After 11 hours of jet-lagged sleep we woke up to the sound of a French Bulldog scuffling through the narrow hallway of our first Airbnb. We packed up our things and set off to our next apartment to drop off our stuff on the way to breakfast... well at 11 am... I suppose it was really brunch.
Our new apartment is only about 5 min from the first one which is comforting since we are starting to get a feel for the area. The neighborhood of Chueca is lively and full of shops and cafes. We are a short walk from Gran Via, the main street here and Puerto del Sol which feels like a small Times Square.
We sat in a park to enjoy our morning pastries as we decided what we wanted to see. From the park we walked to the language school I will be starting at on Monday. The school is a short walk from where we live and off of Gran Via. We wound our way through the back streets and found the center of downtown and the Prado Museum area.
There was a book festival happening at Plaza Mayor today and we were able to see a lot of local people shopping for books. Plaza Mayor is a large open Plaza was cafes and shops around the edges. After looking at the menus are realizing every place offered pretty much the same stuff, we picked one and ordered Tortilla Española (a large round omelette with eggs, potatoes and onions) and Paella. The waiter also brought us some sort of potato, pea, pepper and sausage appetizer for free. The appetizer helped add flavor to the Tortilla Española.
It started to rain while we were eating, thankfully all the outdoor cafes have large umbrellas that make it easy to enjoy being outside in this unpredictable weather. After lunch we walked back to our apartment to get settled in. We live on the top floor in a cozy studio apartment. The small space is used really efficiently and we have everything we could possibly need... just in a miniature version. The building is right off a busy street but our place is further back and very quiet. The neighbors have amazing plants in the courtyard.
After the rain we ventured out to the grocery store. Mercado de San Anton is a four story shopping and eating mecca. 1st floor: Basic Market, 2nd: Gourmet Market, 3rd: Prepared foods at multiple vendors, 4th floor: A full restaurant. It was so fun to walk around and see all the local foods. We bought some Jamon, cheese, fresh bread and fruit for dinner. Most importantly, we bought lettuce- it has been so hard to find vegetables here at the cafes!
We ate dinner in the apartment and had a relaxing end to a busy day of walking and taking in the city in the rain.