Parador Toledo

Last night, for the first time on the trip, we could not get access to the Internet. The hotel's router was down and the pay-as-you-go sign-in screen was a frustrating and unassailable barrier.

We spent this morning at the Toledo Cathedral, considered one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe. Chris went before dawn to photograph and I made the 30-minute hike from the hotel about 10 am. The ...

We woke up early, checked out of our hostel and walked to the train station. We ended up missing our train due to a stupid rule we hadn't run into until Spain. Apparently if you get to the platform less than 2 minutes before your train leaves, they won't let you on. In every other country we'd gone to, as long as you made it on the train in time, you'd be okay. Even if the train is departing that moment, if you could hop on ...

My day trip to Toledo was supposed to be simple, day long excursion. It turned into a rather amusing adventure. First, the hostel receptionist, travel book and internet all disagreed about which Madrid metro stop you catch the bus to Toledo. I took the hostel receptionist´s advice. After reaching the metro stop I quickly found that the 40minutes in transit had been a waste and the proper stop - all three of my resources were wrong, by the way - was half way ...

... It was super cool. That and it´s at a higher location so we got to see the leaves change color and enjoy some fresh air. i needed it after all the city air ive been breathing! it´s not awful, but i swear my breathing is going down hill here. hypercondriack! We checked out the Alcazar, castle, which overlooks the cathedral and the city. it was so cool. Only bad party was the treck to the top that spirals straight up for ...

... I know, not very Spanish). The waitress was very kind and patient with our bad Spanish, unlike in Madrid, where I'd heard some people say the Spaniards had little patience for those would don't speak Spanish well. After dinner, 2 of us bought ice cream and we ate it in the main Plaza. I felt very European sitting in the plaza, watching the people, eating ice cream. Oh, however, when I was getting ...

... tired from being so full and from drinking all the vino, so of course we had to practise another Spanish tradition--siesta! ;D The streets of this uber-touristy town calm down quite a bit during the night, and we did a bit of exploring later on. It's a nice, cozy town, famous for their knives and swords--as you can see displayed in pretty much every shop!! What better place to stock up on supplies for your Lord of the Rings, Xena or Crusaders costume for Hallowe'en? ;)

... cute perros. You would think that they have never seen a dog before or something. After the market, we headed back to the hotel to check out and grab our bags. We started the journey to the metro station carrying our thousand pound bags. Once we made it to the bus station, we had sweated off about 20 pounds each and our arm muscles had grown to Hulk size. We then headed off on the bus to Sevilla. When we arrived ...

... Madrid gehen. Ich fange am Montag um acht Uhr an, was bedeutet, dass ich bereits um sechs Uhr hier auf den Bus muss und die Busstation auch nicht gleich um die Ecke ist. Das sind Ferien!!!! In Toledo gibt es auch sonst nicht gerade viel. Ich denke es ist eine ziemlich verschlafene Stadt, doch sehr gemütlich. Mal schauen, wie sich's entwickelt, wenn die Uni wieder los geht und die Studenten zurückkehren. Ich melde mich wieder, wenn ich mehr zu berichten habe. Adiós amigos! Don Kusi

... to "It's Raining Men"! What else would you expect. Then Saturday was the actual day of the Parade, with people in all states of dress, undress, and costumes. Later that evening the streets were alive once again, with music, dancing and of course drinking. It's just so different than home, where people would be calling to complain about the noise and things would be shut down by midnight!

... I spotted a couple of signs purporting to show the way to both hotels. Margaret gamely followed my instructions and turned into the narrow street. Unfortunately there were no more signs and the streets became narrower and narrower. We had never in our lives driven down streets so unworthy of the name. Lanes, even glorified alleys, would be an exaggeration of their size. We were petrified! Just when we thought that a lane simply had to widen it became ...