First day in Madrid

Laura and I arrived in Madrid yesterday morning.  There's a six hour time difference between here and home, so our bodies were pretty confused in regards to sleep and food.  

The highlights of our day were as follows:

We arrived at the hotel around noon and were able to check in.  When we went into our room, we couldn't get any of the lights to come on. Thinking there was a problem, we went down to the front desk, where we were informed that we had to keep our door key in a certain slot in the room for the electricity to work.  It's apparently a energy saving measure.  Live and learn.  Here's a photo of our hotel:

After dropping off our stuff we went back out for food.  The place at which Laura planned for us to eat lunch didn't open until 1:30 p.m. Madrid time, so we looked for other options.  Laura was particularly interested in eating at a chain of sandwich shops called Museo del Jamon that we passed on the way to the hotel.  (Yes, that means "Museum of Ham.").  After checking it out, she changed her mind, saying "That place is crowded and has a lot of ham."

We found a nice cafe that served tapas.  The food was great but it didn't go so well when Laura tried to pay by credit card.  (To me, the choice of paying by card or cash is simply choosing between different pockets of the same pants.  To Laura, it's a critical financial decision.)  The manager begrudgingly accepted the card, even though it was clearly marked that VISA was accepted on the door.  According to Laura, the manager told one of the waitresses that we should use their money if were going to visit Madrid. (I didn't understand a bit of the conversation.)  Live and learn.

We headed back to the hotel for a nap.  On the way, we ran headfirst into a massive parade of bullfighting protesters.  It was a real "Wow, we're not in South Carolina anymore" moment.  There were news crews and police everywhere, and a handful of people yelling at the protesters:

 
The tapas from the cafe were pretty small, so we stopped in nice candy shop on our way back and bought some caramels.  Apparently, the the Museo del Jamon had never escaped Laura's mind too, because she decided to go buy us a couple of sandwiches there.  I took a photo while waiting outside:

We went back to the hotel, ate our food, and caught up on sleep.

Dinner was at a vegetarian restaurant not far from the hotel.  The food was great and the staff were friendly and patient with us.  Back at the hotel, we talked with Laura's mom and the boys via webcam and then got a decent nights sleep.