Apartment Search

A brief run-down on our adventure in Madrid the last few days. Puck and I have had a good time so far in Spain, though our feet and legs are tired. We’re really getting the hang of the metro and have seen 1 apartment that interested us so far. Be warned…the apartments here in Madrid are very small for our price range (typical for a large city). Still, it is a livable space. Puck and I found converters yesterday (we can’t find the ones we packed) and a French press (Puck is delighted). We love the breakfasts at the hotel too–open until 10:30 AM with lots of yummy treats.

Our first day in Madrid! Puck is checking e-mail in our hotel room.

We also ate in a little bullfighting restaurant called the Green and Gold (Verde y Oro) on our first day walking around Madrid.

There are bullfighting photos, paintings and memorabilia on the walls behind us.

And here's the bull.

Today we picked up a mobile phone, and we are hopefully close to getting an apartment. Tonight after looking at a couple of places, we wandered down to the Prado Museum and by the National Library where we ran into 2 of the grad students from the UCDavis Spanish department who are home visiting family before going back to California for the academic year. What an amazing coincidence! We sat in a cafe across the street afterward and had coffee and a flan-like dessert before heading back to the hotel to soak our tired feet.

We are meeting with the owner of the apartment we like on Monday to hopefully work out a contract. The flat will be near the Plaza de España and the Royal Palace. It is only 30 square meters, but it is near some pretty plazas and parks. It is a little removed from a main thoroughfare, across the street from a police station and has a doorman named Manuel. So it feels very safe. Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out for the best.

We walked by the Palace this afternoon and wandered through the gardens. You can see both in these photos.

It was very pleasant in the gardens.

Tomorrow we’re planning to go to an exposition of Renaissance Portraits at the Prado Museum. The exposition ends tomorrow night. We made it to Madrid just in time to see it.