Aahh Espana

I am really lucky. My job has taken me so many places I may have never ever seen on my own, and definitely not in my 20s and 30s. My on-the-job interview was in Athens, Greece and since then I've been to Paris, France (several times), Frankfurt, Germany, and now Madrid, Spain.

Let's not even mention that I get to fly business class and this is what my seat looks like- tons of room and champagne upon entrance. The flight over was the most relaxing 9 hours I've had all year. That being said, the following 4 days were the most tiring I've had all year, and lets not forget I just had a baby.

I worked like crazy but I got to do it in a beautiful place with people I truly enjoy. The meeting concluded on Wednesday afternoon and I spent the rest of the day walking around the city and taking a bus tour where I proceeded to relish my tourist-status and madly snap pictures on my iPhone.

My thoughts? Madrid is gorgeous. It's old and beautiful and the buildings are just spectacular. There are lush gardens everywhere and the wine is cheap and delicious. Oh, and it's clean. My personal favorite attribute.

Behold, Madrid. Through the eyes of someone who barely scratched the surface on all this amazing city has to offer.

This was the view from my hotel room's balcony. Not too shabby.



Grabbed a quick lunch at a restaurant where I could sit at an open window. Ate a quesadilla because it's the only thing I recognized on the menu. It was amazing.

 

Cool sign I spotted moments before getting lost and having to use my phone's GPS to guide me back to the hotel.

 

Starbucks. First stop every morning even though our coordinator at the hotel often begrudgingly referred to "the Americans with their Starbucks."

Our hotel- the Westin Palace

Plaza Mayor- where the locals report for dinner and sangria at 11 p.m. each night. I am so not meant to be European with my regular 6 p.m. dinner schedule.

Entrance to dinner on Monday night at Casino de Madrid



Dinner was just a little fancy.




Bus tour 



Entrance to the gardens





The architecture was a-m-a-zing

 

I think this was the military headquarters

Spain from above

Old church

Another church. This one was behind The Prado museum and at night it was absolutely breathtaking.



And lastly- this was  La Rotunda in our hotel where they served all of the meals. Breakfast here was a nice way to start the day- even though it was only 12 midnight EST when I was beginning the day and felt like I'd been hit by a mallet from jet lag.

Things that I missed while I was gone in order of importance:

1. My husband and babies. I could not wait to get home and let Madelyn and Davis crawl all over me.

2. Chick-fil-a sweet tea.

The end :)