Kelly and Pablo in Madrid: Dad and Jeanne's Arrival

My dad and Jeanne arrived the Monday before the wedding to Madrid. They spent a couple days in London before hand so my dad could get in an extra country on the tour. The best part was they weren't jet-lagged so we made the most of the evening and toured around the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel and stopped off at Pablo's favorite mushroom bar.

First, before we met up with Heather and Clarice we went to a bar right by their hotel that of course is Asturian. Jeanne and I had sidra and the rest had beer.

Next, we picked up the rest of the group and headed to the Plaza Mayor where we stopped off at the Museo del Jamon (Ham Museum). It is a restaurant/bar/deli. You can't say we only drink and eat on vacation because look, we stopped at a museum too!

After our museum experience my dad wanted to go back to the bull bar we went to when he was here in 2006. It has more bull heads and hundreds of photos of bull fighters getting gored and famous people who had visited the bar. It is very "Spanish".

Next stop was the Mercado de San Miguel, which is kind of like Pike Place Market. It just re-opened last year after years of rennovation. It is in a glass and iron rod building that looks circa 1900's and has fresh fruit, meat, seafood and bakery vendors, plus bars, oysters, candy, olives, kitchen supplies, pretty much everything under one roof. It is pretty small compared to Pike Place but much more high-end feeling. We were lucky and found a table and we let everyone loose to check out the food and wine. Everyone brought back a wide range of tapas we all ooh-ed and awww-ed over.

Last stop was the Mushroom Bar. It is famous for its grilled, stuffed mushrooms and pitchers of wine. It is in this tiny cave with tiny tables and chairs. It was an interesting squeeze with my dad and Pablo but we made it. They also have a man playing music on his keyboard to make it a lively environment.

Welcome Dad and Jeanne