Second day

The flight really went by quickly and we landed in Madrid at 7:00 AM.  I hopped on the tram and went to Terminal 4, which is the new, oh-so-Spanish building/terminal at the Barajas Airport.  Wow.  I took some photos, but it's the kind of space you have to experience; a picture just won't capture what a great space it is.

I made it easily to my host's house in the center of the old city.  Hector is a college professor at the Universidad del Rey Juan Carlos, plus he's working on his doctoral dissertation in economics (which he's writing in English).  He's a very interesting and nice host, and we spent the afternoon and evening together, speaking only Spanish.  He's also a patient and a good teacher.  He speaks English because he lived in the UK for three years, but he understands that I want to speak Spanish only, and so we did.  As we all know, Philip is never short of an opinion, and as I have discovered, neither is Felipe!

I had only slept for less than an hour on the plane, so when we got home, I went to bed and didn't wake up until twelve hours later.  But then I got up and hit the streets to experience Madrid by myself.  First stop was an incredible pastry shop for a breakfast snack where the lady there mistook me for a Frenchman ... really.  Feeling self-satisfied that I hadn't been mistaken for an American, I went about my day poking into shops around town where the episode was not repeated.  How dare they speak English to me??  Can't they see that I'm a native Madrileño?  Hmmmf.

Madrid has a such style and decorum about it.  The way people dress and carry themselves ... what a great city!   The architecture of the old town is so charming, but it's blended well with modern interior design which gives it a style all it's own.  I know I will spend a lot of time just taking it all in.  I stopped into a tiny light fixture store that had such amazing modern light fixtures  that I was there 20 minutes just studying them and their presentation.

Later I stopped into what they call a supermarket.  Small, crowded, but full-service, it is what Americans would call a grocery store.  Taking forever to read labels to understand what I was holding, I finally picked up some needed supplies.  While it was interesting to see the similarities and differences from my own culture, one thing, I observed, is the same the world over:  little old ladies are shrewd grocery consumers.

Getting into the swing of the local schedule, I had lunch at three o'clock.  I sat next to an American and we had a conversation in English which just totally reset my little brain.  Afterward, I couldn't understand a simple question in Spanish.  However at lunch, a glass of wine was less expensive than water ... I'm gonna love this place!