Day 6

Instead of the $19 per person breakfast at the hotel in the middle of nowhere in the new Zaragoza airport area, we stopped at a huge supermarket the night before and bought bread, cheese and orange juice for breakfast. In addition to the free parking at the hotel, there was a machine in the lobby that dispensed complimentary espresso, curtado, café con leche, cappuccino, and cocoa. We each had three drinks. Off we went to Madrid leaving at the unusual, for Ann and Bob, hour of 11:00 high as the proverbial caffeinated kites.

Time for a rant: the Microsoft GPS and map that I use with my laptop for directions was a bit of a problem. This is for John Brennan: Tell Steve that as president of Microsoft he needs to change the off ramp from Zaragoza to Madrid to read “Take exit 4a” and NOT “Take exit 4b” off the A2 onto the M30 to our hotel. Since this was the Friday of a three day Spanish national holiday, through Monday, celebrating Spanish heritage (feria de hispanidad), the freeways were packed at 2:00 pm. Even the slightest error in directions (LIKE GOING THE OPPOSITE WAY ON THE FREEWAY) resulted in terrible pain and suffering for the poor driver – Ann – and not to mention an added hour to the already long trip. My golf GPS locates my position within the width of a yardstick locking onto as many as 5 satellites. This unit locks onto one “satellite” dangling beneath a hot air balloon 150 feet in the air somewhere over northwestern Bulgaria. Heck, John, complain to Bill, too. You too, Larry! Actually, I hear no GPS works that well in the tiny streets of European town centers. Mine doesn’t work well on Spanish “interstate” highways.

Another micro rant. Gmail sucks. After writing and formatting the last emails, I found out that the formatting is lost when transferred from Word to Gmail. I dislike Gmail anyway and only use it for travelling and then only as a last resort.

Ah Madrid. The Hotel is another winner albeit a tad expensive. It is a holiday weekend and that has a lot to do with it. We are a short walk to the city center and adjacent to the museum district. After checking in we headed out to explore the Plaza Mayor area.

Our main meal, lunch, was at the very fashionable hour of 3:30 and consisted, in part, with a dish of potatoes in hot sauce. This dish is tiny white potatoes roasted, cut and drizzled freely with a hot sauce like Tabasco: Fiery, hot and delicious. We screwed up and ordered a bottle of wine rather than a half liter carafe for the two of us. Ann asked for a Rioja rather than rojo. Rioja is arguably the best area for Spanish wine. We got a bottle of some wonderfully fruity, complex and balanced 100% tempranillo wine. It was well worth the $30 cost but what we wanted was a half carafe for about $5. Half-lit from the bottle of wine we attacked Madrid for what was left of the day. It was just a walking around, getting acquainted stroll (stagger?).

Watching CNN: Obama won the Noble peace prize? Give me a break. Let’s have some history behind him rather than mere optimistic thinking. He has done nothing substantive yet. There is much questioning of the sense of that decision here in Europe. I am not against him and did vote for him but really…