Suecia Hotel Madrid

... going on. We were told the construction was partly to boost the economy and to get the city ready for its bid to host the 2016 Olympics. Despite the construction going on everywhere it's easy to see what a beautiful city Madrid is just by looking up!

To get in to El Prado was €8 each. The museum is massive (supposedly the largest in the world) so we only caught the key masterpieces. Cameras and video is ...

... street who was gorgeous.

on the last day we went to the theme park called "parque de atraccione". we only had time for a few rides cause the lines were so long... i was kinda scared at the start but by the end of it i was flying with the rollercoaster with my hands in the air haha...on the way back to the hotel in the train, there were another two pick pocketers that just kept staring... i think its about time madrid get more undercover cops and video cameras!

... on a train. well to start off the train room was as big as my bed. that wasnt so fun. but madrid was GORGEOUS. it was so fun. we went to el prado, and el escorial, and a whole bunch of other places that ive never heard of. the shopping was great too. they had h and m and these places called blanco and zara and el corte ingles. it was SO FUN!!!! lots of people got sick there and paris but it was amazing. love to all...mckenna

... Tapas, we also tried seafood Paella rice. It was fair, but more expensive and of a poorer quality than the Paella we had in Barcelona.Overall, we found Madrid's architecture rather boring and unimpressive. The city is located on the Spanish highlands, somewhat in the middle of nowhere--a bit like Denver. There seems to be little of outstanding interest in the city. We sampled the nightlife and clubs, but found them lacking in general and quite inferior to other European ...

... Greyhound type bus) at the Moncloa station. We ended up taking a bus with more stops on our way there, but it let us see more of the countryside. Our first stop was the monastery of El Escorial. El Escorial was built in the 16th century for King Phillip II. It was built in honor of St. Lawerence. The entire building is laid out in the form of a grill, since that is how St. Lawrence was killed. The monastery is huge. At the center there is a ...

... del Sol to take some photos of the action. In comparison to only thirty minutes earlier, it was completely dead. Earlier, you couldn't even walk at a normal pace. I usually can't stand the feeling of slowly walking and not getting anywhere because you keep running into people, but I don't seem to mind when there are so many Spanish hotties milling about! Anyway, my knees were becoming more and more painful - I only took a quick ...

... i shouldn't have assumed anything about him. my espaņol stubborn, and seems to have retreated to its own hermit cave somewhere in my mind. every new verb i learn battles for position with a handful of existing ones. i gain very little, but need very little. i buy bread, ask for directions, little more. it is frightening to realise just how easily a person could fall through the gaps of the metropolis. human contact is not a given. fortunately for me i have a ...

... up to Real Madridīs stadium, the Bernabeu, where we did a tour. It was pretty cool to be able to walk all over the 80,000 seater stadium and even through the visitorīs locker rooms and through the tunnel they walk through to get out onto the pitch. They also had a pretty impressive trophy display room. Itīs amazing the extent to which they idolise the sport and the players over here. Tickets to matches also are very expensive, with the basic ones being about €60 to €80 ...

... of people, including beer vendors, wannabe Vallenato stars, Japanese snappers and old blue haired cruise ship tourists on their daily souvenir hunt. The guys really put on a performance, surely their best concert ever, and we were all having a great time dancing, singing and drinking well into the day. Until it was time for "La cuenta, por favor"... Hi Vallenato friends, you were very good, but I don't think you are in the same category as Shakira just yet. Except maybe ...

... does not know a word of Spanish and very few people spoke English, but that did not stop her. She was determined. Then as we are walking she tries to stop this lady to ask if we are heading in the right direction...so what does she do? She runs up and shouts "Allo Gran Via." The woman of course looks at her like she is crazy and continues walking...and the funniest part was that Alaina was actually indignant that it had not worked. I had to stop and explain to her that ...