Getting there...where?

When we first arrived at the Madrid airport, we didn't have our trekking poles, and we weren't sure where our friend John was. After locating the poles (they would arrive on the next flight, of course, because we missed a connection in London), we left the "secure" part of the airport...and located John! We all had a late lunch together, then decided to spend the night in Madrid instead of proceeding with our earlier plans. We took a bus into the city, found an inn with three single beds in one room, then went out to explore madrid a little bit. We had coffee in the Plaza Mayor, Adam and John got fried octopus sandwiches, we perused a gourmet market, and after showering and napping, we headed back out for more food and exploration. It took awhile to find a restaurant that offered some vegetarian options(my stipulation) and was outside(john's preference), but we did it! And the paella was great, the fries were tasty, and I couldn't pass up sangria in Spain. The next morning we took the metro back to the airport, sprinting to the bus counter to find that the bus would leave in an hour. The bus ride to Pamplona was nice, with each of us getting more nap time. The countryside was beautiful--greener than Madrid. From Pamplona we took a bus through the mountains to roncesvalles, where we hopped into a taxi van with 8 other people and went down the mountain to saint jean pied de port. Which is where we began our Camino. More on that later--we are going to see Pamplona as peregrinos!