Hotel Residencia Europa Madrid

Almost everyone on my program went to Oktoberfest this weekend in Munich, but I stayed in Madrid because 1) It was a lot of money, 2) I don't like beer and 3) Yom Kippur starts Sunday evening, so I would have only had 2 days in Germany anyway. So, instead of Oktoberfest, I did... MADRIDFEST! I have to admit, I was a little more ambitious about what I could do than was truly justified, but I still had a fantastic weekend. Friday, I went with Duke in Madrid on a ...

... I see the bus drivers paying no attention to the luggage compartment and think i could hide under the luggage just fine, and I would seriously consider it except for the fact i am not entierly certain that i will come out alive it´s at least 100 degrees always and probably even hotter once they close that metal door, I imagine myself dying of heat and trying to breath running around in the hot and in the dark sweating unable to breath searching through peoples ...

... as some of you might remember). He has been in Madrid since January 2008 and knows the city intrinsically well. It turns out that we live about five minutes from each other and can theoretically take the same metro stop every day. I got to the house at about 10:30 and met the host family in a strange way. Neither Antoine or I could figure out how to open the door when ...

... y siempre salen en busca de fiesta para pasárselo bien. Y eso que los musulmanes no pueden beber, aunque en Ramadán una vez se pone el sol, todo vale. En fín, son tantas las grandes diferencias entre la cuna de las civilizaciones y la bahía humeante que casi son inumerables, puede que me deje bastantes pero ya se ha extendido bastante este articulillo. Así que para gustos los colores. Pero yo me quedo con Islandia. Y como decía Forrest Gump: "Y no tengo nada más que decir".

... a bit of Cordoba (remember, it's our favourite Spanish city!), and sad to leave it so soon we took the lightning fast AVE train to Madrid, the grand capital. We arrived at our hostel to discover that the centre of Madrid is measured from a statue of a bear at the base of our pedestrian street, Calle del Carmen. We were literally at km zero in Madrid; it couldn't have gotten more central. Madrid is a beautiful city; it's clean, open, modern, people ...

... went into a tournament. Our team didn't make the top two, so Camilla and I ended up leaving mid-afternoon and then heading down to Madrid. We met up with two of her friends who were living in Madrid, and walked down Paseo del Prado, and into Plaza Santa Ana, and then Sol, Plaza Mayor and finally the Palace ... a good tour for the afternoon! That evening, we all went back over to the training fields for a dinner/party with everyone. They actually ...

Now Madrid, that's a city. It was madly busy, even more so than London but has beautiful old buildings and fantastic paella and vino, both of which we enjoyed in huge quantities. Thanks to Gloria for a fab wedding present of a night in the center of Madrid. The hotel was great with a funky on-suite bathroom and a ...

... Spain for three months. Segovia is home to a huge roman aquaduct and castle! I have also already seen the sights in Segovia so most of the time today was spent visiting with kevin´s host parents. It was really fun though and I got to eat some homemade spanish cuisine, which was really good and really filling! Tomorrow we leave for Alicante and the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea (nude beaches!!). Hasta Luego!

... Today we decided to start the day by going to the Prado. The Prado is Spain foremost museum and contains works from the 15th through the early 19th century. It is much better than the museum we went to yesterday and we spent several hours exploring the works. I was happy to see several portraits of royals that I have seen in all of my history textbooks, notably Charles V, Holy Roman ...