Madrid Spain

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We disembarked in the morning at Bilboa with the help of our steward and then we got in a taxi and headed for the airport to pick up our rental car.  I did talk Lee into getting a GPS as I thought we may need it in Madrid.  The receptionist at the car rental typed in the address and set it up in English for us.

The drive over to Madrid was beautiful.  The mountains were gorgeous and reminded us of some of our road trips out west.  Even some snow covered peaks. We passed lots of windmills and some solar fields along the way.  The fields were planted and all available space was well used for growing things.

The fields were full of vibrant spring colors and looked like an artist's pallet. We were very impressed with the good use they made of the land. We wondered why the economy is then in such bad shape.

Everything went well until we finally reached our destination in the heart of the city.  We pulled up and there were cars all around us and no place to pull over so we decided we would go around the block and try something else.  That's easier said than done.  We got royally lost.  We finally started seeking help by asking people on the street, hotel clerks, policemen etc (none of them spoke English) .Finally a taxi was able to give us directions that got us to the general location of our hotel.  We then parked the car in the nearest garage in that area and decided to walk to the place where we were to register.  We did get registered and then went to our hotel room which was one street over.  We then decided to sort out where to park the car for the next two days. As it turned out we were able to leave the car in the lot we had parked in. We took out the things we would need for the night and took them up to our room.  Then we walked down to the plaza closest to our hotel and walked around a little and then went back to our room.  It was a nice big room with a nice size bathroom on the third floor. You looked out our window to the street below.  I thought how charming!! Then I said to Lee,"isn't it amazing how quiet it is here right in the heart of the city?" Well!!! that was till about 9PM when the city came to life and it did not quiet down again until about 4AM. Our grandson, Keenan, had gone to Barcelona, Spain, on a soccer outing and he had told us that the Spanish live on a very different schedule from ours.  They go to work about mid morning and then close down from about 1:30PM till 6:00PM and then they open again and then close about 9PM.  They then go have a long relaxing dinner and then party till dawn.  Bingo!!!! I think we figured out why the economy is in bad shape.

I forgot to mention Lee and I both discovered that each of us was very worried about the other.  As we struggled to find our way in the city I was concerned for Lee driving in this big city with the different traffic patterns and language issue ---afraid the whole thing  could throw him into AF. He was worried for me because he was afraid I would be scared to death.  I always did have a plan B--we got into the city we could get out of the city and if worst came to worst we could find a hotel on the outskirts of the city.

We got up the next morning but not as early as expected due to our lack of sleep.  We decided to tour the city on the "on/off bus".  We grabbed a quick cup of coffee and some fruit and took off for the day.

That day we finished up our touring about 7PM. We were really tired but also knew that it was Friday night we would probably get ever less sleep than we did the night before. We were right.  It was quiet till about 8:PM and then it progressed until about 6:AM the next day.  We got up got the car and decided we would stop for something to eat on the way to Jim and Jane's.

The city was gorgeous and I'm so glad we did it but getting around was challenging.

We are so looking forward to time with our good friends.  When we met Jim and Jane we knew they were special.