Jacki's first day in Madrid

Guest Blogger: Jacki (the sister)

Hi from Madrid!  Here's a list of new things that I saw on our first day in Madrid:

Door knobs in the middle of doors

The Metro

Penguins outside of Retiro Park

"Cat garden" in Retiro Park

Birds--different types of ducks and some black swans (also in Retiro Park)

Trees--I should have written down what type it was because neither of us remember

Tapas; for supper we had lots of seafood plus beer with lemon.  The next day I asked Gregorio what we had eaten, and this is the list he came up with: sole, whiting, dogfish, tuna, salmon, anchovies, herring, shark, prawn, squid.  Some of the fish were served to look like they were eating their tails.

Still light at 10 pm

Shades that really block out the sun

Roundabouts with some 5 or 6 lanes of traffic but no lines on the road--a big free-for-all

Bars and restaurants where there aren't really places to sit; you just stand around tables to eat and drink

Public bathrooms where each stall has its own timed light

Sand in large areas where I would expect grass

And that's all from Day 1.

I got to use my Spanish on the plane.  I asked for agua, vino blanco, pollo, and té.  Rebecca was impressed with the amount of Spanish I remembered from high school.  I was able to talk with Gregorio and understand some of what he and Rebecca were talking about.  Grandma and I were super tired all day.  We walked around downtown Madrid and had tapas and sangria.  That was supposed to just be a snack before lunch, but we were both falling asleep so it turned out to be our lunch and we returned to Rebecca's apartment and napped for a while.  Grandma was still sleeping when Rebecca and I got up so she and I went out to Retiro Park, which Grandma had seen with Mom when they were in Madrid over New Year's.  Gregorio and Grandma picked us up from Retiro Park and then we went out for a late supper (well, I guess normal for Spain...it was 10 I think when we got there).  We slept well that night.