On our way to Spain

     We had a full plane on our flight to Amsterdam.  I was hoping for a few empty seats so that I could stretch out, but it actually wasn't that bad.  Amanda booked us a set of seats near the front of the plane which were only two-up next to the bulkhead.  It was not so bad just to be sharing the space with Rick and there was actually some knee room.
    Rick actually managed to get some sleep with his head against the side of the plane.  As usual, I only dozed for a while.  I did watch a couple of movies including Juno which I missed when it was in the theaters.  It was pretty good and did help to pass the time.  We also got some decent food and some small bottles of wine which again, helped time pass.  Our connection in the Amsterdam Schiphol airport was fine.  We noticed that everyone travels in jeans and athletic shoes which makes it harder to tell the Europeans from the Americans.  We went directly from our flight to the security gate to pass through into European customs.  I didn't want some problem with passports of something to cause us to miss our plane.  It was a long line but moved quickly.

     After another 2 1/2 hours we were in Madrid.  All of our luggage made it, thankfully, so we found a taxi and headed to our hotel.  I was so tired, but the city was exciting.  It was only thirty minutes to our hotel in the older part of Madrid.  Hotel El Coloso.  The room is nice and the huge bathroom is all marble!  The floors are beautiful wood, but the window looks into an airway and the bed is only a double and VERY firm.  We went out for a meal at 7 after a short rest and had a "plate" dinner and a beer in a Cervesaria (a bar) on the Grand Via.  The food was good and the beer will hopefully help us get to sleep tonight.  Our hotel is only two blocks from a main street and busy square with lots of shops and restaurants.  There is a police station just two doors down from our hotel, so it feels very safe to be walking around the neighborhood.  Our room has wireless internet and a flat screen TV which is very convenient to tired travelers.  We went to bed at nine.  We have had a very long two days