Change In Plans

This post is about the trip over from New York, and our first day in Madrid. I am writing in the hotel lobby at 2:45 in the morning, because Zola has been unable to sleep, and was driving the rest of us crazy. He is reading Lemony Snicket on the sofa next to me, and shows no signs of getting tired.

The trip over was easy. India had us all well organized, we left on time, and got to JFK several hours before the flight. We even had time for me to stop and trade my phone for a new BlackBerry at the Verizon store. For some reason, the family was split up on the plane, and Zola and I sat together in the back. He only slept for about an hour, which may be part of the problem now. We both thought “What Happens in Vegas” was pretty good for an in-flight movie.

Madrid is an remarkably grand city.

On the taxi ride in from the (remarkably grand) airport, through the nearly deserted August weekend streets, all four of us marveled at the beauty of the buildings and the public spaces. Our hotel (situated on the remarkably grand Plaza de la Independencia) graciously let us check in at 8am, and we all slept for about six hours. This may be another contributor to the current jet lag situation.

We left the hotel at about 3pm, and went for a long walk. Although we expected brutal heat, instead it was a gloriously sunny and dry 80 degrees. We walked through the enormous Parque del Retiro - where Lu loved the orange fish in the square boating lake in front of the Alfonso XII statue. We played in the playgrounds, and then walked southwest toward the Plaze de Santa Ana. Late on a Sunday afternoon in August, the residential streets in the old part of the city were so deserted that we felt like Will Smith in “I am Legend.”

Sitting in an outdoor cafe in the Plaza de Santa Ana, we ate tapas and had drinks. The sun was setting behind us, and the square looked beautiful and ancient. From there we walked to the Plaza Mayor, which is just spectacular. The kids were most impressed with the street performer dressed as Yoda, and standing motionless on a milk crate. When someone gave him (her?) money, the Yoda would swipe at the air with the light saber a little.

After another rest, we went out for dinner at about 10:30pm. We walked up the Paseo del Recoletos, which is a remarkably grand boulevard, and sat outside at a cafe in the median. A piano player was louder than the sound of the traffic. After dinner, we walked further up the road to admire a huge fountain. The kids ran back on the banks of the landscaped median, laughing and shrieking with the freedom.

Zola is finally ready to sleep. We are hoping to adjust to the time zones more quickly than we did in Ireland (where the morning rain and the 11:30pm sunsets worked against us), but it does not look promising at the moment. We are excited to really look around tomorrow, and go to Toledo on Wednesday. I am trying to read as much about Spain as possible before opining on it.