Introduction to Madrid

We are now caught up on sleep (12 hours, yes!) and I’m really enjoying Madrid. The people are so friendly and forgiving of my terrible Spanish, and I’m enjoying the slower pace of life here. Here was our introduction to Spain: Neither our taxi driver from the airport nor our apartment owner knew English, so finding our apartment was a bit interesting. When we finally found it, we entered the postage-stamp-sized apartment to find an old lady mopping, an old man drinking a beer and eating steak, and luggage in the kitchen. They told us to come in (there was no where to sit) and even though they knew no English, we managed to ascertain that they were the owner’s parents and last night’s renters would be back for their luggage. The old man was so charming, trying to tease Macy about her stuffed dog even though she had no idea what he was saying. He acted out his words since he knew we didn’t understand much. The lady showed us that we must bring in the towels that were hanging on the line over the balcony, and I handed her her pants that were drying on the chair. Although it felt like a strange introduction to our stay here, it showed us the heart of the people here and we immediately felt connected.

The famous San Gines Chocolateria

Our first day here, we ate some of the things we had been really looking forward to. We found and ate at Bobby’s much-anticipated Museo del Jamon (translated to museum of ham, although it is really just a restaurant of any kind of ham you want). Spain does pork products better than anywhere else. (I’ll let Bobby talk more about that). Then we headed off to find the famous San Gines cafe – where we savored churros dipped in chocolate. We ambled through a large indoor market and drooled over the aroma of tapas, meats, and desserts that locals were selling. After some time of settling into our apartment, we headed out again in the evening for the most amazing cheap red wine ever, and more tapas.