Madrid

OK, I've made it to Madrid without too many problems, even conniving an aisle seat in the emergency row on the flight over the Atlantic. I arrived about 9:30 a.m. this morning (3:30 a.m. VT time) and have been going since. After making it out of the airport and finding the Hostal Persal I had to grab something to eat and then make my way out of the University of Alcala for the first of two days of meetings.

Getting around Madrid is easy because the Metro system is fantastic. The only problem is that there are a lot of ups and downs and you wind around from one line to another - some have escalators and others don't. It's only a problem if you happen to have just gotten off a trans-Atlantic flight and are carrying the world's biggest suitcase. You'll turn a corner and suddenly there is a climb up of forty steps followed by a climb down of thirty steps - it's sort of like Super Mario.

The Hostal Persal is OK, although the wifi actually only works in the lobby (which is where I'm sitting). I do have the smallest room in the world (it's not as big as the picture would indicate). When I opened the door I thought I had accidently entered the walk-in closet. The shower is even smaller, but it really isn't a problem unless you're one of those people who insist on having your entire body in the shower at once.

The trip out to the University of Alcala was great and they are very enthusiastic for the GM project, but I'll have more to say about that later. Right now I'm ravenous and have to go find something to eat. It's about 9:18 and that's about right because no one from Madrid would ever consider even thinking about eating before nine p.m.