Hotel Meninas Madrid

... I have had.

Today, at 4 the boys were having a game of futbol. Not realizing it was kinda only the boys I went and ended up in a 5 on 5 game of soccer with the boys. Of course, I managed to take a ball to the face and basically knock my jaw out of the socket. I haven’t had it checked yet, but it sure feels that way. It was a lot of fun and I actually played pretty well despite my limited training in Hartwell soccer.
Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands sarahmarie

... early. Awww...the life!

Aussies: When you meet other backpackers from all over the world, they almost always speak English so you can interact with them a little bit. I have learned quite a bit of their home countries. I think I´ve met more Aussies than I have of anyone else though. I´ve also
learned more about Australia than I have about some of the countries
that I am in. I can now name the city, states, population, what life is like ...

... Inquisition, wind wouldn't have been desirable. We decided to go back to Cheuca area's Hortaleza St area and Marsots Restuarant for dinner since we enjoyed it so much the first time. We arrived just before 9pm and there was no other customers there. We were early as by 9:30 pm it was half full. Spaniards really do eat late. We had the same 'menu del dia' as the previous time. We decided to go for only beer after and I thought it would be good if we again tried to get into the ...

... 1st class" and we were pretty stoked thinking that maybe this meant we would have comfortable seats and a reasonable night´s sleep (it was an overnight train). Unfortunately this was not the case. The seats were squeaky and uncomfortable, the lights were kept on the whole time and in the back of our carriage were a group of girls who giggled and talked the whole way. To put this in perspective, I would take a plane seats any day over the "1st class" ones we had to ...

... traces remain in places, but I am not sure that the painting could have improved the appearance. There were often little niches in walls, also decorated with the plaster, which I guess would have been used for offerings - they were like miniature chapels. Some of the most beautiful work was in the museum - I was particularly impressed by the way they worked wood. There was a beautiful door of dark wood, covered in shallow grooves forming parallel tracks, stars etc. A ...

... a picnic. Finally, my time to go the inside of the Alhambra. It's pretty neat. The scale of this one is larger than the one on Cordoba thou and it's in better condition. There are a lot of elaborate Islamic carvings throughout the fortress. There are MANY prayer rooms that point to Mecca so that you can easily fulfill your duty of praying to Mecca three times a day. That's work I tell ya. After the interior, I slowly walk through the gardens and make my ...

... fought her bare knuckle for the rest. Then she made this thick ass ham steak (clearly, not the technical names) with red peppers that had been grilled in olive oil and garlic. mmm. followed by strong ass coffee, limocello (strong ass italian lemon liquour) and some effin' chocolate. LOVE IT. Spaniards don't typically eat much for breakfast. She usually cuts up a fruit in little shapes (yesterday star shaped kiwis, today crescent shaped oranges), serves me a tostada which here ...

... clothes and sunnies still in tact, but I did see three other aussie chicks who had ALL there clothes completely ripped off with nothing to wear back on the train into the city. After the tomato fight they had different areas playing music and big hoses to wash everyone off, was such a fun day one of the best festivals Ive been to. The next day we headed to Barcelona, here we went to Gaudis eccentric garden that he built and La Sagrada Familia a half ...

... In the neighborhoods of Canyamelar and nearby Cabanyal, it is as though someone took the Stations and rolled them like dice. There is no obvious pattern; they seem to lie in the neighborhood at random. I found several Station IVs before locating a single Station I. I imagine that order will appear during the Holy Week processions from the parochial church of La Iglesia del Rosario that will begin in early April. In these traditional observances, all of the Stations are ...

... there). We saw the Chris Columbus statue, which is funny since it points the wrong way and then went to bed only to wake up at midnight and go out partying Barthelonian style! We are now in Madrid and our Contiki is almost over, which will provide a great change of pace. We will update you soon with some more of the humerous moments that have occured...but for now you are up to speed. Stay tuned, we miss you all, Matt and Amanda