Madrid Day 1

 We’ve been gone less than a day, and I feel like Martha and I have already achieved a certain new closeness. I think it may be because after 16 straight hours of planes and trains overnight with almost no sleep, we are the only two people who understand us when we try to communicate. This has nothing to do with language barriers in a foreign country.

This is our home away from home for the next few days. Short-term rentals like this are gradually being phased out in many cities here - outlawed in Barcelona and allowed in Madrid only if the neighbors agree. So many tourists are coming into the country that investors are buying up apartments and renting them out on Airbnb. This drives up the price of housing and it's difficult for local people to live in their own cities anymore. Plus, having restaurants and bars open most of the night combined with college students on break and bachelorette parties can be an awkward combination if you live in town and have to get up in the morning to go to work. It's got to the point where police make unannounced raids to uncover illegal rentals. Spain enjoys my company and loves it when I come to visit but apparently not everyone is as fun to hang out with as I am.

Despite our feeble and rapidly deteriorating mental state, we managed to wander around briefly this evening and tried very hard to make it to a bar because, why not? After meandering around a few neighborhoods I got an odd second wind but Martha hit a very understandable wall.  So now that we’ve stayed awake past 8 o’clock, we’re going to go to sleep for 15 hours or so.