My first two days in España!

CIA instructor Jean Morris, Guide Carmen, Chef Encabo

Hola para todas!

I finally found an internet cafe I could use. It has been a busy couple of days so this is my first chance to try out my travel blog.

Our flight from JFK airport in New York boarded on Saturday at around 5:30 pm.
We waited on the runway, in a very crowded hot plane, until 8:15pm. It took us that long to take off! Needless to say it was a long trip.

I tried to sleep but could not get comfortable, with my stiff neck and back muscles, so I read.
My seatmate was an exchange student from France, named Benji, who had been living in North Dakota for the last 10 months. What a change for him.

We arrived in Madrid the next morning(they are 6 hours ahead of the US east coast). It was cool and a little rainy, which is pretty unusual for Spain in June. We went through customs with no problems and boarded a nice, air conditioned bus. We met Carmen who is a guide for the "cross cultural center" here in Spain. They are responsible for putting together the first part of our trip, arranging the itinerary, etc. We went on a tour of Madrid while we waited for our hotel rooms to be ready.

Our hotel in Madrid is the Hotel Regina. It is located on a large central boulevard called Calle de Alcala. Its very modern and clean. Although our room is a little smaller than one would expect in the states it is comfortable and has a large bathroom with marble floors, a strong hot shower and a bidet! No I haven´t tried to use it yet but I will.

After a long siesta we all gathered in the lobby and took to the streets of Madrid. With Carmen and Chef Encabo leading the way through cobblestone alleyways we went to the Plaza Mayor.
We ate tapas at a small, standup tapas place, called Torre del Oro Bar Analu, lined with grizzly,hairraising photos of bull fights.
The food was fantastic. I had a glass of Fino sherry and we nibbled on a few free tapas. They had whole legs of Jamon Iberico hanging from the wall too. I had an opportunity to practice my limited Spanish skills with the men working the counter and Chef & Carmen explained everything. Fantastic!

Then we walked past the Plaza, filled with people out for a paseo and street performers, down some steep steps, and arrived at our welcome to Spain dinner at the oldest restaurant in Europe, called Sobrino El Botin. We all sat down for a delicious dinner. This restaurant specializes in Roasted meats like suckling pig and lamb. We had bottle after bottle of a tasty Tempranillo wine and an incredible lamb dish that was roasted in a wood burning oven.
It was easily one of the juciest, most succulent things I have ever eaten. Unbelievable!

We had been told, by our guide and many locals, that an important football(read soccor for all you Americans) game was taking place that night. All of Madrid was in the local bars and running the streets because the local team "Real Madrid"(pronounced Ray-al Ma- dreed) was playing there arch rivals Mallorca for the Spanish national championship. We decided to go out and see what all the fuss was about.

I have never seen anything like the streets of Madrid that night. Even during our superbowl we don´t get this passionate. Bars were filled with chanting people. Every time Madrid scored the singing and dancing would start. And it was loud.

"Campeones, campeones, ole ole ole!"

People would pound the bars and tables in rythm and shout Madrid. Cars on the street would honk in the same rythm. Hopefully I can get ya´ll some video. When Madrid finally won, 2 to 1, everyone poured out into the streets and headed for a public fountain, not far from our hotel, where the celebration began. We went down and walked around the fringes of the huge crowd. Random Spaniards, dressed in the flag of Real Madrid would hug us and chant with us. It was incredible.

I will try to find a way to get my pictures on this page. I can´t seem to do it from this internet cafe. I hope everyone is well in the States.