Tag: spain

Off To Visit the Baby, Madrid 2025 Day #8. “A Night of Adventure”

by reissmd, posted in Madrid

We had a wonderful day with Erica yesterday.  We looked at another apartment which was a bit of a disappointment but had a great time going for wonderful meals, visiting the Matisse exhibition, and of course dealing with my toes.  I failed to report about our after-dinner visit to Retiro park.  For those not familiar with Madrid, El Retiro “The Retreat” is a real treasure.  Besides its unusual beauty it adds special holiday lighting during the Xmas season. Erica was excited to share this with us.  Dinner was at a restaurant across the street from the park so after a brief walk we were treated to a beautiful show. We stopped for a quick photo as we planned to circle the display and then return to the hotel.  

You can see part of the Xmas light display behind us.
I am sure you will agree this is very special.

As we came to the end of the display a security guard drove rather close to us and gave me a bit of a startle.  We continued our stroll, then suddenly all the display lights turned off.  At that point we started to walk toward the exit.  Before we got to where we entered we were told by another tourist that the gate was closed and we had to find another place to leave the park.  So we then started towards the metro exit.  Before we could get to the metro station we met 4 tourists from Belgium who let us know the metro exit was locked. Erica said let’s try the Atocha exit.  She seemed confident that we would be able to leave the park at that location but I was nervous about possibly being forced to spend the night in the park.  We then picked up 3 Spanish speaking women who seemed more interested taking pictures than finding a way out of the park.  Next we met a French student doing a study abroad year   She seemed very grateful to Erica for apparently leading her to safety.  I wasn’t as confident. Finally, all 8 of us, (we and our new found friends) made it to the Atocha gate and were able to exit the park and get back to our hotel.  The whole event was a bit traumatic but will make for a funny story one day (hopefully today). Later, Patrice read about some tourists who got stuck in the park for two hours looking for an exit after closing hours. I suppose by comparison we were very lucky.

With the trauma of last night behind us, we spent today mostly looking at apartments for Erica and………. eating.  Both are very fun activities for me. 

A little travel tip that most of you probably already know, but maybe will help one of you.  Years ago, prior to travel you would need to get local currency prior to boarding your plane at home. Now that is totally unnecessary.  You will find that pretty much every merchant will take your credit card (I recommend using Apple Pay) for reimbursement.  You might want some local cash for small purchases (for a dollar or two).  When you use your credit card you will be asked if you want the merchant to charge you in the local currency (in Spain, it is the Euro) or US Dollars.   ALWAYS choose the local currency.  You will get a much better exchange rate from your bank than from the merchant.   For example today we had a lunch that cost us 44.05 €.  The merchant option was to pay $56.01.  The conversion of 44.05 € using Google was $52.22.  I was charged $51.88 on my credit card. 

We are headed to a late dinner now so I will check in with you again tomorrow.

Love those comments.  Please keep messaging me so I know I am not just writing to myself. 

Adios

Off To Visit the Baby, Madrid 2025 Day#1. “The Joys of Travel”

by reissmd, posted in Madrid

We got off to an early start to LAX today, thanks to our good friend Mike.  He has frequently volunteered to give us a ride to the airport and I think it is mostly because he feels guilty about kicking my butt during our weekend cribbage matches.  Today we are beginning a visit to see our daughter, Erica, who lives in Madrid. 

Today I fell victim to the risk of traveling from a warm climate to a cold one. I was very comfortable in Mike’s car but when I exited I realized that my jacket was safely resting on my bed at home.  No problem I thought, I’ll just buy a jacket at the airport.  Ha!  The only thing I found was something that might keep me warm in Northern California but certainly not in Madrid in December.  One thing that did warm me up was looking at the price ($699).  I messaged Erica letting her know we will need to stop at a men’s store soon after arrival.  She said the magic words, El Corte Inglés.  For those who’ve never been to Spain, ECI is the shoppers heaven.  They have everything.  From high end men’s and women’s clothing, sporting goods, jewelry, to groceries.  Mind you, not everything is in one place.  They have multiple stores around the city so you need to know which ECI store has what you need but as I said they have it. 

Our flight was wonderful.  We flew on Iberia Airlines.  The flight crew were very kind and I managed to get a little sleep. We arrived on time to Madrid.  Getting through customs was a breeze.  I went for a run in the morning but got a second work out at the Madrid airport. I’d estimate the walk from the plane to baggage claim to be about 1500 steps.  In spite of that long walk and need to go through customs we still had to wait for our luggage.  I texted Erica an update saying I think our bags might have been on a different plane because we had been waiting such a long time.  We didn’t see anything on the conveyor belt for another 25 minutes after that comment.  Total baggage wait time about 40 minutes.

After finally getting our bags we saw the sight that brought us to the country, our daughter, Erica.  She was kind enough to pick us up at the airport and was very thoughtful to turn up the heat in the car and get me to a store so I could buy a survival jacket.  Instead of ECI we wound up going to another local favorite, H & M (actually based in Sweden and not Spain). They had a variety of jackets for me to choose and I found one that cost less than the tax would have cost me for the jacket at LAX. 

How do we look? 

When I say WE I mean the jacket and me not, Erica, Patrice and me.

Sorry, I’m a little batty. I didn’t sleep much on the plane.  I need a nap.   Erica has plans for us tonight so I’ll say good night and talk to you tomorrow. 

Adios.