We left in the same flurry of sleepy, slightly hungover excitement that had proceeded our Italy trip. However, due to my inability to properly time the bus ticket, we got to the airport about twenty minutes before our flight was about to take off. I got stopped at security for having face moisturizer in my suitcase and then we ran, slid and slipped down stairs and hallways and somehow, even though we were about half an hour late at this point, managed to get on our flight.
We landed at Barajas, found the always helpful underground map and headed off in the general direction of our hotel. Here is where I made my second mistake of the day. I had forgotten to look up the address for the hotel. Not only that but I had forgotten to remember the name of our hotel. All I had was: Parque de Retiro, which was a park I knew our hotel said it was close by. So we walked. And walked. And walked until miracle upon miracles, we found it chilling out on a street corner. The hotel itself, Once it was found, was wonderful. We collapsed on the bed and fell asleep for a little while before heading out to explore the city.
We didn't know quite where all the restaurants were so we wandered until we found a place that looked decent enough. We went in and looked at the menu. Now let me tell you, I'm a Spanish minor. I like to think I know Spanish pretty well but I'll tell you, I did not understand a single thing on this menu. I ended up ordering strips of Iberian ham. And potatoes. Which you might thing doesn't sound so bad and you're right. J on the other hand, decided to order something he was seeing on all the suggestion boards: caracoles. Which in English means....
We both ate it, just so we could say we did but Spanish snails, for those not well-versed in the finer foods, are pretty nasty.
Stay tuned for Day 2! Coming to a blog near you :]
