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We’ve arrived in Madrid, Spain and love our first apartment that we officially call home (for a week, anyway).  But I’ll backtrack to catch up on the last few days – starting with the day of the second Depeche show in Paris.  It was a Tuesday and more drizzly weather with temperatures right around 50.  Stepping out of the hotel this morning, the Tuesday street market was in top gear – lots of vendors all along both sides of the street.  We enjoyed exploring that.

Our main objectives before the show were to revisit the spot at which we got engaged in 2002 and get some chocolate ice cream at Berthillon’s – my favorite place to get ice cream.  It is great but it’s more the idea of having it on the Ile d’ St. Louis in Paris.  Unfortunately, Berthillon’s is closed on Tuesdays so that didn’t work.  Onward – we took the steps down to the riverbank and found the bench where I set up the camera 22 years ago to photograph me down on one knee.  I didn’t get down on one knee this time (should have), but I did ask Sandy to marry me again and she said yes. Whew!

We walked the riverbank a little further and went back up to street level.  A nice little café (called Flore St. Louis) right on the tip of the Ile and just behind Notre Dame welcomed us into its warmth and what did we find?  They serve Berthillon’s ice cream.  So it wasn’t exactly like getting it right at the shop, but the ice cream was every bit as good and we were happy campers even in the chilly and wet weather.  There really isn’t a bad time for ice cream.

We wanted to walk more so we continued past Notre Dame and all the way back to the Louvre before taking the metro to the hotel to relax before the show.  Sandy wasn’t feeling 100% and I know she was thrilled that she had decided not to go to the concert tonight.  Because she wasn’t feeling great, the best thing she thought for dinner was the beef bourguignon we had on our first night at Le Globe (March 1^st journal entry).  I couldn’t agree more.  It was delicious once again.

For tonight’s show, I stood basically in the center of the floor area – maybe a little closer to the stage than center and it was extremely crowded.  Normally, I don’t enjoy that at all but this time, it was one of my favorite shows of the tour.  The people around me were great – paying attention to the show, not chit-chatting through the music they don’t know.  We all had a great time dancing together and overall, the interaction between the crowd and the band was top level.  I love seeing how happy people are at these shows!

The next day was our day to get outside of Paris and see the Versailles Palace.  It takes about an hour to get out there from the Bercy neighborhood.  First the metro and then the RER regional train – at least that is the routing we took.  When we got to Versailles, we were starved so we walked around the village looking for something to eat.  We found a pizza place called Five Pizza that made a couple of pizzas for us – they were very good.  We’ve had better, but we’d eat these again no question.  And the price can’t be beat.  I think they were like Little Caesar’s price but definitely better in taste.

We had purchased tickets in advance so we had a set entry time.  Excellent idea even at this time of year.  We were still a little early so we went out to the gardens behind the palace for a brief look and then it was into the palace.  As you can imagine, there is a reason people speak so highly of visiting this palace.  It is incredibly beautiful and filled with such history, especially from the pre-French revolutionary days.  We learned a lot about Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette.  That wasn’t the extent of the learning, but those were the primary highlights for me.  Actually, the room with the Napoleon paintings and his various victories was pretty awesome also.  Highlights for me included the Hall of Mirrors, the table where the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I was signed, and the Queen’s bedroom.

After the palace, we ventured further out into the gardens.  This is definitely not the right time of year to be here if you are coming solely to enjoy the gardens.  It is obvious that when they are in full bloom, they are incredible.  We certainly enjoyed our walk through them and seeing the smaller palaces and the Queen’s Hamlet, but it’s not quite time for the full bloom of the gardens.  We did enjoy the farm – goats, chickens, a friendly pig.

After our hours at Versailles, we returned to Bercy using the reverse route from which we came.  It was our last night in Paris and we couldn’t pass up one more meal at Chez Coquille.  Back to the same dinner dishes we had on Sunday night (see 3/3 journal entry) and then we packed up our belongings to make for an easier morning tomorrow when we depart Paris.

And that brings us to today.  We left our hotel around 9:30am and took the Metro, RER train, and Orly airport shuttle to Orly airport.  We already had our Iberia airlines boarding passes so security was a breeze, although Sandy did lose some of her brand new liquids going through – just too large for the size restrictions.  We knew that was a possibility but it didn’t mean we had to like it.  The lounge at Orly was much less crowded than the one at Gatwick airport and we had a nice food selection while we waited for our 12:40pm departure.

Everything was on time and we landed in Madrid around 2:45pm.  We went by bus and then metro to the La Elipa neighborhood, which is where we found the home we are in now.  A beautiful little apartment in a quiet neighborhood just east of the center of Madrid. 

Sandy found a grocery store that is about a 20-minute walk and so we went on that adventure.  Using Google Translate, we were able to make sense of the things we wanted to purchase for our week in Madrid (although we do plan to shop again on Sunday for next week’s meals at home).  We ended the day with our first home-cooked meal of the trip – two large plates of spaghetti.  It’s great to be here in Madrid.