Charlottesville to Charlotte to Madrid

 After a couple of bumps in the road, all 13 boys arrived at our home for the next few days, the Tryp Atocha Hotel in Madrid.  We stored our luggage as it was still morning and our rooms would not be ready until noon.  We then took a short walk to one of Madrid's most well known bocadillo joints, El Brillante.  The boys had Madrid's most symbolic sandwich, the calamares bocadillo.  They also tried patatas bravas (fried, cubed potatoes in a mildly spicy sauce) and Galician style octopus.

Next on the agenda was to catch the 10am opening of a cellphone store so each boy could get a cheap, prepaid phone.  As usual, this was a slow, but successful adventure.  We then grabbed our rooms and refreshed for a full afternoon and evening of activities.  We toured the Puerta de Sol, Plaza Mayor, and then each boy was given money to eat in one of the great treasures of the city, el Mercado de San Miguel.  It is a beautiful glass market full of food stalls that serve their specialties, tapas style, of course. We then continued on to the cathedral and royal palace.  We then changed directions and hit Retiro, the Central Park of Madrid where we have an informal tradition of forming a W on the steps of a monument in front of a reservoir.

We ended the night with a true Woodberry tradition, a steak dinner at Casa Paco, the grandaddy of Madrid steakhouses, where we had a 10pm reservation.  The thick cut, Galician beef (Spain's best) is served rare on a sizzling hot plate on which one can sear the piece on has just cut.  It was a big hit.  We then hit Plaza de Santa Ana for a short stint of nightlife before we all headed back to the hotel to sleep of the jet lag.