Wednesday morning I was up before 5:00. As planned, Jane came by and picked me up at 6:00 and then delivered me to the airport. My flight to Washington Dulles was on time and because I had the complementary upgrade to First Class, I had a nice breakfast on the four hour flight. I also had good internet and got a lot of work done on my Personal Finance class for LSC.
I had a four hour plus layover at Dulles and used most of the time to get my 16,000 steps (just under 8 miles) done for the day - I walked the entire length of the C and D concourses four times, plus some side detours.
The overnight flight to Brussels was a seven hour flight that left at 6:00 p.m. and arrived at 7:00 a.m. I did not sleep well, so I bought a couple of hours of internet time and did some more work, then dozed for a couple of hours before they woke us all up with a beverage, yogurt and a small croissant.
I explored the Brussels airport for a while and saw this great system they have for trash and recycling. Last week when Helen and I were visiting the Desert Botanical Garden, she commented that it is often difficult to figure out what goes in each container - she said it would be nice if they would put pictures to help us know how to sort our recyclables and trash. Throughout the airport, all of the containers were marked in multiple languages and with photos; this is how it should be done.
After three hours, my flight to Madrid was uneventful, everything as scheduled. While passing through the Madrid airport, I came across this cow statue.
While at the airport, I bought the travel card for the next four days - because I was staying out in Fuenlabrada, I needed this. On past trips, I stayed close enough into the city that a Metrocard was all I needed, as that covered all rides on the Madrid Metro and all Metro buses. But I also needed to ride the Cercanias (suburban train system) so the one card I purchased covers it all. It was very easy to take the metro from the Madrid airport on the Northeast of the the city to the city center and then to ride the Cercanias to the southern suburb of Fuenlabrada.
There is a mix of housing, schools and commercial businesses in this area.
Both roads and sidewalks go under the train tracks. Where the sidewalk went under the tracks near my hotel, rather than graffiti, there was very creative painting of many characters seen on TV and in the movies.
And as the city's name implies, there are many fountains in traffic circles where major streets connect.
Most buildings have multiple stories, with residences in the upper levels and restaurants and stores on the ground floor. This includes small to medium cafes, restaurants, hardware, furniture, drugstores, convenience stores, butchers, bakeries, dentists and more. This means that many people can live here without cars, as all of what they need is within walking distance plus there is excellent mass transit available. And my sister Helen would love this potato chip store.
More fountains.
When I returned to the hotel, I read some, did a crossword puzzle and did some class work. I went for a walk and then had dinner at the hotel's restaurant - salad, steak and fries with a cold beer. And then slept for a solid eight hours without waking - changing eight time zones will do that.
Friday morning, I went out for a walk a little before 8:00 a.m. Spain is the most western part of the Central European Time Zone - that means it has the same time as countries as far east as Poland, thus sunset was after six p.m. and sunrise was after 8:00 a.m. Fuenlabrada has nice wide streets and sidewalks - and all of the utilities are buried so there are lightpoles but no telephone poles with overhead phone, electric or cable lines.
There are also many bike lanes complete with stoplights for the bikes and warnings for pedestrians to stay on the sidewalks rather than walk in the bike lanes.
American movies and TV shows are popular in Spain. Having just watched the movie "The Post" on Monday, I saw an ad for the movie; same movie but with a Spanish title that is not a translation of "The Post" but rather a translation of "The Pentagon Papers."
And then it was time for a late breakfast and some class work in my hotel room.
I had a four hour plus layover at Dulles and used most of the time to get my 16,000 steps (just under 8 miles) done for the day - I walked the entire length of the C and D concourses four times, plus some side detours.
The overnight flight to Brussels was a seven hour flight that left at 6:00 p.m. and arrived at 7:00 a.m. I did not sleep well, so I bought a couple of hours of internet time and did some more work, then dozed for a couple of hours before they woke us all up with a beverage, yogurt and a small croissant.
I explored the Brussels airport for a while and saw this great system they have for trash and recycling. Last week when Helen and I were visiting the Desert Botanical Garden, she commented that it is often difficult to figure out what goes in each container - she said it would be nice if they would put pictures to help us know how to sort our recyclables and trash. Throughout the airport, all of the containers were marked in multiple languages and with photos; this is how it should be done.
After three hours, my flight to Madrid was uneventful, everything as scheduled. While passing through the Madrid airport, I came across this cow statue.
While at the airport, I bought the travel card for the next four days - because I was staying out in Fuenlabrada, I needed this. On past trips, I stayed close enough into the city that a Metrocard was all I needed, as that covered all rides on the Madrid Metro and all Metro buses. But I also needed to ride the Cercanias (suburban train system) so the one card I purchased covers it all. It was very easy to take the metro from the Madrid airport on the Northeast of the the city to the city center and then to ride the Cercanias to the southern suburb of Fuenlabrada.
Fuenlabrada probably has its origin in Fuente Labrada (
After checking into Hotel Avenida de Espana, I took a short nap and then set out for a walk to explore the neighborhood. The weather was nice and the sidewalks are wide for pedestrians.
There is a mix of housing, schools and commercial businesses in this area.
Both roads and sidewalks go under the train tracks. Where the sidewalk went under the tracks near my hotel, rather than graffiti, there was very creative painting of many characters seen on TV and in the movies.
And as the city's name implies, there are many fountains in traffic circles where major streets connect.
Most buildings have multiple stories, with residences in the upper levels and restaurants and stores on the ground floor. This includes small to medium cafes, restaurants, hardware, furniture, drugstores, convenience stores, butchers, bakeries, dentists and more. This means that many people can live here without cars, as all of what they need is within walking distance plus there is excellent mass transit available. And my sister Helen would love this potato chip store.
More fountains.
When I returned to the hotel, I read some, did a crossword puzzle and did some class work. I went for a walk and then had dinner at the hotel's restaurant - salad, steak and fries with a cold beer. And then slept for a solid eight hours without waking - changing eight time zones will do that.
Friday morning, I went out for a walk a little before 8:00 a.m. Spain is the most western part of the Central European Time Zone - that means it has the same time as countries as far east as Poland, thus sunset was after six p.m. and sunrise was after 8:00 a.m. Fuenlabrada has nice wide streets and sidewalks - and all of the utilities are buried so there are lightpoles but no telephone poles with overhead phone, electric or cable lines.
There are also many bike lanes complete with stoplights for the bikes and warnings for pedestrians to stay on the sidewalks rather than walk in the bike lanes.
American movies and TV shows are popular in Spain. Having just watched the movie "The Post" on Monday, I saw an ad for the movie; same movie but with a Spanish title that is not a translation of "The Post" but rather a translation of "The Pentagon Papers."
And then it was time for a late breakfast and some class work in my hotel room.
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