Hola
I'm back from my short trip to Spain I had fun and I ate very well. Madrid is as beautiful as always but I have the feeling that many things have changed. First, there is more diversity in Madrid, I found many people from Latin America and from Africa. Not many Spaniards are happy about this, but they will get used with time The food is excellent! I ate too much but instead of going to nice restaurants I ate at home where the food is the best of the best. I bought a LOT of good stuff, nice clothes, shoes, home decorations... I bought a CD of Vicente Amigo, I don't know if you had the opportunity of listen to his music yet, but I recommend hes CD.
The only thing that I didn't like is the flight it was the first time that I used Iberia and I didn't like it. The seats are too small and it took 11 hours from Barcelona to JFK (NY) They don't give any kind of information about the weather or the rime left to arrive... but it might be that I had bad luck.
I brought some "Ponche Caballero" (alcohol) and a big lomo that is getting smaller as days go by.
What else? Oh, the weather, it wasn't cold but it wasn't hot.
Another thing that I didn't like was the trafic, it was CRAZY!
Okay, that's my update.
Hey Madridman, thanks for the smilies, they are so fun!
Besos...Nuria

Nuria, I have also flown on Iberia in the past. Last year on there was a mix up with British Airways. I had to fly from Rome to Madrid with Iberia. I sat in the airport for two hours. The flight was scheduled to arrive at 6pm and the plane did not arrive until 8pm. In those two hours not one announcment was made about the reason for lateness or what time the plane would arrive. Many people in the lounge took it in stride(mostly from Argentina and Spain).

Nuria

I am delighted to hear that you enjoyed your trip back home (Spain) and safely back to your 2nd home (U.S.A.)

I will be in Spain from Dec. 29-Jan. 14. could you tell me where I could shop for nice/affordable leather shoes in Madrid?
Could you post in the Shopping Forum? Thanks!