viva Madrid!

well, another fun trip was had and this time the destination was Madrid! i was excited to get the opportunity to go and visit this city. i had heard great things about it and now join them in raving about the city. it was a super easy city to navigate (for the most part:) and it had loads of great stores, eats, and options for things to do. i would give it two thumbs up for sure. we flew in and made it to our hotel in the late afternoon, which gave us some time the first night to scope things out. our hotel was right in the heart of the city, so it served us well. below you can see the puerta del sol plaza at night. there was a lot of construction going on in the plaza, so it wasn't picture perfect, but was neat to see. it was great to be out at night and honestly not feel like a total outsider. there were loads of tourists in the area in which we stayed, so it was kind of normal feeling. it was funny, too, as i actually changed at the airport to maximize my summer wardrobe time in Madrid. we dined out at the fabulous Burger King the first night and i honestly found myself taken a bit off guard when i was reading the menu on the board to order and on the drink list found the option: cerveza. it made me laugh.

the next morning we found the Dunkin' Donuts (after i had taken us the wrong way) and i was sooooo pleased! it was absolutely fabulous. the coffee was great, the donuts were greater. yummy!


after breakfast we decided to do a bit of shopping since we were so close to a nice shopping area. i was happy to visit the H&M and found some sweet deals for a Euro--a pair of shoes, a scarf, and a wallet! i am all about summer sales! :) then we decided to trek out to the Madrid zoo. it was funny as we didn't really pay attention while we were on the metro and found out the hard way that the line was under construction. we finally made it to the stop we needed and then were a little confused on how to get to the zoo. the map portrayed the zoo as being quite a bit away from the metro stop, so we assumed we needed to take a bus. well, little did we know that it was totally walkable from the stop. thankfully this family started walking through this forest of sorts and we followed their lead. above ground at the metro stop we got this great view of the skyline...

so, no visit to a zoo/acquarium is complete without a visit to the dolphin show, right?! it was totally fun and we laughed after hearing the first song come on...it was Micheal Jackson...all of the show was done to Micheal Jackson songs. it was quite amusing. the dolphins rocked!

their acquarium was quite fun. it was definitely packed out and you heard Nemo references all over the place:) i was happy to find this home of shrimps!

there were sharks, turtles, fish, everything! it was great and loads of fun. i enjoyed watching the kiddos, too.

we made it back outside and found the bears awake. they had been napping when we passed by the first time. they were hungry for a snack, and sadly folks did not listen to the signs and proceeded to throw snacks to them. bummer.
later we went to eat at Tony Roma's. when we went inside to try and get a table we were told that there was a problem and to come back in 20 minutes or an hour. we found the wait time options to be funny and decided to check out the Starbucks just down the way. i had my cafe' au lait on ice! delicious!

the adventure ended with one last run to Dunkin' Donuts. on my way there I looked up and saw this bear statue in the Puerta del Sol plaza. i had seen this image all over the city and wondered where it actually was. i was so happy to find in my last hour or so in the city! this seems to be the Madrid symbol.

this window display belonged to a dance studio right across the street from our hotel. i thought it was a fun display and captured some cultural dress. it was a very great trip and so nice. hope your travels take you to new and exciting places!