Ibis Madrid Alcobendas - Open 23 Jun 2008

Rudi and Christiane arrived two days ago from Freiberg, Germany. Rudi worked with my dad and Christiane and he live in Germany, but they have a vacation house here in Mallorca. Rudi is really funny and nice - he loves to play tricks and he really makes me laugh. Christiane is very nice - they took me to the store to buy Pokemon cards on Saturday, which was great. Today, they took us out on their boat. We went super fast over the waves out of the harbor of ...

... usually eat lunch at about 1:30 the earliest). So we walked for about 20 minutes to no avail, so we turned around and made it back to Buffalo Grill to get some grub. So, my first meal in Spain - Barbecue Ribs - but it wasn't my fault! I truly wanted some Spanish food but we couldn't find any! In addition to the few phrases I learned while eating (that were necessary for survival), I quickly learned ...

... We then made our way to the Royal Palace in Madrid. It was amazing. As I mentioned in my last blog, only around 2,800 rooms. That's all. The courtyard was huge!! I have pictures of that, but everything else is just some pictures I found online. Each room is decorated with a theme. Moreless Spanish, Italian, and Greek themes. Every ceiling is painted with some mural--must like the ...

... the opening hours. Unlike the one in New York, they opened up the inside so you could walk into the various chambers and see the relief carvings with some brief explanations. Needless to say, seeing the temple made me quite excited about going to Egypt later in the month... The temple is situated in a very pretty outdoor park that also has great views over the Casa del Campo and of the Palacio Real ...

... were the worst. In the past couple of years, i have noticed that i tend to get abuse from randoms in the street and women walking past me will often check me out before deciding they don't like me and give me evil looks. I have mentioned this to a few people but in Madrid, Ruth really picked up on it. Several times, I would be minding my own business and women half my size would square up to ...

... with her coffee right now or the rest of this is going to be long) So we spent an hour and a half in the airport (30 minutes on a train and bus), then another 30 trying to find a locker that only take EUROS, realizing we need euros, another 30 minutes walking around looking for a cambio to exchange money, of course talking to the only lady who "just started yesterday" and took a guess of where a bank would be, we were able to get EUROS, walk ...

I know, I know, it's been almost two months since the last update. Motivation is a bit low on the blogging front these days. There's been no fancy trips or excursions the last couple of months, but at least I finally managed to visit the somewhat famous El Rastro Sunday morning flea market..., and the Zoo in the huge Casa de Campo park, close to where I used to live before I moved into the city. I hope you enjoy the photos until I get back the writing bug.

... which all give out free shots! The next morning i spent a couple hours rolling around in bed and running to the bathroom -the smallest stalls in the world by the way- (so much for free shots!) and then another couple hours on the metro bouncing between different stations in search of the right one to buy my ticket to bilboa from, ****** morning, great metro though. I did manage to redeem the afternoon with a grand walking tour of madrid along with a visit to the Parque del ...

... days we spent regrouping the brain cells I had left... must be getting old cause I can`t handle my liquor like I used to! After everyone started heading in their own directions, I figured I should go my way. Valencia sounded nice. Here I am at the Home youth hostel in the heart of Valencia. More entertainment to be had... but I definalty can`t replace the crazy UN hostelers at Los Amigos. It was a pleasant surprise in Madrid: which i enjoyed it thoroughly.

... will be called." Yeah right. It was a room with about 80 people in it. Standing room only. There were people on hospital beds, in wheelchairs. Bleeding, coughing, dying right in front of us. I almost turned and walked out then. But, Jennifer said we´ve come all this way, so we might as well stay until 8pm, which is when most restaurants open up. It was 6 then. We stood around in the mass of humanity, struggling to hear if my name was being called (since it sounds ...