Madrid Spain - last stop on our 2012 adventure!

We left Barcelona on a night train Wednesday night 4/25/12 at 10:20PM and
arrived in Madrid at 7:30AM Thursday morning . 

 

 We had a 6 person cabin with bunk beds that I said looked like Army bunks, Mike says
nope, actually way better then Army bunks but do remember, he was in
the Navy so does he even know...but obviously I don't know
either...just a term I used.  

 

The bunks were very low, three to each side. I had a bottom one due to not wanting to fall out and my fear of heights (they did have seatbelt like straps that you latched once
in). But the trade off was how low the one above you was to you
below. You had to crawl in basically laying down so then my
claustrophobia acted up....oh well, only 9 hours of this! We had a
young man from Girona Spain in our cabin and another middle age
couple from Mexico. The sixth bunk was empty. No snoring choirs
tonight so it wasn't too bad but so many stops and so much talking
all nightlong by the others getting on and off the train . At least
we did not have to transfer trains, nice!



 
Once in Madrid we took a regional train to Arvaca area of Madrid to
Iria's house. Found it just fine. Iria Alverez-Borras Fiejoo' is
our Spanish "daughter" that was a foreign exchange student back in
1996-1997 and was our daughter Jessica's best friend. Iria spent a
lot of time with us, even went on a Gold Country Endurance Riders
club horse campout to Euer Valley with us only two weeks after
arriving in the US. That had to be an experience to be camping and
all around us crazy endurance riders! Jessica spent the summer of
1997 in Madrid with Iria, Jess even turned 17 while in Spain. Iria
just spent this past September visiting Jessica in Maui. We have
all stayed in touch and always hoped we could someday see Iria
again. So now, 15 years later here we are and we have had so much
fun the past few days! She and her fiancé Daniel were great hosts!


 

Madrid is a beautiful Capitol city . The Palicio Real, Plaza Mayor,
Parque del Retiro, the museums, and today was so much fun to go see
the crazy packed Mercado de San Miguel especially being at the
market on a Saturday. We drank a lot of wine as we wandered from
area to area.  



 We basically ate our way though Old Madrid today with
Iria! Mike is loving having someone just order the food and us not
having to decipher what the menu says. Actually we have really
enjoyed the tapa's in Spain. Perfect size to try so many different
types of foods. Even though I do not eat meat, we have found many
vegetarian dishes and wonderful Paella's too, yummy! And of course
have had some great Sangria :) 


The hardest thing for us when we go
back to reality is adjusting our hours. Here and in most of Europe
you do not eat dinner until at least 9 or 10 PM then continue on to
a bar for a drink or two or three or ....and of course this is fine
IF you do not have to work the next day. Oh and Mike is digging the
siesta's. They really do close down the stores and many restaurants
for a few hours each afternoon. Ahhhhhhh, a forced nap, Mikes idea
of a little slice of heaven.

Yep, more memories have been made.