Day 1

Hola!
We're winding down after our first night here in Spain, and it's been lovely so far. We flew through Zurich to Madrid (and the Zurich airport was fabulous---we didn't have too much time for shopping, but I might pop into the Hermes store during our lay-over on the way home...) and have spent the late afternoon/evening wandering around the city. We ate at a tapas restaurant called The Trout, and ate some delicious smoked trout (we couldn't resist, given the name of the spot), and were chatted up by some fellow Americans at the next table. They fooled us b/c they were Mexican and were speaking Spanish until they asked us (after observing us using our Spanish/English dictionary), "Where are you from?" and were very obviously from the states. After a perfect dinner, we meandered up towards our hotel, and stopped for a few cervecas at a teeny tiny local bar called "El Matador." It was a great spot: very small, charming, and there were olives a-plenty for us to munch on! We just now made it back to the hotel, where our mattress is ridiculously firm. Tomorrow we're going to visit the museum that houses Picasso's "Guernica." We'll write more later!
Power en Espana!