Europe trip, part 1

Christiansen Family’s European Vacation

September, 2013

On Wednesday, September 4, we got up around 3:30 in the morning in order to get ready for our 8 AM flight. We had to hurry and pack up the last minute stuff, get dressed, eat, and get the kids awake, dressed, and fed as well. We were supposed to be to Ammon & Lisa’s house by 5 (I think) but ended up running late.

Fortunately, we had left ourselves a nice big window of time, and we still got to the airport with plenty of time to get through security. In fact, we had a bit of a wait. Luckily, PDX has a fun little play area for kids. We all made trips to the bathroom, and I went in search of some food, still hungry after just a granola bar (go figure). While I was waiting for my sandwich to be made, Michael accidentally popped Ellie’s elbow. She was in a lot of pain, plus she was tired. I gave her some ibuprofen (thank goodness I’d had the sense to bring it in our carry on stuff), and nursed her to sleep. Any movement whatsoever would jostle her injured elbow and wake her up crying, so I had to hold her very carefully. She basically slept on the entire flight (five hours) to Philadelphia. When we arrived in Philly, we were waiting to disembark, and the man in front of us overheard us talk about Ellie’s elbow injury. Apparently, he was a doctor, and explained to Michael how to pop Ellie’s elbow back into place. Michael popped it back, and suddenly, our miserable little girl was happy again! We didn’t have to endure another long flight with a miserable child! We weren’t going to have to seek out a hospital in Spain! Vacation miracle number one!

While in Philly, we got a little dinner before our next flight. Thank goodness we did, because… well, if you’ve ever had airplane food… yeah, it wasn’t good. The kids were pretty good on the plane. It may help that they are used to the twelve hour drive to Utah. This flight was an overnighter, about seven hours. We all slept off and on. There is a nine hour time difference between Oregon and Madrid, Spain. So we arrived in Madrid just before eight in the morning on Thursday the fifth. We made it through customs without a hitch. It was exciting, realizing we were in a different country, on the other side of the world! And I hadn’t really heard Spain Spanish much, before. They speak rapidly, and with a pretty different accent from Mexican/South American Spanish, and they don’t throw in random English words, the way Spanish speakers in the States often do.

I also noticed a difference—even just in the airport—in the way they prioritize things there. It was a bit dirtier and older than airports in the States. Not filthy and falling apart, or anything. I say this merely as an observation, not a critique. Actually, I rather admired the fact that they aren’t paying out the wazoo to keep things “perfect” there. I wonder how much money we spend on keeping things ultra-clean and brand new in the States. Anyway, we managed to find this place near the Metro entrance that was able to sell us unlimited public transport passes, and Madrid tourism passes. And then our public transport adventure began!

I’ve actually never been on a subway before. I felt mildly claustrophobic in the tunnels, and was terrified of any of us falling down onto the tracks, so I stayed far back. The trains themselves were a lot like the Max trains here in Portland. It is strange to not see anything but darkness out the windows as you zip down a train track, not knowing where or how fast you are going. I don’t remember if we had to switch trains at all, though I suspect we probably did. Eventually, we got off at the stop Michael said was closest to our hotel. With our children on our backs, our carry-on backpacks on our fronts, and our heavy checked bags dragging along behind us, we hiked up the stairs out of the metro. The very first thing we saw as we got to the top was…

The bull ring!

To be continued....