And Today Madrid

I arrived in Madrid yesterday late afternoon. Took the AVE high speed train from Barcelona. The scenery was pretty boring. Some agriculture and the rest pretty flat with scrub bush looking very dry. They showed a movie - Vickie, Christina, Barcelona (which fortunately I saw before). Its actually a really good one and was shot in Barcelona so has lots of good visuals. On the train it was dubbed AND subtitled in Spanish - so an English speaker would be completely lost. But good for me, since I knew the story I was able to practice thinking in Spanish.

The hotel I am staying in is located very well. I didn't know this when I got here because I didn't bring a Spain guidebook (as I knew Judy and Mike would have one and I brought a strictly Barcelona one instead). Unfortunately Judy & Mike don't get here till tomorrow. So I was a little bit lost when I ventured out of the hotel. I did notice that there is a large square (Plaza del Sol) right outside the hotel and I thought that would help me stay oriented. I walked down two blocks and found a large department store so decided to check it out. It had everything anyone could want from cosmetic counters carrying everything we have in the USA, shoes, clothing, computer and camera stuff, luggage, furniture, hardware, paint, linens, and cookware and then in the basement a full supermarket.

Walking back to the hotel I decided to take a few side streets to see what was in the neighborhood - within 20 minutes I was completely lost. Fortunately I was able to find my way back by asking where Metro Sol was. I bought a map immediately. Today I am going to take an open top tour bus ride and try to get a bit better oriented. I did learn in checking on the web that the Plaza del Sol is "the heart of Madrid" so I think I am going to be ok.

I will take pictures today and post them later - nothing much to see yesterday and the day before there was something wrong with the "card" I had in my camera.

More later....