Beth Anne came to visit a couple
Sundays ago and brought with her incredibly warm and sunny weather. I
made the long journey from Teruel to Madrid to pick her up. They have
recently jacked up the prices of all of the public transportation in
Madrid, making a trip to the airport by metro almost ten euros. The
bus that goes from the airport to the city center used to be two
euros and it ran us five each. It was definitely worth it all to
finally see her again after about four months, though.
We stayed in a hotel in the Puerta del
Sol in the city center. I arrived a day before and quickly determined
that it was an excellent location from which to see the city, but a
terrible place to try to sleep. There were people out all night,
yelling in the streets. So I may have managed about three hours of
sleep before I just got up and showered and jumped on the metro. I
arrived at the airport over an hour earlier than when Beth's plane
touched down. As a result, I was tired and half asleep by the time
she came through the gate and found me.
Before I showed her some of the major
sites in the city center, I had to feed her and get some caffeine in
both our systems. One of the magical things about Spain is its
coffee. I have tried all manner of coffee in the States and have yet
to like it (at least not enough to drink it habitually). I think Beth
has had a similar experience. For her first few coffees here, I had
to order an extra packet of Nesquik for her. After a few days, she
was drinking it normal. We are both going to have some serious
caffeine withdrawals soon.
