Day 1 - Madrid, Spain - June 11th

Our trip started with a little bad luck. There was a storm in Atlanta that kept our plane from being able to take off, so we were sitting on the tarmac for 1.5 hours. Then when we got to Madrid, our suitcase wasn’t there. It didn’t make our connection flight on time, so they sent it to Amsterdam and then on to Madrid. It was scheduled to arrive later that evening. Somehow it mysteriously showed up at the apartment we are staying at and was waiting for us when we got back in the evening. We arrived in Madrid about 10:00 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Espinoza were there to pick us up. We rode the bus and subway to their apartment and then went to the nearby market and bought some food for lunches and breakfasts. When it was 1:00 p.m., Israel took us to the apartment he rented for us. We dropped off our bags and then went back to his apartment to pick up Beth and the kids. We made lunches to take with us, and head out to see the city. We first stopped at a plaza and ate our lunches, and then went to a museum about the origins of Madrid. It was pretty small but enjoyable. Afterwards we stopped at a little café and had ice cream. It was yummy! It rained off and on for the rest of the evening. We kept dodging the more heavy downfalls in some little shops along the street. We walked to Plaza Mayor. It is the main square in Madrid, where they used to hold the bullfights. Our last stop before heading back to the apartment was the museum Prado. It was huge and had a confusing layout, but it was beautiful and had many nice pieces of art work. We walked back to the apartment in the rain. Israel, Beth and I stopped at a nearby restaurant for dinner. The kids (Megan, Kat, Joseph and Mark) just went back to the apartment and ate there.