Florida Norte Hotel Madrid

Today we kept it simple. A visit to the Prado Art Museum and then, after lunch, a stroll around the Royal Botanical Gardens.<br>Firstly Prado, a much more relaxing experience than the Louvre in Paris. Less crowded and some fine work to be seen by El Greco, Ruebens, Goya and Velazquez and heaps of others.<br>Anyone familiar with the Goya painting of Saturno eating a baby will appreciate what it is like to be mere millimeters from the original!<br>Also fascinating to see was Velazquez's ...

... day, finding the Mezquita (ancient Mosque/Church) to be so breathtaking with its red and white interior. Now a cathedral, this HUGE building was actually constructed in just 10 months...an unbelievable accomplishment considering that it was initially built around 600 A.D. The entire ancient city (once the largest European city home to the 3 monotheistic religions) was a terrific day trip from Sevilla. <br><br>The final days of our amazing journey were spent in ...

... t just a tourist thing like you might think. It was quite cloudy though, so probably not as many people as usual. It is cruel and pointless, but for those of you who might be interested, I have posted the video of one of the fights. I really wish I had recorded the one where one of the cuadrillas (guys that wave the capes) got tossed by the bull, but oh well... It's only fair I guess if you are ...

... was really beautiful too. We have made a habit of naming the statues we see, and although it may have been inappropriate b/c they are saints, etc., we did it anyway (we have to entertain ourselves somehow). Meet Jonas the baby smacker and Tomas de 3 puntos After we ate lunch and rested a bit, we headed out to find the huge parade we had heard so ...

como dice J: Me he despertado casi a las 10 y llevo en la cama más de tres cuartos de hora y ha merecido la pena. ha entrado el sol por la ventana y en el aire han brillado algunas motas de polvo. He cogido el portátil, a mi lado una taza de café recién hecho y un canuto humeante, que para eso es sábado y en casa todavía están todos durmiendo. Queda un mes para el inicio del viaje, y la verdad es que estos meses desde que compramos los billetes han ...

... trying to keep up with her, but I think I'm doing pretty well. I mentioned the 3 hour breaks (suchhhh a long day, every day, either leaving at 9:15 and returning home at 4, or leaving at 9:15 and returning home after 8!!) But the breaks will make it easy to study and do homework without distractions, because there are several libraries and computer labs on campus. I haven't yet had to do homework at the house. Next weekend, it's almost 100% definite that we are going to the ...

... one way). Lunch is around 2:00pm after classes, and gratis (free) internet time at the school. The Universidad Rey Juan Carlos is home to some of Madrid´s finest lunch hour, poor college students, comida especials! Por &euro;4.35, we can get a two course meal, desert and agua! After lunch, it is time to head back on the metro to the third floor flat of Mercedez Gascon, and my temporary home ...

... so much from so many different people all over the world, both on the ship and off, that I am definitely going to have a hard time coming down from this. This entire trip has definitely changed my perspective on a lot of issues both big and little and I really laid out for me what I want to do with my life. Before leaving I only had a general idea of what things I wanted to accomplish and do or not do, but coming home now, though I don't exactly have a plan, I feel like ...

... almost four months now, and realize that I have taken about one photo per month of the city so far. It's quite typical I think. You go on a weekend break to Rome for four days, running around like a "skadeskutt" hyena while snapping about a zillion photos. Being a tourist in your "hometown" however, is typically a bit more difficult. Having an "infinite" amount of time makes it very easy to postpone things. I remember when living in Stockholm a ...

... 2 hours or so. Our driver, Ben, the day before missed out on 15 minutes of break time in afternoon due to traffic, so we got a find of 120 Euros. Shocking! The way they found out was that every bus and truck have the CD in the dash board that monitors the speed and time of travel, so you can't speed either because they will find out. Maybe NZ should also have something like this! Madrid is lovely inspired of the heat. I love ...