I have never been able to sleep on the airplane. Yesterday during my layover in Newark I tried an experiment. I went to one of the bars in the concourse, and had an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps that would induce sleep. I had a rather large mojito, and since I don't drink that much, I definitely felt it afterward. But when it came time to try to sleep on the Newark-Madrid flight... NO WAY! The experiment failed. I ended up spending much of the night watching the flight map on the screen in front of me... watching the U.S. gradually disappear at the left, and then the western coasts of Europe appear on the right.
At around 9:30 A.M. Madrid time (around 3:30 A.M. Cleveland time) the plane landed at Madrid's Barajas Airport. I got a taxi to take me into downtown Madrid to my hotel. Werner's sister Ruth, and a childhood friend, Doris, had arrived in Madrid the previous day to attend Werner's birthday party. They are staying at the same hotel as I, and they were waiting for me in the lobby. My room was not ready, so we sat down and chatted. Werner, who lives only a couple blocks from the hotel, showed up a bit later. I took advantage of the moment to give Werner his birthday present... a photo book that I made of pictures from my various visits with him since 2011 when we first made contact. Even though he had requested "NO GIFTS!", he really liked his present.
It has always been my policy when flying to Europe, not to give in to the desire to take a nap after arrival... just keep plowing ahead, and put in a full day. Ruth, Doris and I did some exploring in the city, and in the evening a group of us had dinner with Werner. (Today is actually his birthday... although the big celebration will be this weekend) I should sleep very well tonight, and when I wake up tomorrow morning my "body clock" should be reset to Madrid time..
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