Intercontinental Madrid

... it wasn't at all gaudy. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed although I doubt they could capture the splendor of it all. These days the palace now functions mostly as a tourist attraction and for state functions.<br><br>Chris mentioned he'd not really seen that kind of stately home before - figures, that's what you get for having a president instead of a royal family. Oh snap!<br><br>Walked back and stopped at Chano Cocina Casera a ...

... haha... his name was sasha and he was russian and very nice... had alot of fun walking around the streets and we felt much safer. he made us do some funny poses in the streets which we eagerly agreed too! we also met a lady from orlando, US who was visiting her niece in madrid... we exchanged numbers and she said if we were ever in orlando we could stay with her as she lives just near disneyland! sasha also spoke to the spanish police and convinced them to get a ...

... as they thought that they were stealing their business, I doubt this as most people on our budget wouldn´t go on a high price city tour as the official guides where offering. The protesting guides gave us a letter stating that you need a university degree to become an official guide in Madrid, requiring proficiency in a number of subjects such as History, Geography, Social Sciences, Languages etc. I think somehow they might just be underpaid for there ...

... the boy was so friendly, getting so touchy and chatty. It was only when we reached the hotel that Tow realised his phone was missing - he's certain it was stolen by the 3 year old kid!! Our night in Madrid Mich's friend from Sydney, Anne-Sophie (she's called Anne So - we thought she was Asian), is doing an internship in Madrid, and Deutsch and I decided to also go out with her tonight. We had dinner at an outdoor cafe, where my ravioli was ...

... for me since it was my third stop of the day.) By this point I had been up on my feet for hours, and my chest was was kicking into major pain gear, so I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Edie and Andrew. By the time I got there they had already headed off to meet up with Edie`s friend Matt who had come in for the night, and his friend Patricia, and Patricia`s fiance. Due to the joys of cell phones that you never hear...they missed my ...

... supuesto, todo estaba tremendo. Acompañados siempre de un sol espléndido de primeros de otoño, también visitamos Astorga, y comimos como reyes. El camino de Santiago pasa por ahí y yo era la primera vez que veía peregrinos (o piligrinos, para los del viaje USA 2004 ; - ))... Y no faltó una incursión al barrio húmedo, con sus vinos y sus tapas, que se nos subieron a la cabeza y acabamos bailando a Shakira en un pub en el que sólo estábamos nosotros (era muy pronto ...

... that was the most interesting thing we did all day. it is quite brutal coming from an american standpoint...but it was pretty exciting to watch. saturday we went to villalba, the town i lived in when i was in spain 6 years ago. we are visiting with my friends/family from a long time ago and gonna go out tonight. i´ll write more tomorrow adios

... in Madrid was HUGE, and it was connected to a metro station which was very convenient. Cindy and I took the metro station to the street where our hostel was located and at first, we couldn't find the place because Cindy was saying the wrong street number. Once she realized her error, we walked about 6 blocks down the same street and found our hostel. I was so excited when we found our hostel because it was right in the middle of the theatre district ...

... walk through there for hours. Most of the attractions in Madrid involved seeing artwork and this isn't really my cup of tea. Basically walking around the city was the most exciting thing for me to do and this isn't so much fun by yourself. Friday night was a good change though. St Patrick's Day! I found a good Irish pub in the city and I was glad to see that most people spoke English. I met an English guy called Ben and an Irish guy ...

... car earlier, I could see the lights of the countryside going by, and it wasn't completely dark outside. But once I was inside that cabin with the lights out, I couldn't see a single thing - I even tried waving my hand in front of my face, but saw nothing! If not for the smallness of the bed, I think I would have slept quite well in that pitch-dark room. The rocking of the train was highly conducive to sleeping, but the ...