Hate to start with the weather, but we left London very early Thursday morning on a warm, sunny day and got to Madrid.... and it was cold and rainy. And it stayed that way the entire time! This makes the fourth consecutive European trip (starting with Bath, Amsterdam, and Paris) that was non-stop rain. We've had the worst luck! We always manage to have a good time though. Anyways, here's Terry at the (massive) Madrid airport, awaiting our luggage.
We got to Madrid early afternoon on the Thursday before Easter, and all the shops were closed for the holiday. We checked into the hotel and went straight out for some traditional tapas and sangria. That was pretty much the theme of the trip; rain meant that we ate and drank almost the entire time. We stayed right next to the Puerta del Sol, the heart of Madrid. Our hotel amazingly central (nice pick by Terry). It was only three star, but it was one of the better hotels we've stayed in so far. Also, breakfast was included and it was really good so that was a nice selling point.
Outside our hotel was the famous Oso y Madroño, the symbol of Madrid (Bear and the Strawberry Tree).
As we walked around a bit after lunch, we were thrilled to see a Dunkin' Donuts in the middle of downtown Madrid!!! This is the only one we've seen since moving to Europe, and Terry and I were ecstatic. It's funny the silly things you take for granted when you have them every day, and then appreciate when they pop back into your life. 
My pictures from the trip are generally awful because of the weather, so I'm not going to post too many. Here are a few from when we were walking around the first day.
Below is not a picture of an actual building; they put this weird picturesque tarp up on top of scaffolding. I should mention that there was SO much construction going on in the city. It was insane, everywhere we turned there was another development or bit of construction.
Here's me, freezing in the Plaza Mayor, a grand arcaded square in the center of Madrid. It's gorgeous.
When I walked into the open area of the Plaza Mayor, I had the most bizarre feeling - I knew that I had stood in that spot before. The feeling just washed over me, the most palpable deja vu I've ever had. I had been to Madrid about seven years ago, in high school. Until that point, nothing popped out at me as recognizable as we were walking around the city. But when I stepped into the Plaza Mayor all the memories started flooding back. It was like a door to my brain storage opened. I know this sounds really cheesy, but it was like having an out-of-body experience!! I could see high school Me walking around. Poor Terry was sick of hearing about my spiritual experience after about 5 minutes, so I'll stop babbling here for your benefit as well.
Here's another pic of the Plaza Mayor. It's a really cool place to sit and have a drink or coffee and watch people, and usually there are street performers. Of course the tables are sadly deserted because of the weather.
Um, just gonna throw some more pics of streets on here (sorry)...
After walking around we were tired so we took a nice long siesta. Later that night we went out to dinner in one of the many trendy Madrid neighborhoods. We took the Metro (Madrid's subway system) everywhere - it was cheap and amazingly easy to navigate. We were so proud of ourselves, we didn't take one cab! Not even back to the airport.
Anyways, for our first dinner we ended up at a trendy restaurant in Chueca. The food was really good, the wine was better. Luckily my Spanish is still operational so we had no trouble communicating. I only have a hard time when people use slang. I really loved being able to speak Spanish again. Terry's Spanish wasn't too bad either! But I still did all the ordering.
Here he is, grumpy at the restaurant because I made him take a picture with the glass (I thought they were really pretty, I wanted to buy them).
But the next morning, he is happy to have his Dunkin' Donuts cafe con leche!! He needed it after a long night of mojitos (it's the adopted favorite drink in Madrid, apparently - they serve them everywhere).
OK, I don't remember why we ended up back at the Plaza Mayor, but we did. All the shops were closed again on Friday. Boo. Here's Terry....
And here he is posing with my replacement...
The skies are looking pretty dreary outside the palace.
Here's the front of the grand Palacio Real (Royal Palace).
And then me in front of it, really cold....
We didn't go into the Palace because the line was absurdly long. So we hopped on a bus tour instead. The bus tour was pretty great, at the beginning. We sat on top in the open air in the front row.Here are a few of the sights from the bus tour...
OK, quick confession. The reason I have no captions is because shortly after we got on the bus it started to rain again. Serious, pouring rain. So we popped open our umbrella and huddled underneath. Most people went to the bottom level to get out of the rain, but we weren't going to let the rain bring us down!! (literally). Anyways, I really couldn't concentrate since I was trying to take pictures while staying dry, so I don't remember the names of a lot of the statues and monuments and whatnot. Normally I would go through my handy travel book and tell you what they are, but I know no one really cares and I have to get back to writing my essay tonight so I won't bother.
But I digress!! Back to pics from the bus tour...
After the wet bus tour we were starved and hit up a restaurant for some pizza and sangria. After a proper siesta (that might have been Terry's favorite thing about Spain), we went out to a cerveceria (bar) for drinks and tapas before we headed off to an amazing flamenco show at Café de Chinitas. We had a traditional Spanish dinner during the show. I ate some crazy beef and even tried Terry's sol. The food was great but the flamenco show was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. There were men and women dancers and singers, and they were all so talented and passionate. Even Terry thought the show was amazing.Here's a picture of the stage...
All the performers would yell various things at each other throughout the show. It was very energetic, very dramatic. The best part was the closing dance, by the head singer: a cross-eyed, portly man who strongly resembled Tony Soprano. He danced an amazing flamenco, just amazing, but he kept pulling up a bit of his shirt to show off his big round belly. It was hysterical (we're 80% sure it was meant to be funny, not sexy). Anyways, it was an amazing show, supposed to be the best flamenco club in Madrid. I'd show you a pick but this is a family blog.
Afterwards we went out to a club but we called it an early night so we could get up and do some more sightseeing in the rain. No sign of the sun on Saturday, but a mariachi band did show up in the Puerta del Sol.
The hanging pig bodies were everywhere... 
Finally finally finally, after being closed for two days, all the shops were open on Saturday!! Even Terry was excited to get out of the rain and do some shopping. The Euro-Dollar conversion rate is much kinder than the British Sterling-Dollar, so we were eager to pick up some spring clothes. The shopping was amazing in Madrid, all the spring stuff was so cute. After shopping, we had our siesta and then decided to go out bar hopping for the night. We went to a bunch of different places to try all kinds of tapas and drinks. Here's Terry with Mahou, a Spanish beer.
I keep saying we ate tapas everywhere, so it's time for a side note about tapas. Tapas are appetizers in Spanish cuisine, but you can definitely make a whole meal out of them. They can be cold (olives, cheese), or warm, such as fried baby squid. I can’t remember all the ones we tried, but I know we had patatas bravas (potatoes in a chili tomato sauce), meatball type things, potato omelets, smoked ham croquettes (my new favorite thing to eat), and all kinds of differently prepared sausage. A lot of places even gave a plate or two of tapas for free.After a bunch of places on Saturday night, we were both so full (I even ate octopus!!) and exhausted. The next morning, it was Easter Sunday! I missed my family so much, it felt like we were a world away.
We managed to get up early for Easter mass. It was a gorgeous mass, and the church was breathtaking.
Since we were leaving later Sunday night, we were forced to check out of the hotel and skip our siesta - tragic. After mass, we went out to a restaraunt and had some really uninspired, kind of weird food. I ordered salad and chicken, and ended up with a plate of lettuce and tomatoes and a plate of really graphic looking chicken wings. Terry had carne asada and it was like half fat. He also said he had spaghetti too, but I don't remember that. Anyways, random nonetheless.
After lunch we grabbed a couple souveneirs at an open air market, and walked over tothe museum area, our intended destination being the Museo del Prado, a famous art museum.
We were so disappointed to see this massive queue at the Prado. We were so disappointed but we had to catch our flight so we couldn't go in and see all the Goyas and other pieces.
After the bust at the Prado, we grabbed our luggage and headed back to the airport. We got home really, really late on Sunday night and were completely spent. I think we did a lot considering the weather and the holiday closures. Overall, I think Madrid is a really cool, modern city but still has that old world air about it. Everyone was so welcoming and kind that we came across and that's what I'll remember most. I just wish we could keep up the siesta lifestyle.
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