Sofitel Plaza De Espana Madrid

... and repeatedly saying por favor (please) she starts to understand. Paperwork sorted, i then go to pay via credit card the 122 euros...and of course...cash only! I'm not carrying that much, so have to race back to hotel, leaving my suitcase at the post office, grab the cash, race back to post office. Sweating like a pig, i finally pay and get rid of that darn suitcase. I knew it would be hard, but not that difficult.

Following that ...

... hotel.

Oh I should mention that
despite the fact I haven't had a Spanish class since my first year at
college and I have not had a chance to really use it since, I was
able to read the descriptions at the museums in Spanish and once
again make it through my day in Spanish.

After having lived in Hong
Kong for long and having such a limited command of Cantonese its a
good feeling to know I can communicate in at least one other language
besides English.

... which they provide graciously. After dropping off the goods, we heading out to explore and acquaint ourselves to our new home. We walked along the Gran Via which is a wide street with more shopping than is necessaary. The economic crisis is not evident here unless all these folks brought their own shopping bags with them. We turned off Gran Via to get a better feel for the neighborhoods as we directed ourselves towards Puerta del Sol.

... waited it out and spent some money to get into the Prado and the Rembrandt exhibition they had going on at the time. I ended up spending 3-4 hours there (which I was pretty impressed with myself, as it was already getting late in the day and I actually paid attention to quite a few of my audioguide descriptions). In the permanent exhibition, I wasn´t real impressed, but it was interesting. The Goya and Valezquez stuff was pretty cool. However, I ...

... y pintoresca en algunas partes, también con tienditas así pequeñas y geniales... Con mi pérdida del bus a Brugos perdimos casi toda la tarde y no pudimos subir la torre de la catedral ...será para la otra.. (El bus lo perdí porque estaba lleno y no alcancé a comprar el ticket), entonces cuando llegue por fin a Burgos ya estaba cerrada :(

... bewilderment of these proud, hot-blooded people; Spaniards. Anyway, life has been an adventure, though sometimes a lonely and bewildering one, but with so many lessons learned. I feel I have matured years since I left. Its strange to look in the mirror and still see a 20-something, when my inner self is sits knitting peacefully in her rocking chair with a wrinkled little smile that says 'I have dreamed, I have seen, I have been and I am content.'

... right term. We all chatted and got to know each other a little bit... I knew I was in good hands when I was offered a tinto verano - the drink of choice in Sevilla. It's a mix of red wine and lemon (or orange) Fanta. Pretty much what you would call a poor man's sangria, but you can't beat it! After setting out my first-day-of-school outfit I headed to (my twin) bed... (it's been a long time since I had a first day of school!!) The next day I left with ...

i want to apologize. we´re having technical difficulties here in spain at the moment. you may have noticed a gigantic lag between entries. the problem is we are being charged by the quarter hour for our time online. so entries are sparce. additionally, pictures are difficult to upload onto the computers here when the windows program instructions are in a foreign language. but we keep trying. in the meantime since ...

Hey guess. Why is no one writing me back? I think all of you are all in on it not to talk to me. Well I will be hanging out with Mike in about 16 hours so there! Yup I head to good old Malaga Spain tomorrow and see the Mike kid. Its going to be great. As for Madrid, I finished a bottle of vodka last night with these two ...

An overnight train from Paris to Madrid seemed like a good idea at the time. But, in reality, a 15 hour ride when you have a terrible cough is not pleasant for you, or for the people around you, as I found out. Once we got to Madrid though, it was much better. We met some people on the train and ended up staying at the same hostel as ...