Spain – Llegamos

12 hours worth of travel time. Flight from Houston to Newark, New Jersey and then a change of planes for the overseas leg to Madrid.

Definitely not one of my best travel days. About 1/2 way into the 6 1/2 hour flight from Newark to Madrid my stomach started to get upset. I probably could have held out but there was a woman two rows back who had the most indescribable stench. When she walked past us to go the lavatory the smell was so overwhelming that I had to avail myself of one of the utility bags in the seat back pocket. Even Cynthia who was doing pretty well started to hyperventilate and came close to utilizing her own bag.

We cleared customs quite quickly and soon we were in a cab heading to the Hotel Plaza Mayor. The room is small but comfortable and is well situated to a lot of the city’s attractions.

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We were able to check in right away and we attempted to go for a walk, but were so exhausted we quickly returned to the room for a 3 hour nap. It was the best 3 hour nap ever! We had the balcony doors open and the cool breeze lulled us to sleep quite quickly.

We woke up without an alarm clock feeling much more human that we had in awhile and set out to explore a bit of our surroundings.

The sun is bright and the sky is deep blue. High today was around 74 degrees and no humidity. Temps tonight should be in the upper 50’s.

We walked for a quite awhile and shot some pictures and are now relaxing in the room. Our intention is to head out this evening so I can get some night shots and have some dinner.

Here is the statue of Charles III in the Puerta Del Sol

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On the right you see the Tio Pepe sign, Madrid’s oldest billboard.

I was particularly delighted to the see the Metropolis Building!

Detail of one of the door signs

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We came back to the hotel to rest. Now that the sun has gone down we are off in search of food and night shots!