Hola, Welcome to Madrid!

A Room With a View

Today was our first full day in Spain. Thomas was feeling a little under the weather... so we took it slow. I managed to get to the Super Mercado (full service department/grocery store), where I was dizzy with all the new sights and smells as well as trying to figure out what was what... it is amazing how language is key to understanding and ease of life... it took me 15 minutes just to figure out what WAS detergent for the washing machine and which was the correct one to buy...I basically closed my eyes and hoped for the best :). I spent the day unpacking and figuring out my foreign appliances. It took me two hours to operate the washing machine... I finally found the instruction booklet in an obscure drawer in the kitchen and...there was an English section... voila! My clean laundry is currently drying on the handy rack in the bedroom :) Basically, I nested a bit... in our Ikea modern, mucho European, flat.

Later this evening we walked around the block...to get a sense of what is just around the corner... and that was about it for today... Poor Thomas was just too tired to do much...

We did find a wonderful local indoor open market on our walk... not more than fifty meters from our front door! Fresh flowers, produce, seafood, eggs, milk, cheese, jamon (Spanish cured ham) hanging from everywhere, local wine, olives, olive oil, specialty shops...Sarah and I had fun trying to communicate and purchase items. (We had a difficult time... but, we managed to smile and "perdon" and "gracias" our way through our very difficult intercourse with very friendly Spanish people.) We purchased a new little stove top coffee maker and Italian coffee for tomorrow's breakfast. As well as ear plugs from the local Farmacia. (I am hopeful for a better night sleep tonight).

This is the view from my bedroom window.... we are in the city! Lots of cars and sounds all through the day and night. The one sound that is driving me crazy is the resident saxophone player who parks himself just at the end of the block... he echos up the street and plays the same song over and over and over and over... he seems to never stop!


Hopefully, tomorrow will find Thomas feeling a bit better and we will get out to see a little more... until then, Adios!