Hola! It was my first trip to mainland Spain - my only other "Spanish experience" was a 18-30s holiday to the Spanish island Ibiza on a hen-week about 7 years ago...
Flying into Madrid, the land looked very flat and desert-like, full of dry, open plains. Apparently, it hasn't rained in six months - guess Manchester hogged all the rainclouds over the summer!
We were fortunate to be in the city at the right time to see the moon eclipsing the sun - apparently Madrid was one of the best places to view the event - we left the office just before 11am and with the help of special specs, saw something like the picture on the left - awesome!
As is usual on these business trips, we didn't get to see any of Madrid the city at all. We were staying in the Gran Madrid hotel in the Alcobendas area - a fairly new area, on the outskirts of the city, with some exclusive accommodations and a great complex of restaurants, bars and entertainment, all within walking distance.
At times, sitting outside a tapas bar, sipping beer, it was almost like being on holiday - if you could forget that you had to work the next day! Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any sun - when we made our way to the office in the morning, it was dark; by the time we left, it was dark!
Still, this has been my most enjoyable trip so far - the usual hard work and long hours (which didn't stop us from going on a "team jog", which nearly killed me - we had to do something to work off all the delicious food we were scoffing!) but the people were lovely, really friendly and we had a night out with drinks and dancing - for the first time I think, we were able to relax properly.
The week flew by quickly and then it was time to go home again - I have some great memories.
Viva España, etc!
Well, it sounds good Weenie!
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