First trip to Madrid

My first trip to Madrid was with one of our American accountants, David Eckstein. We both wanted to see Madrid and happened to be free the same weekend, so we drove to Madrid, taking turns behind the wheel. On the way we stopped at Segovia. This was my first look at the old aqueduct, and I fell in love with it. Dave, bless his heart, let me out of the car so I could stare at it while he looked for a place to park the car. And boy, did I stare.

When Dave found a parking space, he walked back to admire the aqueduct, too. We didn't climb it, we just stood in the street, appreciating the impressive 1st century Roman engineering that constructed this entirely without mortar. Then we walked around the base of the structure a bit, before getting back on the road.

It was late by the time we got to Madrid so we got a couple of rooms at the Hotel Convention, and started sightseeing the next day. We walked around a lot of the city, and greatly admired the Palace de Real. Unfortunately it wasn't open to the public, so we had to admire it from the outside. 

But the grounds behind the palace were open to the public. 

There was a maze of low hedges, punctuated by tall trees, sculpted into columns. 

We drove back to Bilbao late, still taking turns at the wheel. When we were about an hour away from home, Dave got too tired to drive safely. I was tired too, but I found a can of Coke in the car trunk and knew it would do the trick. I normally drink Diet Coke, so regular Coke would be a jolt to my system. I opened the can of soda, took the wheel, and got us back. Another use for Coca-Cola!