We arrived finally around 11:00am on Saturday, having left our house in Phoenix at 4:30am the day before, and nine time zones ago. Besides a three-hour delay on the runway in Philadelphia in the plane due to a thunderstorm, the rest of the trip was uneventful. We met our ride and went to our house. Our family is a single woman who is a middle school teacher. She lives on the fourth floor of a 9-story apartment complex on a tree-lined street close to the school. She gave us a few minutes to put our stuff away and then took us on a short walk to show us where the school is and then pointed us toward the center of town. Despite our exhaustion we decided it would be better to get out and wait to sleep until night to help us get on Madrid time faster. We walked to the city center, the Puerta del Sol, the Paseo del Prada, and just got the lay of the land. Our first impression was how amazingly relaxed everything is for such a big city. No one was in a rush; everyone strolls, talks, window-shops, or sits outdoors at a café and watches the world go by. The city is also very clean, orderly, and safe. They were having a huge street party for 100 years of the Gran Via (a main thoroughfare) so there were many interesting things to see along the way. When we arrived back home we were so tired we could barely stay awake. We had a quick snack, showered, and went to bed at 7pm!
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