Hola from Madrid! Una ciudad muy bonito!
SD and I arrived on Tuesday night. After the flight from L.A. on Monday was delayed by 2 hours (!), we rebooked another flight, which left 2.5 hours after our originally scheduled flight. A long trip to Paris, where we were taking a connecting flight to Madrid. We exited customs only to find our connecting flight from Paris to Madrid was cancelled. Madre Dios! They booked us on the next one, then we took a bus from the airport to the main train station. Then we walked to the flat that we are renting for the week (good thing I packed light), finally checking in with our patient landlord at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday. I lost a day and a half, for a trip that was only supposed to take nine hours!
By the way, Eliza, the rain in Spain does not stay mainly in the plain. It followed us around Madrid, consequently, we got to see three really great museums. This was our first time to Madrid, and we explored on Wednesday, after getting our lazy bones out of bed at around noon. The Prado museum is everything you've heard it was--amazing! We went there on Thursday, then to a contemporary art museum on Friday the highlight of which was Picasso's Guernica, which moved me to tears. Saturday we went to another museum, a private collection which included little-known works by famous artists, such as Salvador Dali before he started melting clocks and Georgia O'Keefe before she began painting the floral equivolent of pole dancers.
Since the weather was cold and wet, and I was jet-lagged, today was the first day I actually went for a run. Running is a great way to see a city, but I prefer parks because then I can avoid cars. Europe has some beautiful parks and Madrid's Retiro is no exception. Lucky for me it was close to our apartment and I got a nice 6 miles in, without even getting lost. At first I ran around the perimeter, just to get my bearings, then I started taking paths that looked interesting, stopping occasionally for a picture to share with you. The Retiro has monuments everywhere, water fountains and lakes, and lovely old buildings. I even took a delightful path that turned into a spiral as it climbed; at the top were three Cypress trees and a view of the park.
We're off tomorrow for more culinary delights in the Rioja region, spending three nights out in the country, where I hope to get a few more runs in among the vineyards. I'll post more if I have an internet connection. Adios for now.
