Hotel Gaudi Madrid

... which. Meh, oh well. So I won't take a Latin Lover. Sorry Mom.

Continuing Madridfest, I went to Retiro a lot, of course. I also walked around the city taking pictures, which I haven't done yet. It was pretty funny... I guess I looked pretty "native", because people kept coming up to me asking for directions in super-bad Spanish, and I would answer them in English and then whip out my camera and take a zillion pictures. Silly tourists. I went to the ...

... for water yeah that could be an unpleasant death I wish I knew before hand what it would be like but I didn´t want to tak that risk.
So I go back upstairs to where I bought my ticket from and wait in line and show the lady my ticket and ask where? and she says oh this ticket is lost! ¨¨IT´s not lost!¨ NO´It´s lost! Ït´s not lost! It´s in your hands!!!!¨ ¨no good¨she says I explain the situation how it´s not my fault and I need a new ticket she just ...

... it was raining, but Alex brought her umbrella. I got retrieved the tickets from the box office earlier that day so that we could go in right away once we arrived. We were a little earlier so we grabbed another glass of red wine and sat on some cozy couches before entering our bird's eye view seats (more or less). The theatre seemed very elegant and sophisticated, thus enhancing the Über cultural experience that we were about to have. We waited a couple minutes and on ...

... could find the party. We went to a couple of very packed bars (the Dubliner, Black and White, El Sitio), before ending up at El Tigre. The bar had stuffed game on the wall, octopus and other unprocessed meats in a deli-style serving line, and alcohol to accompany it all. I was really shocked when I saw it, but we all ordered drinks and they gave us a free appetizer to go ...

First off, to our families and friends, we are safe and sound in Barcelona today. We arrived by bus earlier this morning. As for Madrid, we arrived via bus from Lisbon and after dropping our bags off at the hostel, we proceeded to check out the Royal Palace. Considering our weariness from a bus ride that did not allow us to sleep much (we were sitted by a rockus bunch of foreigners who literally talked loudly all hours of the night), we enjoyed much of this beautiful place. The ...

¡Hola, estoy en España! I flew out of the Detroit airport on Wednesday evening, arrived in Frankfort, Germany Thursday afternoon, went through customs, and arrived in Madrid shortly after 4pm. Victor (father) and Claudia (youngest) greeted me at the airport with a handmade welcome sign. It worked: I feel very welcomed. Our home in Madrid is a modern apartment in the northern part of the city. It is a nice, but confusing neighborhood ...

... their covering such a broad spectrum. I see eucalypts and palms as well as pine trees. It's fascinating. What's particularly interesting are the pines growing up out of the pond. I am not used to seeing that. I work my way down the park and pass many happy people enjoying the sunny day. At the south end of the park is a separate rose garden. It's lovely despite the fact that many of the blossoms are starting to shrivel ...

... Altra cosa che caratterizza le mie giornate Madrileñe e la: Caña Y Tapas...dei piccoli bicchieri di birra che si bevono dalla mattina alla sera, accompagnati da piccole stuzzicherie. Con il mio amico Antonio non manca mai che fare, sempre tra una festa e l´altra, devo ammettere che qui sanno come divertirsi! Ieri siamo andati a fare un po´di trekiing leggero sulla Sierra, qualche km fra paesaggi spettacolari!

... then visited Parque del Retiro, a delightful park 5 minutes from the museum. While we were sitting in the sun enjoying the beauty, we heard a rumbling from the heavens above. Rain looked imminent so we began making our way back to the hostel hurriedly. Unfortunately we didn't make it and the natural experience that then ensued can only be described by the photos and the words: "holy ****, it's hailing freakin golf balls." whilst huddled under an arch with a couple of Italians ...

... is great. Day 3 I planned to spend most of the day in Toledo, but I got lazy and signed up for one of the tours touted by the hotel. Not a good idea - herded around all day at the speed of light without the chance to savour anything. Worse, it was Corpus Christi today which is a big deal in Toledo and it was all over by the time we got there. Anyway, I leave in the morning so there´s nothing I can do about it now. Initially, instead of going south, we headed ...