Spain Day One: Madrid

Hello again! It's time to start the Spain chronicles. For my own benefit, as well as yours, I am going to post the Spain pictures one or two days at a time. That way, I don't bore you out of your minds, and that way I have a detailed record for myself. If you just want to scan through the pictures, and not read the descriptions, I won't hold it against you. :)


So, after a very long flight, which actually wasn't so bad, thanks to an aisle seat, an empty center seat, and tylenol PM, I arrived in Madrid. Adriana was waiting with open arms, and the adventure began. Adriana, as I mentioned before, lives on the 17th floor of her apartment building. Here you can see the view of the city from her place. I also added her room (the one with her in it), the room I stayed in (with my stuff everywhere) and the living room. It's a very nice place. She just moved in, and her other roommates hadn't arrived yet, so she was anxious to redecorate and spruce it up. It's a pretty great place though, regardless.

After freshening up at Adriana's, we headed to the Plaza Mayor, which is a neat open plaza with a statue and little outdoor cafes. It was lovely:

We had some yummy little sandwiches for lunch:

We walked by the Opera House:

We continued on to the Plaza de Oriente, which is just outside the Royal Palace, and has a big fountain and some neat statues. Fun fact: this statue was the first built in which a horse is on its hind legs. Cool, huh?

We had some popsicles, because it was scorching outside.

This is the Royal Palace:

We wandered down to the Sabatini Garden, where there is a lovely fountain. A few groups of people were putting their feet in the fountain, so we joined in the fun. It was very pleasant and relaxing, and we stayed there chatting until our feet turned into prunes. :)





Then we went to the Cathedral La Almudena. Adriana's opinion is that it's ugly on the inside, and I responded, "you've been in Europe too long." The grandeur of these huge buildings is incredible, and the acoustics alone are enough to awe and inspire. However, the decorations are pretty modern, and after visiting several more cathedrals on the trip, I could see what she meant. (My pictures, however, capture the pretty parts.)







We returned to Adriana's place and watched the sunset. We also planned out the remainder of the trip, and I dozed off briefly during the planning session. In my dream state, I heard Adriana saying, "did I lose you?" I opened my eyes, "just for a second." :) We attempted to watch a movie after dinner, and that's when I REALLY couldn't keep my eyes open. But it was a pretty eventful first day!