Wisspaña -- 48 hours of John Wissman in Madrid, Spain.

(Written one week after the departure of John Wissman from Madrid...)

My body is still in pain while writing this blog post.  In fact, I've been sick for the last three days.  Nancy and I left our apartment only 3 times (combined) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  These are the effects from a visit of John Wissman to your neighborhood.  Please, lock the door and put the women and children to bed.

Let's start at the end ... here is how our 48 hours in Madrid ended, here is the picture that will forever immortalize Wisspaña -- John laying semi-conscious in our hotel room, with a ladder(where did this come from?) laying across the beds.  I find it extremely appropriate that the photo is blurry.

It's okay, he's still alive.

For the man than needs no introduction to most, he is a close friend of ours and was a groomsman in our wedding.  John and I met through selling books at The Southwestern Company and the first thing he will tell you is he is from Texas and went to University of Texas – he will probably be wearing a burnt orange shirt.  More importantly, he has raised by a wonderful woman that everyone loves and adores, Paula Wissman.  I mean, really a great woman -- such a ray of sunlight.

Nancy and I are always beyond excited when we have friend(s) make the journey to come visit -- we love getting to host friends in our new 'world' and feel connected to our friends back home.  We have a lot of friends that always tell us, "we really want to come visit".  Until this weekend, John was one of those friends.  We realize flights to Europe aren't cheap, along with getting time off work, etc.  Most 'normal' people will take their time to carefully research flights, pick the precise week to get off work, etc.  Typically, we are able to put together a fun list of things to do and places to see.  However, this visit was a little different as John did none of those things.

We found out that John would be visiting us in Spain less than 24 hours before he arrived.  I read his email at 11:30am on Saturday morning that was informing us that he would be landing the next morning, Sunday, at 9am in Madrid.  We received no warning, only a 4 line message that read, "Todd, I'm jumping into your world.  Yes, I am the coolest person in the world and coming to see you in Spain, we will arrive there in the morning.  Please take care of us and let’s have some fun".

Nancy and I were thrilled, but also the difficult reality of getting to Madrid, along with figuring out what we could possibly do in Madrid on a Sunday and Monday was challenging.  For tourists in Spain, Monday can feel more like a Sunday than Sunday does because a lot of the museums and stores are closed on Monday, while some stay open on Sunday.  We had no plan, no hotel, and because of the weird train schedule, it would be almost impossible for us to get to Madrid on a Sunday morning.

Not to waste time, Nancy and I both pulled out our laptops and each of us probably had 10 windows open on each computer screen, trying to figure out a hotel, transportation, what would be open, and not to mention John forgot to send us his itinerary -- presumably the effects of purchasing your tickets at 4:38am EST.  I'm pretty sure alcohol was involved in his decision-making process.  Sidenote:  It would be great idea to become friends with John as he is now apparently in the habit of purchasing last-minute tickets to Madrid for your birthday -- this time, Shonda Howard, our very fun new friend from NYC -- with a seemingly endless supply of business cards -- was on the receiving end of John’s generosity.  Happy Birthday … present!

To fast forward, Nancy and I managed to find a last minute room for the 4 of us (slumber party!) in the heart of Madrid, aligned a vague list of things to do and see, and eventually located a train that could get us to Madrid.

... I'm not sure what exactly happened in the following 48 hours ... we remember some, don't remember most.  It’s more like flashes of memories when we look at the pictures.  But, it was absolutely one of the most fun 48 hour periods spent with a group of 4 that Madrid has ever experienced.

The siesta was introduced and deeply embraced.

Our guests learned about 'clara' (Spanish beer with a splash of limon), 'tinto de verano' (similar to Sangria) and eating tapas until we were stuffed, only to stand up, walk across the street and eat more tapas.

We visited the beautiful Parque del Retiro.  In the light rain, we were drinking cheap but delicious wine (I was scolded for attempting to purchase a 7€ bottle – shame on me), where John showed us how not to pour wine (since it ended up all over my hand).

We went to a popular discoteque (Serrano 41).

We drank more wine.

We instructed further about the art of eating ‘tapas’.

 They tasted the perfect ‘jamon iberico’.

John, feeling very Spiderman-y, attempted to scale the ‘town hall’ building.

We had “Danza Kaduro” on repeat.
ETC.
ETC.
More wine and tapas and "Danza Kaduro".
ETC.

Here are a couple more images from the weekend that was Wisspaña.

John with Shondra and Nancy -- sippy cups!

Acting normal and reasonable in a cafe at Plaza Mayor.

John is so cute when he gets excited!

And you thought I was kidding about Spiderman ... shortly before the police arrived.  Puerta del Sol.

 

Wine at Parque del Retiro. Madrid.

John and I.