From East to West

Just finished up a full week of flying spanning three continents and two hemispheres.  From Sunday to Tuesday I was in Japan.  I ended up not feeling all that great, so I mainly rested, but I got to meet up with my friends Kathy and Kay, who were on our early trip.  We had dinner and drinks together in the crew cafeteria at our hotel.

Kathy also tried out some traditional Japanese sandals but they were a little big.

With one day off, I found myself heading in the opposite direction to Madrid.  I got a treat that afternoon and had lunch with my childhood friend Jonathan (the one who encouraged me to start blogging 5 years ago).  He was using my passes to try to get from Charlotte to Tampa via Chicago, but a flight cancellation messed things up and he ended up coming thru Dallas instead.  Kind of out of the way, but miracle of miracles, he got on an oversold flight to Tampa after we had a nice lunch and caught up.

After getting Jonathan sent on his way to Tampa, I met up with my great crew and made my way to Spain, where is was just as hot as it was in Texas.  For the last few trips to Madrid, I have been trying to visit the "Mirador" or Observation deck at the Palacio de Cibeles.  It was either closed or there was a national holiday for some random saint, but this time we were able to go to the top of the building.  We had a lovely view of the city from a unique vantage point.

Cibeles Palace, formerly called the Ministry of Communications was built in 1909 and served as the main post office until 2007, when it was closed for renovations.  It re-opened just before Christmas last year.  In December I visited the building and they had a huge nativity scene that occupied the main floor.  We could not get up to the tower though.  This time, we lucked out.

You only get to spend about 15 minutes at the top before they make you come back down, but you get great view of the city.  The Cibeles fountain is in front of the building.

Here you have a perfect view all the way up to Puerta de Sol, the main shopping district.

My friend Patrick looks all cool and calm in the picture, but he later confessed that he was terrified the whole time we were up there.  He's got a good poker face.

It was real windy at the top.... but with it being 100 degrees, it really didn't help.

After our fifteen minutes at the top, we went down to the terrace bar that was located on the sixth floor, and we enjoyed some brew.

We tried a new place for dinner called José Luis, near our hotel.  The restaurant was a bit pricey, but the food was good.  We enjoyed the customary glass of sangria and some manchego cheese and calamari before our main course.  My friend Peggy had sea bass that was amazing.  I had a salmon dish.

It was a good night.  The heatwave in Spain was a bit much, so we had to take it easy, but it was still a fun evening with a great crew.  Some old friends and some new ones!