I have been up for 36 hours (with a 3 hour nap on the plane). I have had an AWESOME start to my visit to Spain. I arrived here in Madrid at 9 AM this morning and was met at the airport by my friends Rich and Madelyn...
They promptly took me on a walking and metro adventure through Madrid.
First we went to Plaza Mayor to see the neat architecture...
Next we walked to Palacio Royal to see the largest palace in western Europe...
The weather here in Madrid was a pleasant 85 degrees with a nice breeze. Rich and Madelyn were so nice to take me through the historic parts of the town and also show me how to use the metro system. After all that walking we stopped at Cafe de Oriente for a few Mahou beers.
It was getting time to head over to the Plaza de Torro de Las Ventas to watch the weekly bullfight.
I was interested to see just what really happens at a bullfight. It is such a traditional part of the Spanish culture and I didn't want to miss it. I wasn't sure how I would react to seeing a bull get killed...
The actual killing of the bull is supposed to be the finale to a very choreographed sequence of events. However the 3 toreadors we saw all botched the death blow and they had to try it again.
We would have stayed for more, but Spain was playing Germany in the EuroCup Finals. We walked to the Plaza de Colon because they had many big screen TV's set up outside...
Well, us and about 50,000 other fans had the same idea because it was PACKED!!! The game itself was being played in Austria and this is where the fans came to cheer their home team on!
Well, Spain won the Championship (which is played every 4 years!) and it is a madhouse outside right now. After the end of the game, we went outside to the main street (1 block away) and waved the Spanish flag and yelled Spanish cheers with the now 100,000 fans! I had a complete blast partying with all of my very happy and very drunk Spanish friends! The game ended 3 hours ago and it sounds like Fat Tuesday, New Years Eve in the French Quarter and add in if the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl!
Well, I have had a VERY FULL 36 hours and I am surprisingly lucid. I am betting that tomorrow will be a bit tame compared to today.
Adios!
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