Madrid Part 1

  Joani has told me that I an writing this blog for myself, so I can write whatever I want. As always I think she's right, but some people who are looking at it are probably thinking, " wow, this guy is long winded!" If you are one of those people there are two solutions: #1 Don't read the stories, if you just click on the first photo you can look at the pictures without seeing the writing, or: #2 Don't open the blog. Either way, I guess I am or was writing as much for myself as for anyone that wants to read this,  so here comes our next trip.
 In 2012 we planned a trip to China but as usual, whenever we start to plan something the unexpected happens. In this instance something we had both overlooked. When you're traveling to China you need to apply to the Chinese consulate 4 to 6 months in advance for a special travel visa. We were completely unaware of this, so we booked our holidays at work 8 months in advance but never approached a travel company until 2 months before. The first question we were asked was :" have you applied for your China travel visa yourselves?" When they explained to us what we needed, and the time frame involved it was time to start scrambling for an alternative vacation. We had already booked the time off from work and I for one would not have been able to arrange alternate dates.
 So after spending a couple of days discussing possible destinations we decided on The Iberian peninsula. Spain , Portugal, Gibraltar, with a side trip to north Africa for good measure. We were going for a little more than 2 weeks and would cram in as much as we could see. In a way this would be one of our more adventurous trips. We would from home, book our first hotel in Madrid, where we would spend a couple of days and with a loose itinerary and our trusty laptop book a rental car and any other hotel rooms as needed. Super fun for me, maybe not as much for Joani.
 I believe I have all my original emails for this trip and will try to attach in order.

From: Hicken, Garry
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 5:16 PM
Subject: Madrid

Hola

 I'm not sure what time it is there, but it's 11 Pm here and I'm trying to wind down from a very full day. Truth to tell it's really almost 2 days with about 2 hours sleep in total with the time change. I find it impossible to sleep on the plane so hopefully I'm going to burn out soon. We've been to the Prado Museum

and although it was pretty cool we both thought it fell a little short of some of the museums in Italy. We had dinner at a place called Botin's

which according to the Guiness book of world records is the oldest eatery in the world ( see photo of interior included ). It had good food But I drank water and ate some chips in an outdoor spot in Pompeii last year so I'm not sure on their oldest eatery claim to fame. Photo of Joani (always my muse)

in front of a fountain that was really large and I considered taking a dip. All the Spaniards wearing sweaters here and I was sweltering all day.Couple more that I attached are A) Real Madrid souvenirs which are everywhere.

Thought you might like that Dwight. Say hi to Clinton and tell him, I'm sorry I didn't call but was busy getting packed. Hope he's getting these emails. Last one is of the unbelievably decadent Palace we went to see.

Could house the population of Ajax in there!!!

 Oh well downloading these photos took a while so hopefully I'll drift off to sleep now. Talk to you soon.

  Garry