España - Madrid

On Friday I took a 9PM flight to Madrid to meet one of my first friends in college and someone I've been close friends with ever since.  That would be 30+ years!! We've seen each other through the good times and the bad that is for sure.   Simone had booked a 2 week birthday trip to Spain well before we decided to move to Berlin.  Although her second choice for her birthday trip was actually Berlin so I'm hoping she makes a return trip to Europe while we are here.

Her two week trip was interwoven by various friends coming and going, I think 14 or so throughout her two weeks.  I met up with her for her final weekend.   My flight arrived around midnight.  In a "normal" city this would seem quite late or even the middle of the night but not so in Spain.   This country likes to LIVE!  They do have a 3 hour siesta in the middle of the day and typically the city slowly wakes up but is very quiet until well past 9AM.  So when I arrived the streets were full of people.  The sidewalks were packed and people were spilling out of bars, restaurants and discos.

Her friends were all leaving the next morning but I had one glorious night in the "palace" as they called it as it was a beautiful, huge apartment in the center of Madrid.  All I remember is the wonderfully comfortable bed!  I slept the better that night than I have since arriving.  Did I mention that our bed here in Berlin is one notch above a futon!

We have a leisurely morning with cafe con leche, Spanish tortillas (omelettes) gooey, chocolate covered cinnamon rolls and freshly squeezed orange juice before heading to our the hotel where we would end up staying the next two nights.  We drop off our bags at the new hotel and decide we want to take a day trip to Toledo.  We head to the Atocha train station.  This is the station that was bombed on March 11th 2004 shortly before Spain's general elections.

We figure out where to buy our tickets but the train we wanted was full and the next train wasn't going to leave until 2:30.  This seemed a bit too late to begin a day trip so we decided to see more of Madrid on Saturday and buy tickets to go to Toledo on Sunday. 

Leaving the train station we decide to go on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour which is always a great way to see a big city.  It was in the upper 80's outside so being on the top deck of the open air bus was really nice.

Madrid is a major cultural capital in Europe.  I did not know that it was the third largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin.  (I didn't know Berlin was the 2nd largest either!) I have felt like Germany has so much history and the buildings are so old, and they are, but didn't really comprehend the fact that much of Germany was bombed and rebuilt unlike Madrid.  The buildings and the grandeur and the detail on a lot of the buildings is simply breathtaking.  As are the skinny, winding streets and alleys.  I could easily and happily get myself lost in this city. 

The streets seemed much more crowded than Berlin but that is probably because we don't leave our small town and head to the center of Berlin very much. 

One of the main squares and
one of the few things both
Marty and I remember from
our couple of days in Madrid
in 2005.

I was explaining to Simone that our little town of Zehlendorf is very much like West Seattle.  It is even in the South West corner of the city.  We love the quiet of our neighborhood and our life and feel like we can head to the big city whenever we want.

After nearly completing the entire tour we decide to grab lunch.  We find a super cute Mexican restaurant and are pleasantly surprised with the food and the decor.  After lingering a couple of hours of a delicious lunch of AMAZING guacamole, chips, and tacos with cactus and pork and Mexican Sangria (sangria with tequila) we head out to catch the sister line of the hop on hop off which highlights the architecture.   We happily sit in the top deck again and take it all in.

Where Real Madrid, Madrid's soccer team plays.

We arrive back to our hotel around 8PM with over 10 miles clocked in.  I'm super tired but dinner places don't really open until 9PM so we shower and then head out a bit later for another delicious dinner. 

A quick sangria before dinner at San Miguel Market