I Speak No Spanish

I finally arrived in Madrid an hour late and found the hostel with no problems.  I was lucky and had three seats to myself to stretch out, lay down and get some decent sleep from Atlanta to Madrid. 

Immediately the language barrier got me.  I was approached by a man right before customs and he handed me the standard form.  I thought he worked for the airport.  He spoke to me in Spanish and I finally got that he need help filling out his form.  All went well using his passport (he´s from the Dominican Republic) to fill in most of the information.  But, when it came to other stuff like his flight number and the hotel where he is staying it got difficult.  He spoke no English and I don´t know a lick of Spanish.  Let´s just say there were a lot of hand signals.  We flagged down another couple who spoke Spanish to help him with the rest.  He (and I) got through customs quickly and then he wanted me to show him where to pick up his bag!!  In the end, all is well.

I was able to hit two of the highlights of Madrid today before my legs gave out – the Prado and the Palacio Real.  I was excited about going to the Prado to see one of my favorite paintings “Las Meninas” (I think that´s how it´s spelled).  It did not disappoint – I did not realize how big it was.  People crowded around just like the Mona Lisa in the Lourve.  I´ve had enough Spanish Art.

I didn´t go inside the Palacio Real but I walked around the perimeter.  Apparently there are more rooms than Versailles.  I did go into a wonderful cathedral adjacent to it though.  I love gothic cathedral architecture.

So far, Madrid is only so-so for me.  I guess I don´t like the big, commerical cities.  I´m going to go on the Hop-on Hop-off bus tomorrow to see more of the sites without wearing out my legs.

Day one done!