Arrived in Madrid Spain

Our flights were fine; we both watched the movie Lincoln and were able to nap so the time went by quickly. It was -3C and snowing lightly in Frankfurt when we arrived. After a crowded bus trip between terminals it was a long walk to our next gate and along the way we passed a Camel glassed- in smoking room full of smokers standing (no chairs). Employees on small bicycles was another sight we hadn't seen before in an airport.
Madrid was warmer: 12C but raining, so when we got off the express bus into the city, the walk down the Gran Via to our small hotel was a wet one. Our room looks onto Plaza del Carmen on the edge of the historic part of the city, and we'll be able to walk everywhere.
Tonight we walked to Puerta del Sol, the centre of town, where on New Year's Eve people gather below the bell tower and eat a grape for every toll of the bell at midnight, for luck in the new year.
We went into three tapas bars full of antique curios, historic photos, bullfighting momentos and more.




Gran Via Madrid by Demitry B CC