Different in Madrid

Ok so we have been in Madrid for 4 days now and have been trying to get my passport and some visas replaced. Finally got everything sorted out today, so that is a relief!!!

Here are a few things that we noticed in Madrid:

1) Their drinks and toliet rolls are tiny here. The coke cans are three quarters the size of the ones in Toronto. I ordered an Iced Tea the other day and I ended up drinking all of my Iced Tea even before the food got to the table. The toilet rolls are another tiny thing. They are nothing close to the single rolls that we have in Toronto.

2) They seem to like to eat a lot of meat and potatoes. Their main speciality dish is the Jamon (pronounced hamon) It is part of the pig's thigh. One Jamon dish costs about 17 to 20 Euros. They also have Spanish sausage which they love in Madrid as well. We tried it the other night and it wasn't so good. It was really salty and with the tiny drinks they had, it wasn't enough to water it down. As for the potatoes, they make it in an omelette style with this spicy sauce poured all over it. Let's just say it was quite different. The spicy sauce did not mesh well with the eggs and potatoes.

Just to let you know that the local people in Madrid eat dinner at 11:00pm. You should see the restaurants and bars, people start filling them up at 10:30-11:00pm. Before 10:30pm, they eat Tappas (which are appetizers) at the bars. Most of the appetizers are small dishes of seafood, meat, and yup again potatoes. They dont seem to eat a lot of vegetables or fruits.

3) Their water here is dirt cheap. A 2 litre bottle of water costs only 0.19 Euros. It's great for us since most of the time we are more thirsty than hungry because of the hot weather. Average temperature here is about 29-32 degrees Celcius.

4) The subways are majorly HOT. You step onto the platform of the subway and you instantly begin to sweat from the head down to the feet. Most of the girls have fans and are constantly fanning themselves to cool off. I tend to try to stand near one of these girls so that I can get a share of the fanning as well. Its really hot in the subway. I am only in it for 10 minutes and my back gets all wet. (I know its gross!!)

5) Lastly, when you cross the street, you have got to look twice before crossing. Even though it says you can cross, cars are still zipping through the red light. It has happened to us a couple of times. Pretty scary here.

Other side things to note:

Here is a picture of our hotel:

For you former Allianz employees: I found an Allianz building in Madrid. Here is a picture to prove it. Thought you might enjoy it:

In most of their subways, they have a large projection TV in between the platforms. Thought that this was cool. Toronto should get one.