Marco Paulo: Espania

For those of you who don't know I'm in Spain for work (at least that's what I told everyone).

Here is the report so far:

Halifax airport was very busy. We headed out early in the hopes of meeting up with Jane's cousins and their families as they were getting and heading for Cape Breton. For me that worked out well since the line ups at security were pretty long. I still don't know where the woman who brought along two cans of Sprite thought she was going. I didn't think there were very many people who didn't know about 911 and all the subsequent security scares.

Once through security immigration was easy. It got a little stressful when the fire alarm went off but it was just a false alarm.

Newark airport was busy but fine and I was lucky enough to have picked a row that didn't have anyone sitting next to me. Relatively comfy flight with a little sleep. We got into Madrid a half hour early.

I met up with my colleague at the airport and we quickly headed off to get lost. Finding our hotel without a GPS was a little work but after a few wrong turns we found our way. There was no parking and the rooms were small but it was in a good location that meets our needs for one night.

Madrid itself is a beautiful city. There is lots of cool archetecture, both new and old, and all the plazas are amazing. The city also has a large number of parks located throughout the city. The weather is much like South Carolina but much drier.

We headed out at noon for our first poke around town. We walked though the old city to the royal palace and back through the large park called the Parque de Retiro and the Real Jardin Botanico. It was amazing with people everywhere having picnics, playing soccer, sunbathing, and walking about the buskers. It was so neat I am back there starting this entry sitting by an artificial creek.

The neatest plaza we came upon was Plaza Mayor. There was a neat market with books, coins, a few antiques, and lots of stamp and philatelic dealers (yes Jane, stamps!). It looks like even without Jane I've managed to stumble upon the philatelists.

We ended eating at a neat little restaurant near the hotel. First let me explain the eating here trully is very differen. I don't just mean the food which is different in its own way. I mean the meal times. Remember siesta? Well here it is still alive and well. Lunch is anytime from 1:00 to 3:00 while supper is usually well after 8:00. I think they make exception for tourists, but it is not uncommon to eat at 10:00 or even 11:00.

Anyway, my lunch was a starter of Paella del casa that was big enough to be a meal in itself. It had chicken, shrimp, mussels and clams in the shell, and calamari. I followed that with a little grilled salmon. I haven't tried any on the local wine yet but instead have opted for large amonts of bottled water and a few Cokes. I think it would be very easy to dehydrate here given that the temperature today was about 35C or 97F.

Now for a good night's sleep. I thankfully have another day to get over the jetlag before the long days in the plant start.

Here are a few pictures of the trip so far with a description of where they were taken.