Madrid April 11

Today was our first full day in Madrid. We spoiled ourselves by going out for breakfast and lunch. We leave tomorrow for Seville. Yesterday, our arrival day, was spent resetting our internal clocks. No matter how tired we were from traveling we could not sleep. We spent from 1:30 am to 5:30 am reading, tossing and turning until we decided to get up and have breakfast. Next door to the Hostel Triana is a "restaurant of health". For breakfast, we had a toasted croissant and jam. Coffee for Stu, and hot water for Joan. This prepared us for the walk to the Atocha train station to buy our tickets for tomarrow's trip to Seville. We then went up to Retiro park to walk off our breakfast. We last visited Retiro a year ago in June. A big difference now with few flowers and not nearly as crowded. Still a magnificent park. It was soon lunch time so we returned to the "restaurant of health" and had the plate of the day. We chose, for the first course, a lettuce salad with tuna and anchovies our second course was a grilled bass with onions and red peppers and potatoes. They, of course, give you bread, a plate of olives, and a bottle of wine or water. Desert was fresh pineapple that was delicious. This cost 10.50 euros each. After our afternoon's rest, we will take another walk in preparation for dinner. We are bulking up and getting ready; for shortly we will begin our camino pilgrimage.