saturday, july 26

Welcome, and thank you for stopping by to read about my time in Madrid, Spain. The flight over the Atlantic was long, but smooth. The Madrid airport is huge. After clearing customs, collecting my luggage, my feet touched the soil of Spain somewhere around 2:00pm. I took a shuttle for brief ride (about 3 miles) to meet my brother (Raymond) at Terminal two. Because of flight delays, neither of us were able to connect with the drivers who were supposed to take us to our hotel. So, we took a cab to our hotel destination: Petit Palace Triball Madrid. It's a cozy place tucked away on a side street just off the main road, Gran Via. Within the city limits, there are 3.2 million people living in Madrid. It's beautiful here. To be honest, I can see myself living here. The things I've noticed about Madrid is its cleanliness, the sidewalks are super wide, lots of people are out walking, and there aren't any humongous vehicles. 

Our receptionist, Laura, suggested that we go to Lamucca del Carmen for dinner. It was, by the way, awesome. For drinks, Raymond ordered a Corona and I ordered a Tinted Sangria. The dinner was mostly protein and vegetables. We both had the salmon, served with yogurt, cucumber, onions, and tomatoes, twice. We decided the salmon would be best if served with artisan bread. The waiter returned with nice chewy bread and a spread made of black olives, garlic, salt, and olive oil. We made our way back to the hotel, despite the dtysfunctioning navigator (story for later), weaving our way through some amazing scenery. This was a great first day. Now that that’s out of the way, I will always be able to talk about that experience. It’s day one, but I intend to immerse myself fully into the culture.