Kevnjan's new adventure.

Wed. 31st. Oct. Big day today, Madrid. The rain stopped eventually last night and this morning dawned bright and sunny. We set off for the Metro and the big city. We found the tour bus ticket office and for the princely sum of €12 each got 2 day tickets for the 2 tours that circle the city, hop on hop off service. What value!! We sat on top of the open top bus for nearly 2 hours, getting our bearings and picking out preferred spots to visit at leisure tomorrow. We lunched on calamaris sandwiches, a first, delicious. We had dressed for cool weather and it wasn’t enough. Nothing had prepared us for the cold autumnal weather but we will dress accordingly tomorrow. We were pleased we had taken our flasks of coffee. The sights and architecture of Madrid are very pleasing, the trees are turning golden and the wide streets and parks are easy on the eye. We spent some time looking for a restaurant, recommended in the Lonely Planet guide to Spain, on the Plaza Mayor, for my birthday dinner tomorrow, only to find that it wasn’t there any more!! Exactly the same thing happened to us in Rome last year. Still, it isn’t going to be difficult to find a good place to eat here. Full report to follow. Loving Madrid but it’s tired us out today so it’s time to relax, have dinner and prepare for another full day tomorrow.