Llegamos vivitos y sanos

Our journey has begun, after a long and exhausting 12 hrs of flying we are finally in Madrid. Once we arrived in Madrid’s airport it had been non-stop for all of us. We arrived around 10:40 a. m., and honestly it was hard to believe that I am actually in Europe! We waited for a while for our suitcases to come out. It was very hot in this small baggage claim, full of tourist and Spaniards alike all lined up waiting for their bags to come out. I, too, waited patiently to see my pink suitcase emerge. I was relieved to see it finally emerge. Some were not as lucky. Our teacher’s in fact was placed on another flight, which delayed our departure from the airport.

We all gathered in the airport’s lobby and waited for our tour bus to arrive. We walked outside crossing a sea of taxis, and cars to a parking lot full of tour buses. Our bus was comfortable and big, and it had to be since there is another group from Alaska also on this Spain adventure. We drove around seeing the sites around Madrid; my first impression was nothing less than amazement! What a magnificent city, everywhere you look; there is something grand staring back at you, from the spectacular architecture dating centuries ago, to new modern construction. We soon arrived to our hotel. My first impression was, a little less than excitement. I was glad to arrive and have a place to take a cold shower, since we were all hot and tired from the long flight. I took this little elevator to the second floor where our room was. I enter this big apartment-like room. It is equipped with a small kitchen, dinning room, and a small living room with a little TV. Our room is kind of small, with two twin beds together. I laugh when I saw the beds together and jokingly said to my roommate just barely meet you¨. The big plus of our hotel room is the balcony that overlooks a residential street where cars are parked all along the narrow and often busy road. Although our room is warm and a little dark, I am pleased to lie down on a bed after being in a plane packed like sardines.

Madrid is truly amazing. For a city this big it is incredibly clean and organized. It even smells different, as if the air is clean too. Our next stop was the Palacio Real de Madrid, which was incredible, there were endless rooms that flowed from one to the next all having different themes with different carpets or curtains to aid in knowing where exactly one is in the grand palace. It was as something out of the movies. This castle was magnificent! Filled with marble, gold statues, ancient artifacts and much more. I even saw a shield of Chile, since it was part the reinatos of Spain.

I would love to write longer, unfortunately I only paid for 1 hr of Internet cafe and my clock is winding down. I will update more hopefully tomorrow and continue sharing my amazement and adventures.