**SIIIGH**

---

OK, folks. In the continuing adventures of The Choral Project, there are now ten people from our tour actually IN Spain at the moment. We have four coming in this afternoon and three (?) more coming in this evening. The largest part of the group is due to arrive Monday afternoon.

The good thing is that we're starting. That there are some people here.

The four of us that flew together left SFO at 7:50am to Washington, DC, then from there to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid at 6:45am (local time). The flights were OK. We were on United to DC, then Aer Lingus for the transatlantic flight.

Now, the bad things are... 1) we had to cancel our performance in Madrid, which is a damn shame. We were supposed to sing at El Escorial, which is supposed to be a stunning place to sing and visit; 2) we still have so many people dealing with just getting off the ground in SFO; and 3) those folks arriving at 2pm on Monday will have virtually NO time in Madrid. We'll have to pick them up and go directly to Salamanca.

We're at the Hotel Catalonia Gran Via, which is a nice, contemporary hotel. The breakfast was buffet-style and quite tasty. I had a cup of chocolate y un churro. Apparently, it's a big thing here, especially in the southern areas of Spain. It was yum. One of the folks here suggested a tapas crawl for the evening. Sounds good to me! Though it's supposed to rain. Good thing I have that FABULOUS First Republic Bank umbrella!!

Stay tuned for new info and some pictures. Just haven't had the chance to really take many, yet.

---

Photos

SpanishFly?
The Spanish Flag, waving.