Andddd we’re here!

The flight

Everything went as planned! Turtle and I landed in Madrid on Tuesday morning (shout-out to Mom and Dad who drove us to JFK because they are the best 💕).

I’m sure many of you are wondering what Turtle’s trip was like. I’m happy to report that – with the help of some Feliway, 1/2 a dose of Gabapentin, and an empty row on the plane – I placed Turtle on the seat beside me and he yawned, stretched out a paw, and napped pretty much the whole way:

Our aisle neighbors even complimented he as “que precioso!” Unfortunately, some little kid took the seat next to Turtle and dug through a plastic bag of Legos pretty much the entire flight… so that was how my flight was 😭

Once we had arrived and I’d had my passport stamped, all we had to do was get my checked baggage and go through customs, which ended up being a piece of cake. They looked over his vet paperwork, asked me to scan his microchip, and we were good to go! Which is good, because once we were at the Madrid airport, Turtle made it clear he was done with hours of travel and ready to get outta his harness and to our final destination (me too, little guy, me too).

Our new home!

A short taxi ride later, our lovely AirBnB host, Elvira, introduced us to our new home on Calle Ponce de León. I tried and failed to understand more than 20% of what she said… I like to think it was at least partially due to the sleepless red-eye.

Explorations

Once Turtle seemed content in the new place, I went on a few walks around my area since I’d taken a few days of vacation to settle in.

One of the first cafés I went to was Toma Café: an adorable little shop with delicious, simple food and really good coffee. Here is my terrible food photo (maybe I’ll get better at this?)

Per a Facebook recommendation (thanks, Alice!) I also went to Museo Sorolla, which is a ten minute walk from my AirBnB.

I’d forgotten him by name, but Joaquín Sorolla was actually one of my favorite impressionists in school! It was awesome to get to see so much of his work. Particularly his small color studies were plentiful and beautiful. The museum was cozy, like the Barnes in Philadelphia, didn't have a white wall in sight. The museum also maintains a gorgeous garden at the entrance.

Con respecto al lenguaje...

So far, I’ve stuck to speaking Spanish and have done a solid C- job of holding simple conversations and understanding what people are saying to me. It actually feels a lot less awkward than I thought it would. Even though I screw up in basically every conversation, I'm starting to feel more confidence with what I do know. Can’t wait to see how I feel by the end of this trip!

Anyway, I’ll write back soon with many more terrible food photos and cute Turtle photos.

Hasta luego!