Brussels sucks

So, I meant to write a more thorough entry on the trip to Europe that my wife and I were embarking on, but things got in the way. So, without further ado-

We left for Spain on Tuesday morning, flying via New York JFK (hello Au Bon Pain my old friend), then to Brussels, before finally making it to Madrid. One fairly recent 767 flight to JFK, then one ancient 767 to Brussels, then a nearly brand new Airbus 319 to Madrid. Other than the ancient 767 to Brussels, everything was fairly non-eventful, until we got off the plane in Brussels. Btw, boo American Airlines for doing away with the free liqour on international flights- boooo. The chicken and rice thingy we had for dinner was, shall I say, filling. We got off the plane in Brussels, and there's nothing- no signs, no airport or airline assistance, but several long lines to get through customs. No problem you may say, well, there are two specific customs lines- one to exit and connect to Terminal A and a completely separate section above that line for those connecting through Terminal B. So, we linger hoping to see an airline or airport attendant, or hoping that the one monitor that is there shows our flight (no such luck). We decide to go ahead and hit the first customs exit, and at the agent, we get our passports stamped and I ask him if this is the right way to our flight- he says yes, so we continue on and follow the signs to Terminal A.

We get to Terminal A, and still no gate information on our flight, and the one person we ask says that our flight will take off from Terminal A. We go through security, where the x-ray guy laughs at me putting my shoes in the bin- apparently you don't necessarily need to take your shoes off. We take the escalator to the Terminal A gates and still no word as to which gate our flight is supposed to take off from, so, we wander the terminal and finally find the gate. Maybe there's a secret way to get gate information that is unavailable to me, but it was very frustrating trying to find our way through the Brussels airport without any idea as to where we were going.

Flight to Madrid was uneventful except for the little things- apparently they don't care if your carry-on is not underneath the seat in front of you; apparently it's ok to get up once the plane reaches the gate even if the fasten seat belt sign hasn't been turned off; and, airlines still give out newspapers, in Iberia's case, they gave out like 8 different newspapers.

Digression- on the flight over here, I was reading Blink by Malcom Gladwell (if you haven't read it, or his other book The Tipping Point, I highly recommend both of them), and there is a section talking about this new chair design. In that section, there is a joke about how Americans want too much padding in car seats, and I never really thought about it, but saw how that could be true with chairs. Got on the flight to Spain on Iberia Airlines, and there was almost zero cushion on the seats. Just the seat itself and some small amount of padding. As I think about it, yes, we do like padding on our seats, but how often on a plane is that padding very uncomfortable to the point that one might as well not have the padding at all. Opposite case on the Airbus- little padding, but the chair was comfortable and there was a good deal of leg room. For some reason, above every tray was a place to hang a hanger- I don't know who or why someone would hang their clothes on a airplane chair, but it was there. Digression over.

By the way, I just want to point out that while I am sitting here in our hotel room writing this, someone in the room next to us is throwing up, then turning on the water- see, it's the little things that I like to talk about.

A cab ride to the hotel, where the cab driver pointed us in the wrong direction, we promptly took a nap. Probably a bit too long, but nevertheless, we made it out to our one thing we wanted to get done on our first day- eat. First tapas bar, had several glasses of wine, several sausage plates (mmmmm, I don't think I can get enough chorizo, and it's only our first day), next stop, papas bravas (aka patatas bravas) which especially pleased Meg (the sauce was a bit spicier than can be found at Jaleo in D.C., and without the alioli), some tuna croquettes (which were awesome) and several more glasses of wine. Finally, churros and chocolate- mmmmmmm, churros. As Meg said, she could eat churros and chocolate all day long, and they were very delicious. She is already looking forward to having them again for breakfast.

So, over 24 hours after leaving San Francisco, we've made it to Madrid, all in one piece and without any missing luggage, which is probably the most surprising. My spanish is coming back in very small portions, which is still not very helpful except for asking for more food and wine.

I know everyone is waiting for that funny story, but so far it hasn't happened- there were the smelly Frenchies who ended up sitting in front of us on the flight to Brussels, but that was ok; there was Brussels airport being completely devoid of any information, but we made it; and nothing embarrassing whilst out eating, except for Meg slipping in the rain and falling on her behind. Actually, the one amusing thing is that we could not figure out how to turn on the lights in our hotel room. Apparently, there's a huge effort to not waste electricity, so each hotel room has like a master "switch" that controls the lights and tv. For the life of us, we could not figure out how to make it work. With the help of the staff here at the hotel, we got the lights to work. I am much to proud to explain how stupid I felt when I was told how to turn on the lights.

Anyway, off to the Prado tomorrow and probably the Palace where the king lives. At some point, probably not until we get back, I'll post post some photos.