Trip to Spain: Flying and Arriving

Buenos Noches, Bloggy Friends,

We made it to Madrid safe and sound this morning at 7 a.m. The plane ride was nice, especially considering I was woozed up on a cocktail of Adavan, three glasses of wine and Ambien. Not surprisingly, I got off the plane feeling a little off-kilter — kind of like if you had a wine hangover and decided to go for a spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl. I managed to stay on my own two feet, though, as we made the trek through  Madrid's modern airport to customs.

From MAD, we hopped on a snazzy-looking yellow bus that took us to the Atocha train station in the Barrio de las Letras area of Madrid. Once we oriented ourselves within the station and put our luggage in lockers, we went out to do some exploring before our 1:30 p.m. train to Barcelona.

Our first taste of Madrid was lovely. We curved through narrow alleyways, perusing some of the modern shops situated within ornate, old-world looking facades. The area was buzzing with a mish-mash of toursists and locals alike, and we did our best to absorb the exciting street culture. We stopped for a light lunch in a cafe serving huevos (eggs), which is exactly what I wanted to soak up the queasiness in my tummy. It helped a little. 

When the time came, we went back to the station to catch our high speed AVE train to Barcelona. The ride was heavenly. There was much more leg room than what we had on our cramped U.S. Airways flight, and I took advantage of my leftover Ambien wooze to catch a quick siesta.

Once in Barcelona, where the gorgeous Gothic architecture had me breathless from the word go, we headed straight to our apartment in the eclectic El Born neighborhood. Rented on AirBnB, our flat is a striking artist's studio with paintings lining the room and a whole wall adorned with refurbished shutters. We're in a great area, too, surrounded by a ton of hip restaurants, bakeries and cafes. The guys we rent from have studios all over the city. If you come and want to look them up, you can contact them at Aleluya Barcelona.

For our first night we had tapas at a restaurant called Bastaix and attended an art exhibit opening in a studio under our flat. Barcelonians are famous for being night owls but after a full day of jet settin', we're too pooped to hang with the locals tonight. Thanks for stopping by to see how we're doing so far. Be sure to check my Facebook page for more photos.

Adios,

Josh