Madrid, April 21 - 25

My what an incredible trip. Britt and I had hoped to experience as much Spanish culture as possible, and I believe we did just that! We were sitting in a cafe, having tapas (little snacks) and sangria, and decided to come up with the best word we could use to describe Spain. We both decided the word was "warm". The Spaniards seem determined to have have fun and take it easy. Every afternoon the shops would close up for the afternoon siesta, and dinner goers didn't hit the streets until 9 or 10 pm! I don't think anyone really stays home in Spain, they're too busy having a good time.

Our adventure to Madrid began at 4:00 am Thursday morning. We took a bus to the Hamburg Airport, and took a prop airplane to Prague. We had been delayed in Hamburg, which meant by the time we got to Prague our direct flight to Madrid was already gone. So, they put us on the next flight to Lyon, France, and from there we caught a flight to Madrid. That's right...FOUR countries in eight hours. We felt like quite the world travelers.

We spent the majority of our trip staying at a place called Cat's Hostel. Hostels are great for the price, but you get very little sleep (up to 12 beds to a room and people coming and going at all hours) and you have to share a bathroom with a bunch of strangers (imagine 20 women fighting for position in front of two bathroom mirrors). Our third night at the hostel, Britt and I were fast asleep in our bunks when at 4 am the light goes on and in walks 10 englishmen, our roommates. One of the men was getting married, and these guys were in Madrid for the stag party. They were all quite nice, but we decided we'd had enough hostel fun and stayed our last night at the Hotel Coloso.

As for all the things we got to see, I'll let the pictures do the talking....