures.

After our walk through Casa Batllo we headed back for the train station to catch our 9pm train back to Madrid. We decided to walk, which was a little over 1.5 miles. Our feet were tired and my shoulders were sore from carrying our backpack all day so it was nice to sit down on the train and just relax on the ride home. We were supposed to go to Toledo today but we woke up this morning and ate breakfast and were still exhausted from yesterday, so we decided to skip the trip and just relax the rest of the day. I think today was the first time we actually weren't traveling or doing some sort of tourist attraction. It was actually nice to just lay in bed and watch tv. We decided to file through our pictures and get rid of the ones we didn't like and or want. So far, after deleting all the pics we didn't want we still have almost 2,000 pictures.

Stef and I were talking about it today and we were both saying how we were ready to go home. It's been such a great trip and I think it's just worn us out. We've been on the move for 10 straight days and we've been walking everywhere and doing and seeing as much as possible. We're ready to get back into the swing of things at home and ready to settle down and start our journey through life together. We also miss our puppies too. haha. We leave back to the states on Tuesday and I'm excited for the flight home, as weird as that sounds. I'm excited to fly business class again, which will make the perfect ending to our honeymoon. Until then I bid you adieu and my next blog will come to you back in the states. Enjoy these last pics from Spain.

La Pedrera - Museum dedicated to Gaudi

Stef and I in front of La Pedrera

La Sagrada Familia church

La Sagrada Familia from further away

Casa Batllo - Gaudi's home

Driving in Spain...Oh boy!

After our stay in Sevilla we had a rental car waiting for us at the train station via Hertz. I knew it was a stick and that it would be like riding a bike. Once you learn you never forget. It took me stalling a few times before I picked it back up and we were on our way to Marbella. We decided that since Marbella would probably not have anything to offer us in the realm of tourism, other than seeing expensive cars and homes, that we would drive through the city of Ronda. Driving through the back roads of Spain was absolutely AMAZING! The views were truely breathtaking. Fields of lush green grass and olive trees as far as the eye could see decorated the mountainous landscape.

Upon arrival in Ronda, which is famous for the Puente Nueva bridge, we parked, got a map, and started being tourists. The city itself is built on a huge hill and the views from the bridge were spectacular. We couldn't really get a feel for how big the bridge really was until we hiked down this trail to where we could take pictures. You see how big it is in the postcards but seeing it in person is a whole different story. We found our way down the trail and headed down, which took about 15 minutes. Upon reaching the bottom, we were taken aback at the true beauty and size of this bridge. Pictures don't do it justice.

After an afternoon meal at McDonalds we continued our journey down to the Beverly Hills of Spain, Marbella. The second part of the drive reminded me of driving up to Big Bear. The road was very windy and trees covered the entire mountain. We arrived at the Hotel Guadalmina Golf in the mid evening and felt like we were at a 5 star resort. Upon entering the room, we went to our balcony to see the ocean staring us in the face with its waves crashing down on the beach. We looked up restaurants in the area and decided on Trader Vic's. Since we didn't want to drive we took a taxi, which took less than 10 minutes. We truely felt at home when he asked for the 15 Euro fare to take us a few miles down the road. Trader Vic's is like a mix between hawaiian and chinese food. More of a fusion type restaurant. We had an excellent meal and then caught a break only paying 13 Euro for our taxi home.

After breakfast in the morning, which overlooked one of the holes on the golf course along with the ocean, we set our sights for Granada, home of the famous Alhambra. The drive there was great...until we got into the city. For some reason, the GPS decided to take us on the scenic route through the city, instead of going the easy way and wrapping around the city to our hotel. I'll get to that a little bit later. Apparently, our GPS was set to take us the shortest possible route, not the the fastest route. So, as we were driving through the city admiring the sights, my GPS told me to enter a roundabout and take a left exit. Well, I went straight instead and ended up in the middle of the city in the Taxi and Bus Only lane, with taxis and scooters riding my tail. I guess once you drive the streets enough you get a feel for them, but let me remind you this was my second day driving in Spain and I was most certainly NOT comfortable driving these streets just yet. After making some more wrong turns and circling the city twice we ended up at the Hotel Alhambra Palace. It was a beautiful hotel that sat atop the hill, right next to the Alhambra, with a spectacular view of the city. After arriving at the 2nd floor we looked at the door and got a little giddy because we had a view of the city. The first thing we did was open the door and stand out on the small balcony and admire the beauty of the city; along with take pictures. Yesterday we had our tour of the Alhambra, which took about 3.5 hours, and then toured the rest of the city with a very nice Australian couple we met on our tour. From the time our tour started (around 10am) until the time we got back to the hotel (8pm) we figured we were walking around for about 10 hours. Needless to say our legs were tired.

This morning we awoke and left for Cordoba to return the rental car and to see La Mezquita. Two hours later we arrived in Cordoba at our hotel. I remembered to put on the "Fastest Route" setting on our GPS so I wouldn't be driving through streets as wide as the car and making impossible turns that would make me stall (like those in Granada). We returned the car (late of course) to Hertz and walked over to La Mezquita, which is a huge mosque. We had a bitter taste for the city in our mouths after an argument with the Hertz woman, who forced us to pay for an extra day for returning the car late. They'll be hearing from us! Anyways, on our bitter walk to La Mezquita we decided this city sucks and that we were giving them none of our business. Stef is a life saver and let me tell you why. Way back in Sevilla, she thought it would be better to spend an extra day in Madrid because she heard there was nothing to do in Cordoba. Also, our little Spain tour book said you could do Cordoba in one day. We were scheduled for two nights here, but luckily, Stef booked us back in Madrid a night earlier and we'll be gladly leaving this city in the morning via the high speed train.

We booked ourselves a day trip to Barcelona on Saturday while back in Sevilla, so we're really looking forward to that. I think so far our favorite city is Madrid. There's just so much to do and see and it's a more lively city. Sevilla and Granada were beautiful and historic, but we think Mardid has both of those qualities, but is also young and alive and not so touristy. Anywho, we're back in Madrid tomorrow for four more days before heading home next Tuesday. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

A lake on the drive to Ronda

The Puente Nuevo bridge from the bottom of our hike

The view from our room in Marbella

The view from our room in Granada

At Saint Nicholas Square in the Albacin with the Alhambra in the background

See Ya Later Sevilla!

We’ve been in Sevilla the past 3 days and have had a blast exploring and wandering about the streets seeing the sights and sounds that this wonderful city has to offer. We got a little lost the first night here looking for a restaurant that Stef had seen on our map of Sevilla but ended up at a different restaurant called the Restaurante de Santa Cruz. Stef ordered chicken with a garlic sauce with rice and vegetables and I ordered the special of the day which came with a fried fish plate, paella, and pudding for dessert. However, the lady forgot to write down Stef’s chicken and she only got vegetables and rice. My fried fish plate arrived with variety of fish including calamari and anchovies. I’ve never had an anchovy before so I gave it a whirl. It didn’t really have much taste to it. It was actually very bland. The paella, which I’ve never had before, was very good. It had mussels, pork, shrimp, and rice with peas in a cheesy like sauce. It was very delicious. I finished off the meal with some delicious pudding, of which Stef ruined for me because she told me it was made from egg yolks and then made gagging sounds. I ate the rest however and it was still delicious.

Our second day, which was our first full day, we had a city tour scheduled for us via bus. The tour included four different stops around the city. The tour ran from 10am – 8pm and had busses at every stop every 20 minutes. Our first stop was the Plaza de Espana. It was a beautifully constructed plaza that was enormous in size and beauty. The plaza was in the shape of a half circle with a huge fountain in the middle. We wandered about taking tons of pictures and admiring its beauty for about an hour or so before going back to the bus. We stopped off in a café right next to the bus stop to get a “café con leche” and then jumped back on the bus. Our second stop brought us to a monastery which was converted into a contemporary art museum. It was actually kind of boring so we ended up leaving and getting on the next bus that came. Our third stop led us to the Isla de Magica, which is a theme park that recreates Columbus finding America. It was closed however, so we walked across the bridge to take pictures of the graffiti that decorated the walls. The graffiti here is very beautiful and artistic. We wondered if the graffiti here was seen as a bad thing or as a good thing because there was so much of it around. It seems a lot different than the graffiti back home. After we took pictures of the graffiti we walked back over the bridge and waited for the next bus. About 25 minutes later the bus showed up and we were on our way. Our last stop was where the bus had picked us up, at the Torre del Oro, or Tower of Gold. It was an old watch tower that lowered the bridge to the city by a chain to protect it from outsiders. It has since been turned into a museum that people can walk through and climb. After our tour we decided to get some food. We walked by the Plaza de Torros, which was an old bull fighting ring turned into a museum. We decided to get food first then go take the tour of the museum, so we found a café right down the street and ate there. We both had the special of the day, which was pork loin. It was probably the best piece of pork I’ve ever eaten. It had so much flavor that it didn’t need any sauce. We sat next to a couple outside that we had seen at our hotel before. While we were waiting for our check we started talking and they told us they were from Boston. It was nice to actually speak English for a change. After we talked to them we left for the museum and took the tour there. It was quite interesting and lasted about 30 minutes. After the tour we decided to head back to the room to try and see if we could change one of our days in Córdoba. We decided to cancel one night in Cordoba and add it in Madrid, since there is really only one thing to see in Córdoba; La Mezquita. As we made our way back to the hotel we had the hankering for some churros, so we found a place near the hotel that had some and indulged. When we got back to the hotel we made some phone calls and were told to call back Monday to change things so we decided to look at the pictures from the day. Stef took almost 400 and as we were looking through them we both started falling asleep. We decided to take a quick 30 minute nap at 8:30pm and would go to dinner after we woke up. Well, we woke up at 9:10pm and decided we were both too tired to get up and go to dinner, so we fell back asleep and ended up sleeping until midnight. We woke up and had a protein bar for dinner, if you want to call it that, and then went back to sleep.

We awoke the next morning to find that it was already noon. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my watch. I seriously couldn’t believe I had slept until noon. We slept for 15 hours that night, a feat which I had never accomplished before. It was ironic though considering our bed is as hard as a rock. LITERALLY! We sat on it when we got here and laughed. It was like sitting on a piece of plywood with springs. After we got up my back was immediately sore and got worse over the course of the day. We failed to realize it was Sunday until we went to eat breakfast and sat down at this little café right next to the hotel. We started looking at the information Joel (our AAA travel agent) had given us and decided we wanted to go see the Real Alcazar and the cathedral, which also had the Giraldar. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the Real Alcazar was already closed by the time we were eating, but the cathedral was supposed to be open from 2:30pm till 6pm. We finished eating breakfast, which was pork loin, potatoes, and two over easy eggs, at 2:30pm and headed over to the cathedral to go have a look. Well, the one day we decided to go see it there was a special religious service going on and it was going to be closed all day. We were pretty bummed considering we had walked past it the whole day previous and didn’t go in. The three things we were supposed to see in Sevilla and we didn’t see any of them. We got to see them from the outside, which they were beautiful, but didn’t get to see the inside. The cathedral is apparently the biggest gothic structure in the world. After our disappointment we started walking around and decided to get a coffee at Starbucks. After about 40 minutes we got up and started to do some shopping. The souvenir shops had pretty much the same things, which weren’t all that great, so we bought a few goodies and called it a day on shopping.

Stef had seen these horse carriage rides the day of our tour and wanted to go on one but it seemed a little too pricey. Well, she REALLY wanted to go and we decided to take the tour at night around 7:30pm. It was actually a great tour, which took us all around the city. It was quite romantic and relaxing as well. It was nice to just sit back and enjoy the ride and take in the sights without having to snap pictures and walk around everywhere. Our tour lasted about an hour and we decided to have dinner afterwards at a café we saw while walking around earlier. We got our favorite dish on the trip, Fideguay, which is like a mix between macaroni and cheese and rice-a-roni. It was tasty as usual. Of course, what’s a meal here without sangria? We’ve tried the sangria from every café we’ve visited and they’re all unique to their respective owners. Some are sweet, some are strong, and some are just plain GOOD! After dinner we headed back to the room to take care of some things before heading back out to grab a quick bite to eat and a glass of wine before heading back to bed. We’re on our way to Marbella tomorrow and that’s when the fun begins. We get our rental car and it’s a stick! Good thing I know how to drive one because it seems like all the cars here are sticks. It’s also good that we have a GPS system to keep us on track because I’m afraid I might get lost here. We’re going to stop off in Rhonda on our way down, which is this old historic town that has a HUGE bridge. It’s only 130 miles down there but we want to get an early start because we only stay down there for one day. Marbella is apparently the Beverly Hills of Spain and has all the ritzy shopping. Oh yay! (that was sarcasm). Well, good thing for me we’re staying on a golf course. I can go golf while Stef is shopping. Haha. After Marbella we have a quick 70 mile trip up to Granada and then another quick 60 mile drive to Cordoba. I’ll be sure to write and keep everybody posted. Enjoy these pics in the mean time. Adios!

In the Plaza de Espana

On our fabulous horse carriage ride

The world's MOST uncomfortable bed!

What's this? SNOW!?

Greetings everybody! I’m coming to you from the high speed train in Madrid on our way to Sevilla. Yesterday Stef and I had a lot of fun traveling around the city and exploring on our own. We had a tour of Madrid via bus that started at 10am to kick off our morning. We almost missed it because we got up a little late. I set my alarm but fell asleep after turning it off and we woke up with only 20 minutes before we had to leave. We also decided to stop and get breakfast, which consisted of a croissant and a cup of coffee. It’s interesting here because if you order a coffee or “café” they give you just that, a small serving of coffee. However, if you order a coffee with milk, or “coffee with milk,” you get a latte with foam. The couple time’s we ordered it we they made cool little pictures in the foam. Stef got a heart and I got a little tree. After breakfast we had a little over 10 minutes to walk to the office to be picked up for our tour. We got to the office 5 minutes late but thankfully they allowed us to board the bus, which was another couple minute walk away. We boarded the bus and were on our way. They took us all around Madrid and explained the history of the city. The tour lasted two and a half hours and dropped us off at the world famous Prado Museum. We decided since we were there we would take that time to wander about the halls of the museum and appreciate some fine art from around the world. After we toured the museum for a couple hours we decided to search for a statue that Stef had seen on the tour and wanted a picture of. The name of the statue was “Al Maestro,” which was a dedication to the teacher. Well, we didn’t remember where it was and spent probably a good 2 hours looking for it, but to no avail we didn’t find it. We stopped and asked multiple people but apparently there are tons of “Al Maestro” statues around and nobody knew where it was. We settled for taking pictures of everything else and headed back to the hotel after our fingers and toes starting hurting from being so cold. In total, we took almost 300 pictures for the day. Upon returning to the hotel we decided we needed to eat something, so before we went back to the room we went and got a pizza and some churros at a place near the hotel. While our fingers and toes were defrosting we enjoyed some coffee and churros. The churros here are different than back at home. They’re not coated with cinnamon and sugar. They kind of looked like deep fried bananas but tasted delicious. We also saw people dipping them in a cup of chocolate. So, we ordered a cup of chocolate and did as the Spaniards do and it was unbelievably delicious. After our cheese pizza and churros we got back to the hotel and rested our feet and took a shower. We decided to go to this place my friend Alex had recommended called Casa Paco. We left the room around 9:30pm and got there around 9:45. The guy at the restaurant helped us with the menu and we ordered ½ a kilogram of Top Sirloin and ½ a kilogram of Filet Mignon for dinner. We ordered the meat to be cooked medium and also a couple salads and a pitcher of sangria. The sangria was delicious as well as the salad. When our steaks arrived they came SIZZLING on a very hot plate. We cut into the meat and it was as raw as could be. The outside looked cooked perfectly but the inside was definitely not. We sat there debating on whether or not to tell them to cook it more but one of the waiters came to us and showed us that we had to cook it ourselves on the plate, which was an interesting concept. Once cooked properly, the steak was so flavorful and juicy. It was easily the best steak I’ve ever eaten. The sirloin had more flavor but the filet was more tender. Either way it was an incredible dinner. The icing on the cake was our desert. We ordered almond ice cream, which was out of this world. All in all it was a fantastic meal and a great way to end our first stop in Madrid.

Today we are off to Sevilla. Upon waking up, Stef opened the curtains to our surprise, it was SNOWING! I had seen that the forecast had called for late sprinkles of know, but there was nothing by the time we went to bed. It looked like it had been snowing for a while. We headed out to get some food and there was at least ½ inch of snow on the ground with more coming down. It was such a sight to see because I haven’t seen it snow since I was a little boy. We would take family vacations up to Big Bear every winter and there was always snow, but rarely did it ever snow while we were there. It was the perfect ending to our time in Madrid. We’re looking forward to what Sevilla has to offer. We’re renting a car and driving for the next 8 days so that should be exciting. We have a GPS unit so hopefully we won’t get lost. I’m pretty good with directions and I have a pretty good sense of direction. After Sevilla we head down to Marbella, then up to Granada, then to Cordoba, and back to Madrid. We have 3 more days in Madrid when we get back so we’re either going to take a day trip to Barcelona or Toledo. Toledo is a cool 30 minutes on the Train I believe and Barcelona is a little longer in the range of 3 to 4 hours. We’ll play it by ear and see how we feel when we get back. Oh and by the way the trains here are awesome! We’re on the train as I speak and it’s first class luxury all the way. We have our own little table and seats that recline for a comfortable ride. The scenery is also very beautiful. We’re seeing a lot of the countryside and it is very mountainous and beautiful. A little FYI for you: Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe behind Switzerland. Anyways, we’re going to enjoy the rest of the ride. I hope everybody is doing well and I’ll post another blog in a few days or so. Enjoy these pictures in the mean time. Bye!

Its SNOWING!!!

The view from our room

In El Parque de Madrid

At the world famous Prado Museum in Madrid

Breakfast "Cafe con Leche"

Greetings from Madrid!

Before takeoff in Philly

Well we finally arrived here in Madrid and WOW! This place is AWESOME! The people so far have been unbelievably nice and very helpful. I guess I'll start with the plane rides over here. First of all, THANKS BOB!!! I've never flown in such luxury before. We flew first class from LAX to Philly, which was really nice, but the best part was the flight from Philly to Madrid via Business Class. WOW! Let me tell you, business class is the way to go. I had enough leg room to actually stretch my feet out ALL THE WAY to the seat in front of me. Upon boarding the plane, I was greeted by Heidi, our stewardess for the flight. She offered Stef and I a glass of champagne right after we sat down. After we sipped on champagne, we looked at the dinner menu to see what we wanted to eat. The entrees consisted of flat iron steak, red snapper, rack of lamb, and a few others. After putting my order in with Heidi, she asked if we would like a beverage after takeoff, so I ordered a beer and Stef had a glass of wine. I couldn't help but sit there and giggle like a little school girl at all the amenities and luxuries of the business class. The first thing I did was play with the reclining seat, which almost folds down flat into a bed. I then continued to pull out the FREAKING TV out of my armrest. I was seriously grinning from ear to ear and just laughing. It was by far the best flight EVER!!!

After takeoff we started to get settled in. I reclined my chair and just relaxed and listened to some music while the announcements were being made. Soon thereafter, Heidi came by with a hot towel to wipe my face. After a quick fresh-up with the towel she brought over my beer and Stef's glass of wine. For dinner, we enjoyed a salad as the first course, our entree as the second course, and desert as the third course, which was either a cinnamon chocolate cake or an apple butter tart. Stef had the flat iron steak for dinner and the cake for desert and I had the snapper and the butter tart for desert. The food was excellent. My snapper came with spinach and brown rice and Stef's came with a twice baked potato and peas. She didn't like her peas so I ate them and gave her some of my spinach. After dinner was over I relaxed and layed back to enjoy a movie on my little TV. I had many a choice of movies, music, and TV to watch. I was debating to either watch The Dark Knight or Baby Mama. I had seen The Dark Knight before so I chose to watch Baby Mama, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. It was quite entertaining and funny, but I ended up falling asleep towards the end. Stef chose to watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. After our movies we both ended up asleep in our lounge chairs sleeping like babies. I slept really well but woke up with a sore neck.

Upon landing in Madrid we made a hasty exit toward the baggage claim to get our luggage. It took a little longer than expected and I was starting to worry after about 30 minutes of not seeing our luggage. While waiting we met a nice guy who lives here but was in the States visiting some family in Phoenix. He was very nice and his two kids were really cute. He had a 1 year old little boy and a daughter who I'd guess was about 2 or 3. Shortly after talking to him our luggage showed up and we were on our way. We went outside and there was a driver waiting for us with my name on a sign and everything. I felt like a VIP traveling in such style. Our driver's name was Christobal and he was very nice. I decided that there was no time like the present and starting conversing with him in Spanish. He told me that my accent was "perfecto." Oh, and by the way, he drove us in a VERY nice Mercedes that drove really smooth and nice. Might have to pick up one of those some day. Anyways, I digress. As we were driving we kept talking and in Spanish and English and he was telling us about some of the things and places around. I told him where we were going and what we were doing and he was very helpful in giving us information on what to do and how things worked. Twenty minutes later we arrived at our hotel in the Plaza de Santa Ana. As soon as our car stopped we had two bell hops help with our luggage and escort us into the hotel to check in. The gentleman who checked us in was very nice and courteous. We got our keys and headed up to the room. Upon entering the room we found a very narrow corridor that led to a room a little bigger than a king sized bed. The room is very small but also practical. It's nothing like a hotel in the States where there is a lot of empty space to fill. It has the bare necessities and a nice flat screen TV mounted flush in the wall. As we speak, I'm sitting on the bed watching Dirty Jobs on the Discovery channel in Spanish.

So far our time here has been awesome and we haven't even done anything yet! Oh, I forgot, I keep asking everybody about how the tipping system works here. I asked the concierge about tipping for taxis and such and he said no more than 1 or 2 Euro and the guy who brought up our luggage said its not required. It feels weird not to tip because we're so used to it back home. We gave our bell hop 3 Euro for bringing our bags up and he was very thankful. We're going to shower and possibly take a quick nap before we head out to explore the city. I'll try to keep everybody updated as often as possible but there's so much to do here! In the mean time, here are some pictures from our flight. Enjoy!

Whats that?

Coming into Madrid from the plane

We're tired

This is pretty much our whole room