Madrid!

Madrid is such a beautiful city. I hope our pictures come out. It is warm & sunny here, especially compared to Munich.

We got in Friday afternoon, took the Metro to our hotel from the airport. We got unpacked, and then walked around the area for an hour. The buildings are magnificant. It is evident that Madrid was not bombed in the wars.

Brother John & his wife Amy got in around 6:30. We rolled out for dinner around 8:00, very early by this city´s standards. But had a great dinner and walked around seeing some of the fountains & plazas.

Saturday we just wandered. Saw the Puerta del Sol and Plaza Major, had a drink & olive break in a cafe in the Plaza, then went to Palacio Real. Again, it´s good to be King! Beautiful building with incredible ceiling murals and ornamentation everywhere. We ended the tour in the Armory. Lots of weapons and suits of armor and several model horses with knights astride. Fun to see. I bet in real life they clank a lot.

We had dinner with a couple who live here, Mack & Celia. Amy knows Mack´s mom, and she set up for us to meet. We ate in a Galacian restaurant, tiny hole-in-the-wall with excellent food. Served family style, food on platters brought to the table and we all just dug in. The white wine was excellent.

We´re only managing to stay up to midnight. Celia, a native Madrilina, says that office workers typically go out on Thursday nights until 6 a.m., or may just go into work right from the night out. No one expects much to get done on a Friday. But, she said they don´t then go out on Friday.

I´m in the hotel lobby, waiting on the rest of the party to assemble. Today we´re going to the Prado Museum, which is a block from our hotel. Don´t think we´ll see much else today.