Day 2 April 18th

Day 2 April 18th Amsterdam and Madrid

Landed in Amsterdam at 0630 [thursday 2330 MSP time]. Outside overcast and cool when crossing to the outside door. Staggered around until we found the entry point. There was a very long line - apparently a very anal [a.k.a. POOPy] official up front. Lady ahead of us said the guy ahead of her was "physically obnoxious" and elbowing her. After we got our passports stamped, the customs part was a wave-by. We found a little oasis of comfy chairs on our way to 83D. We got some coffees and spent some time with Don Pepper, a cute little Australian man with a purported vast travel history. We chatted for about 90 minutes and then headed down to the crowded gate area. We didn't have to wait long...then gate was changed to 79 D.

Long uncontrolled line for boarding. Jan and Judy were 7 C&D; M&D 23 A&B. The flight was just over 2 hours and we got these incredible delicious sandwiches [dark nut bread with soft white cheese and herb white bread with ham]. We also got these really great wafer cookies. We developed obvious brain cloud as we collected our bags - walked right by the guy with our names on the sign. Escorted us to a Mercedes van - didn't speak a Word of English. City seemed immediately foreign and nondescript. Brought us to the Principe de Verga Room 318. Got our room assignment and settled in. Changed our clothes - went down to the bar for some bodka tonkikas, jambon and bread with tomatoes. At 5 pm we headed down to the lounge area to meet our driver and Luis Lopez, our Portuguese tour guide for the next two weeks. He is about 6' tall, rimless glasses, wide smile big teeth, slight paunch - about our age with puffy curly hair. Always well dressed and well spoken - obviously very experienced in managing people and the details of our day-to-day lives for the next 2 weeks. We got the low down on the tour and simple introductions. He gave us the details of optional excursions for the evening and recommendations for warm outer wear for the scheduled walking tour. Got on our darling Mercedes bus and they dropped us off to begin the walking tour. I was not as interested in the details as I could have been. to be honest...what I remember is a horribly windy, cold, exhausting walking tour to alot of squares that I didn't have the energy to learn about.

Then we walked to the restaurant.....Restaurante la Opera de Madrid. Our meals were:
Martha: salad; lamb and prunes; cheese cake
Dianne: veal; salad; ice cream
Judy: duck pate; salad; ice cream
Jan: duck pate; lamb and prunes; chocolate mousse
All: Toasts with kir royale and champagne

Opera lady serenaded us with Carmen and La Boheme. They took us home the scenic route...Martha and Judy missed it. We shot straight up the elevator to bed. I tried the bidet and flooded the bathroom. Judy set the alarm for 0700 Minnesota time on her phone. Twin beds. Took us a while to figure out it took the room card needed to control the lights. Very wakeful night...