Kids Arrive
Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, flight delays. Linds and Leo were flying from Denver to Keflavik, Iceland and then on to Madrid. Had a great price on Iceland Air flights so why not. But, one thing we didn’t think about, winter weather in Iceland. They arrived with no problem, 6:15am and had 5hrs and 30 minutes between flights. I know, but it was the only connecting flight that actually gave them enough time to make it. Besides, take a few minutes and enjoy the Iceland airport. They have a couple of restaurants and bars and plenty of seats in the waiting area, not all that bad.
Well, not all that bad unless your flight gets delayed. First 30 minutes, then 1hr, then 1hr and 30 minutes then 2hrs, then…….you get the picture. Delayed for 3hrs and 30 minutes making a grand total of 9hrs in the Iceland airport waiting for their flight. This after a 7hr 30 minute flight from the US with about 2hrs of sleep. Needless to say, they were primed!
Finally arrive in Madrid after a short 4hr flight, they arrive and are just about incoherent. We had arranged for a driver to meet them, who was also late but did finally arrive to bring them to the apartment. Somewhere around 8:45pm, they’re here!
Paid the driver, hustled the kids upstairs to the apartment, showed them their room and now time for a glass of wine and some brief chatting about the horrors of the trip. Can’t stay up too late, big day of exploring scheduled for tomorrow. If any of you think the zombie apocalypse is fake, you should have seen these two!
First day in Madrid and as with all travelers going East, the day of adjustment. Several important things happen on this day. You discover what you really packed was only part of what you thought you packed. Somewhere between the airport and here, the charging cord for your phone made it, but the plug end is missing. You packed 7 socks, 20 pair of underwear, thermals and two tubes of toothpaste. That’s ok, Mom & Dad got you covered.
Shower up, have breakfast, and let’s head out to stroll the big city of Madrid. Since we’ve been here for 3 weeks, it’s easy to go right to the “must see” sites and not waste a lot of time. That means, we’re off to the Grand Palace. Got a few more pictures than the last time but still, nothing from the inside.
Royal Palace (again)
Madrid as seen from the Palace
Linds & Leo
On the way back, we’ll hit up the Sunday street market in Rastro, but it may be a little rainy. Funny thing about the weather here. High temps have been around 55-60F so not real cold but not hot either. Rain has been off and on for about every third day but only for a short duration, maybe 10-20 minutes at a time, so what to wear has been simple, layers. A raincoat over a sweater, over a shirt has been plenty, sometimes too much considering you’re walking a lot. An umbrella works better than a hood because it still allows airflow and you can hear that car sneaking up behind you.
Although we didn’t waterproof our shoes for this trip they have worked well as we’ve been able to dodge the puddles. Kept the kids up until 9pm so time to call it a day, take an Advil PM and hit the sack. Tomorrow is a open day so no early rising, maybe let them sleep until 8am or so!