Madrid Day 1

Today was a good day for wandering, though it was around 100f all day. We got into the hostel around 3pm, settled in and set out for a walk.

We went to a local chain called cafe y te and had a value meal: rice casserole, gazpacho, sparkling wine, and ice cream all for 6 euro. The wine was a part of the meal. It was good.
We wandered down the main shopping corridor and tried to find appropriate gifts for ya'll, yikes was that challenging.
Next, we walked along the various gardens of the royal palace. We saw rose gardens, topiary gardens, english style lawns with fountains, wooded gardens, peacocks, everything but the princesses. It was cool and relaxing.

We walked to the Opera House to catch the train to the parque de buen retiro. It is a central park sized affair including rowing pond and fake mickey mouse. Very cool.
The subway stations in Spain are amazingly easy to use, clean, and quick. There are monitors that tell you when your train will arrive and in the train the monitors tell you the next stop, the direction you're going, and a map of the system. They don't have doors between cars, it feels much more spacious than the ny

Dinner was at a wannabe ***** hotel. It had a huge tv showing soccer and people on cell phones, not so fancy in my opinion. I took the funniest photo of Mike attacking his shrimp in his paella and the whole restaurant stopped when I laughed.
Tomorrow we will get to some museums and what not

Mando besos,
Akasha
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