Patatas por favor

I'm cheap sometimes. I freely admit it. This was completely confirmed on my excursion today.

I made it into Madrid at about 8 this morning and was able to find the metro to catch a ride into the center of town. Three trains later, with some confusion but not as much as I thought, I reached the street of my hostel. I didn't know where on the street it was located so I popped into Starbucks (saved by globalism!!) to get some caffeine and directions. I found my hostel a few minutes later and was overjoyed when they let me check in early. 7 hours later I woke up from my nap, took a shower, then headed out for dinner and exploration.

On a side note: I was the only woman who wasn't wearing some sort of leather sandals. My tennis shoes suddenly felt hot (maybe even leaning towards stifling) and out of place. I've been keeping an eye on this occurence and roughly (totally factual, scientifically based info here) 97.5% of women were sandals or open toed shoes. The rest are at work or over the age of 60.

Back to my day and the patatas...so I decided to wander around whole there was still an hour of daylight to see what I could find. After a few turns I stumbled onto Plaza Mayor, one of the must see spots here. It was beautiful. A comination of old world architecture and murals combined with Pier 39-ish street artists. Very cool, and full of open air seating at restaurants. I decided to eat here so I could watch the flamenco dancer performing in the middle of the plaza. I ordered some wine then started to worry about the cost. Would I blow too much on this meal? This wine is 14 euros. That's almost $20. Crap! Is every meal going to be this expensive?!?

The waiter came by to get my order. "Si, patatas por favor. Es todo. Gracias." So for my first meal in Madrid I went all out and ordered spicy, fried potatoes. I am turning into quite the foodie! In the end my bill came to 14€. I freaked out over nothing and learned to chill out. I'm on vacation! :) I walked around for the next few hours orienting myself to the city. It is like no place I've ever been. It's difficult to describe but the architecture is lovely and I enjoy watching all the people around. There are a lot of dogs that get to go on walks here. Peanut would love it! Pepper would be pissed.

I wrapped up my night by grabbing a beer in a bar called The Planet. It was 11pm, early by Madrid's standards, so there were only 5 people. I grabbed by beer and went upstairs to enjoy the music and rest my legs.

Now I'm back in my room ready to crash. There are still people walking every where. The 50-something, maybe 60-something, couple next door were on their way out as I came back. I'll have to get my rally cap on if I'm going to really experience Madrid's nightlife. Tomorrow: branching out beyond potatoes and trying to track down Pedro to go climbing.

Buenos noches