ready to fly!

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Good morning all,

It is 11:16am here in Madrid on Tuesday morning. I am here alone until I fly out tomorrow morning. Darlene and Karen flew out this morning, and Deanna, Mary and I fly out tomorrow morning. D and M have done their own thing the entire trip so I know I will see them tomorrow as we are all on the same flight back to MSP. I just hope I have a ride to the train station from the airport!

Darlene, Karen, and I arrived here last evening after spending the weekend in Alicante, Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. We enjoyed our short stay there and decided it was definitely a place to bring a romantic partner! On Sunday we took a tour boat to an island called Bernidorn, which was about an hour away from Alicante on the boat. We left Alicante at 10am and arrived back in Alicante about 8pm that evening. The beach was great and of course ya can´t ever beat a cold beer and Sangrias. Other than a spot on my right elbow where I missed putting sunscreen I just added more freckles and no burn. The Europeans are definitely not hung up about size, shape, and nudity. The first person we saw once we got to Bernidorm was a women my size in a two piece suit. She was very bronze. We found a little corner on the beach that was much less crowded than the long beaches to spend the day. We found ourselves to almost be the only ones in one piece suits. Most of the women had no tops on, and in one corner Darlene and Karen found complete nudity. It was interesting to see women and men in thei r70s and 80s soaking rays on the beach, most of the women wore no tops and sported nice tanned (and sagging!!!) bodies. Did we go topless???? Just like Vegas...what happens in Spain stays in Spain! Just kidding... we did not go topless! The water was nice and cool and blue. The other two stood in the water for pictures but I was the only one that went swimming.

The train ride to and from Alicante was beautiful. We passed many vineyards, olive tree farms, and even some row crops in the valley. The mountains in the background were awesome. There were other small grains growing as well.. wheat and possibly some barley but it was too far away for me to see that for sure. I know there were some cornfields being irrigated in the valleys that were very green and healthy looking. It is very dry here so i find it amazing that they are able to produce a viable crop of any sort.

Last evening Darlene, Karen, and I went to the Flamenco dancing. It was 26 Euros (about 35 US dollars) for an hour show. It was kind of a disappointment but I can say I went anyway. After that we enjoyed some very American food (DArlene had a salad with walnuts apples, roquefort cheese, etc and some penne pasta with marinara sauce, Karen had cheese pizza with green peppers, and I had mushroom and cheese pizza!). We passed a Burger King but decided it wouldnt be like we get in the States.

Well I need to run for a bit as someone else wants to use the computer here at the hotel. I will be bumming around today by myself which makes me a litle nervous but I figure I can manage! The airport scene alone has me the most worried but thus far my limited Spanish speaking ability has not been influential at all.

And... for the benefit of Roxanne.... Spain still has no reported cases of the Bird Flu!!!!! 😊

I will post again soon to talk more about the tours of the hospitals, etc.

Be well all,

Love,

Lori

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