Madrid, Spain

     Well we managed to get eleven hours of sleep and seem to be on Madrid time.  The bed is not very comfortable and I woke up numerous times, but the sheer volume of time in bed has helped me to feel somewhat rested.  
     We ate breakfast in the buffet at the hotel.  I love the Cafe con Leche.  It is really strong with half cream and sugar.  It helped to get my engine going.  The buffet was expensive - actually everything is expensive due to the exchange between the Euro and the dollar.  I guess I am still thinking of traveling thirty years ago when the dollar was strong.
     After breakfast we headed out to the busy city to find the Madrid Vision bus that tours around the city.  The desk clerk told us the wrong place for the stop, but we followed one of the buses and got to the right stop.  Since it was first thing in the morning, the buses were full so we walked about six blocks to the Palace Real for some sightseeing.  The building was very well preserved and still used for formal occasions.  There are no lack of tourists in the city and the Palace was a busy place.
    We took the tour and then caught the tour bus which took us to the train station.  My plan is for us to take a high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona.  The train stations are right in the middle of the city which cuts down on Taxi fares and we can see more of the countryside from the train windows.  When I bought the tickets the website was in Spanish and then sort of translated into English.  At the point where I was supposed to get an electronic file that I could print to use as a ticket the website froze.  After numerous attempts to get through to English speaking customer service, I found that I could just print the tickets at the train station in Spain.  We wanted to be sure that this advice was accurate so we went to the train station ahead of time.

     We were able to print the tickets without a problem and also found out where to get on the train.  We only need to be there fifteen minutes before the train leaves - much easier than plane travel.  The station is huge and very nice - so many people travel by train in Europe!
     We got back on the tour bus and traveled around Madrid some more while listening to the sightseeing tour information translated into English through earphones.  Madrid is a beautiful city and very green.  We got tired and headed back to the hotel for a nap.
     We went out to dinner at a nearby pizza place.  The waiter handed us a menu in English before we even asked.  Ha ha.  It was cheap by European standards - eight Euros.  After dinner we walked around the neighborhood along with hundreds of other folks.  They were out on this beautiful evening walking their dogs, letting their kids play in the park, and sitting on park benches kissing.  We felt very Continental as we strolled with the crowd.  There was a lighted fountain in the park - Plaza  de Espada.  As we walked back we stopped at a travel agency and booked a side trip to Toledo - one of the oldest cities in Spain.  We stayed up until ten tonight.