Today was my first day back in Europe and I am already loving it. I arrived in Madrid at 8:30am this morning and managed to make my like a jet lagged zombie from the airport through the metro to my hotel in the city center. I had planned on checking in and hitting the streets and just pretend that the jet lag didn't affect me, but as soon as I lay down on the bed I was out for 4 hours.

When I finally did get up around 3:00pm I headed out for my first trip to explore the city. Below is a picture of Plaza de España.

Here is a statue of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza, the creation of author Miguel de Cervantes in the 17th century.

Looking over the gardens at the Royal Palace of Madrid.

The Temple of Debod was original built in 2nd century BC Egypt and relocated in 1968 to Madrid.

The Teatro Real

After walking around an exploring for a few hours and walking almost 5 miles I headed back to the hotel and got ready for the evening. My friend Meggie is in Madrid doing research for school. She meet up with me to show me some of the plazas and we had dinner.

Below is from the Plaza Mayor. Meggie tells me that this plaza was used for public execution during the Spanish Inquisition.

Puerta del Sol is one of the most popular places in Madrid for people to congregate. There are often public protest here.