Tim and I went to Madrid, Spain over Columbus Day weekend. I have to say this was not our favorite place. If you enjoy going to museums then this is probably the place for you. We didn't find the people to be very friendly. It seems like a city that never sleeps - as we were not able to sleep because of all the noise. We stayed about 2 blocks off the Gran Via (their main street). While the location of our hotel was great for exploring it was awful for sleeping.
Our first evening there we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. While we where there we noticed someone being approached periodically for pictures and autographs. We asked one of the employees who it was, and they told us he was a soccer player. While we thought he played for Real Madrid, we have been unable to confirm it.
The next day we woke up to find it raining, so we decided to do a bus (hop on hop off) tour. We rode around for an hour or so and the weather improved drastically so we decided to walk around. I was surprised to see a Starbucks just about on every block of Madrid. We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe. My advice to anyone, if there is no proce listed on the menu either move on or ask as you are ordering what the cost is of each item you want. We were surprised with an 83 euro lunch bill - for a so~so lunch.
Day 3 we headed out on foot to see if there was anything else left to discover. Low and behold we stumbled upon a cable car. It was 5 euros round trip. It took you to a park, where it appeared you could hike back to the begginning. We walked around for awhile and took the cable car back to where we started. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for a late lunch at an Italian restaurant. Turned out to be a bad decision. As I was halfway through with my meal one of the waiters tripped and dumped a beverage all over Tim. The guy just stood there dumfounded and said he didn't know what to do. I told him to go get some napkins. Then it just got more frustrating because no one came by to clean up the mess on the floor or to apologize. Tim said something to the manager and he gave us our drinks for free (how generous). I guess we have lived in Europe too long because we were happy yo see a TGI Fridays and had dinner there. The food wasn't the best but it was nice to have American choices in entrees.
Our last morning here and we couldn't leave fast enough. We hailed a taxi and were on our way home. At the airport Tim went to pay the cabbie the 35 euro that his machine said and the cabbie said no you have to pay 45 euro because of the airport (the hotel even said it would be 35) ~ ripped off yet again in Spain.
