Guys Day Out

March 5th -- We decided to split up today, girls and guys. Amy and Abby set off to do what girls do best....shop! Austin and I set off for Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home of the Real Madrid futbol team. When we left the apartment it was blue skies and sunny (although still cold and windy). We actually went back up to the apartment to get our sunglasses. A 10 minute metro ride later, we arrived at the stadium to cloudy skies and rain. Luckily it was only a 100 meter walk from the metro to the stadium and we began the tour inside. We took an elevator up to the top of the stadium where we could get a birds eye view of the stadium and playing field. It was the first time I had ever been to a soccer, excuse me, futbol stadium and I was surprised at how big the stadium was (85,000 seats) and how large the field was. We then went down inside the stadium to visit the trophy room. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about futbol history, but judging by the number of trophies, Real Madrid has been a top team for a long time. We then walked around the stadium to the Presidential Box. It's an exclusive area reserved for the management of the two playing teams and special guests. We then were able to walk down to the field level and sit in the players and coaches area. We left the field and headed down the tunnel into the players dressing room and finally to the press room. The tour was self guided and was actually a fairly impressive tour of the stadium. Austin really enjoyed the stadium and was only disappointed by the fact that they were not actually playing futbol. Luckily since it was raining, I was able to explain to him the game had been cancelled due to rain. This kept him from being too upset! We left the stadium and headed to Puerta del Sol to meet Amy and Abby for lunch. We decided to go to a historic restaurant near Plaza Mayor called Botin. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the oldest restaurant. Botin had been recommended to us and we enjoyed a great meal. We've enjoyed having big, long lunches and light dinners. After lunch, we were heading back towards Puerta del Sol and we passed an old barbershop. You don't find too many old barbershops anymore and so I decided that Austin must have a good old-fashion haircut. Between the fast scissor work and the straight razor, we weren't disappointed. Austin really enjoyed the haircut and judging by the smiles of those in the barbershop, they enjoyed having him there too. We then split up again and Austin and I headed to the train station to try one more time and resolve the overnight train ticket issue. We didn't post yesterday b/c we didn't do much, but I did spend 2 hours at the train station trying to get a single room with no success. It took a little work today, but we finally got it done. I decided Austin was the good luck charm.