http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Spain , District of Madrid , Madrid en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:15:09 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:15:09 UTC I've realized that I'm not a procrastinator at all but when I am I'm super efficient. I'll do everything EXCEPT what I have to do.. oh well Wanted to randomly write on this anywho.This week is dead week and it is getting SO sad I had two of my last classes today... its so weird how fast it all went. I knew it would go fast in the beginning though so I'm glad Ive been living it up I just have http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-350727.html Hello helloSO. I have quite a bit to report...and might not get it all in before bedtime. So lets start with the most important ThanksgivingI was a little bummed not to be home for Thanksgiving and not to do much in terms of celebration on actual Thanksgiving day. I had to work though I did get to talk to the kids a little about Thanksgiving. Then they colored some pictures of pilgrims http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-350714.html Wow a trip to Madrid. Alan and I and Rod and Elma went a few years ago and had agreat time so I knew we would enjoy it. Last year we all went to Barcelona and we loved the contrast of sea and city so how would we all get on us beach hut girls without being able to see the sea Madrid is a vibrant city. We arrived about 6 pm just in time to settle into our large apartment a bedroom each so http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-348472.html Well hey there How goes it stateside It pretty much goes without saying that things are continuing to go well on my side of the Atlantic. Actually these past two weeks have been QUITE eventful so if my fingers can endure all I have to type this is going to be the longest post yet. Prepare yourselves.ReadyOkay. Here goes.Recap of my life since we last left off. The Tuesday after I post http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-346966.html It was Senorita Sangria In the Caf With a KnifeI canrsquot explain why cause I didnrsquot really listen to a lot of them in Madrid but if you ever go to Madrid alone looking to get over love or looking for new love or maybe just to have a small amount of fun I highly suggest Jay and the Americanrsquos songs. They all seem to work with the moods of Madrid mornings days and nights. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-346946.html November 13th 14th Madrid Well the last time I was here I had the misfortune of being pickpocketed and losing a chunk of cash as well as Calebrsquos passport Irsquom still sorry about that one. We spent a good portion of our trip explaining to the police in Spanish what had happened thank you Brendan for translating. Then we spent another substantial amount of time at the US em http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-346304.html I'm finally getting around to putting up pictures of our neighborhood so while I'm at it here's a little update tooI've been spending most of my time halfheartedly working on my thesis and hanging out around the apartment. We've given up on finding work so we're trying to stretch our money as far as possible but we still manage to find the money to go out on the town frequently enough. We've http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-345913.html Hello allWe're having a bit of Indian Summer here in Madrid. Well its not quite summer temperatures but definitely on the warmer side. I'm starting to finally get the hang of Celsius temperatures when I see a weather report in a newspaper I have a pretty good idea of how warmcold its going to be. Today was 17 degrees or somewhere in the mid sixties My roommate for some strange reason http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-345620.html Today I left Istanbul after a week of fascinating discoveries and arrived in a very welcoming Madrid. The city of Madrid was founded by the Moors and its location was chosen by Emir Mohammed 852886 as a strategic position to defend Toledo. The city's name which is Arabic in origin was reconquered from the Moors in 1085. At this time most of the inhabitants worked in the fields as this was a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-344937.html Just wanted to make sure I keep this updatedToday was great... slept in til 800 cause I thought I was getting strep throatfever again... but I took some of the meds that I shad left over from last time so now its just a lil pain but not much so yay. Did some exercises got ready and went to school I can never manage to make it to Espanol Coloquial on time classes even start 10 minutes late on http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-344157.html Hello hello happy SundayTime for another update on the life of Kate.The biggest news in Spain right now is the same as in the USAObama Everyone here is quite happy with the outcome. All of the teachers came up to congratulate me at school the next morning I heard quite a few people talking about the election on the metro it was front page news and covered quite a bit by the news. They h http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-343276.html Today is our last full day in Madrid and then on Sunday we're off for Rome where we have a much more concrete plan for our days. I get a sense that Rome is just more geared towards tourists and from a homeschool perspective it seems more accessible. Whatever be the case we've enjoyed our time in Madrid though I get a sense it's a better town to live in than visit. It's the sort of city that e http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342821.html As I mentioned we had a goal of seeing at least one of the big museums in Madrid and unfortunately Audrey and Nicholas were going to have to bear with us because I really don't know if they truly appreciate art at this point. Besides 16th century art can be scary since it pretty much boils down to one themethe church and all the fire and brimstone propaganda. The Prado is located near the Re http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342818.html I've set up a posh office in the bathroom and must confess that I rather like it. I have my laptop by the sink and I sit on the boudoir so Euro and type away. What could be better Maybe a croissant and cafe au lait or as they say in Spain cafe con leche.BTW Ruth learned a little history about the name of our hotel and it wasn't as romantic as I had envisioned but that's okay. It turns out http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342487.html I just had a few thoughts on things I've found helpful in traveling overseas and again all the credit goes to Ruth as far as planning goes. Bear in mind it's all a balancing act between saving money and making the trip as enjoyable as enjoyable as possible. First off whenever possible limit connections to the US. When you fly on a budget it's pretty much impossible to get a nonstop flight ac http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342479.html I know I know I'll give the whole European difference thing a rest. I can't help it though.I don't know what day it is I've lost track of time which I take to be a good thing because I feel I'm engaged in living life rather than obsessing over scheduling and time. If only life could always be like that.Last night I woke up at 930 and Audrey woke up around midnight. I could hear Ruth and Nich http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342198.html At the start of this year the French enforced new laws in regards to smoking in public places. This was a massive cultural shift but one that the French are embracing albeit with great difficulty it is a shame that the Spanish do not enforce this law here especially in Madrid. Normally I can accept the fact that people want to smoke what I donrsquot accept is that people choose to smoke at http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342119.html I realize it's only been two days but we miss our cats. Heck we've only had them for a couple of months so we're entitled to pine a little. This highlights one of the best learning aspects of travel which is the need to operate outside of your routines and be more engaged in your life. We've also found this to be the hardest part of traveling because life sure is easier when you've streamline http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342042.html It hasn't taken long for jet lag to rear it's ugly head but it's all part of the journey. It is currently 930 PM and I'm wide awake after going to falling asleep hard about three hours ago. I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open and here I am wide awake. I figured that it was about 330 back home and I generally get up around 500 so it makes sense. I figured I sneak into the bathroom a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-342036.html Besides the one setback of having to change our flight plans the trip went fairly smoothly. All the credit must go to Ruth she is incredible at planning these trips. All I have to do is show and drive which suits me just fine assuming of course that I can drive. Our plan is to fly to Madrid and spend five days in the city then fly to Rome and do some exploring around the city. I've never been http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341911.html I was thinking about our flight and asked myself what I liked better taking off or landing. On the one hand landing has its positive aspects. You're there you've landed safely and you're filled with the eager anticipation of getting off that plane and trying your best usually failing to speak the native tongue which in this case is Spanish.Buy for me there's something special about taking http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341902.html I understand why people don't travel because it's such hassle when things go smoothly but factor in the fact that NOTHING EVERY GOES SMOOTHLY and it's enough to make a grown man cry. We had planned out the initial flight into Spain fairly well or I should say Ruth did. When you have kids you need to factor their needs in first and one of the hardest parts is the long flight across the Atlanti http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341898.html Wandering down Gran Via towards Puerta del Sol I noticed the most extraordinary of sites. Even the icy wind could not prevent hundreds of Madrileos queuing for tickets in one of the richest lotteries in the world. El gordo the fat one. To call it a national obsession would be a pretty accurate statement.Apparently the prize pool is worth more than 1 billion and the jackpot is usually divide http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341610.html I sometimes wonder if people look at us with curiosity over the fact that we travel. After all we rough it by having only one car we don't own many of the essential large power tools that most people use to maintain their homes and we don't spend large sums of money upgrading our home.The one thing we do do which seems extravagant in lieu of our other frugalities is travel. In fact it almost http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341553.html I've been meaning to get something up since I arrived but the jetlag super busy saturday night the vino tinto and a really slow internet connection have conspired against me.Teresa Tree and I arrived in Madrid around noon on Saturday the 1st found the metro which rocks easily enough at the airport switched trains twice and made it to the central area of Madrid called Sol. Teresa and I t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341315.html I'm still finding my way in terms of navigating this site so please bear with me. We are on the cusp of our big trip and as we temporarily close out chapters in our Vermont life we begin the process of opening new ones for our trip. Our rough itinerary is as follows fly out of Boston to Madrid spend a few days there with friends and colleagues yes this is a partial work trip with whom we a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341188.html It was with a great sense of relief to make it to Madrid after the minor annoyance of not having accommodation secured until Saturday night. Much to my satisfaction everything has gone well since arriving. My flight was 90 minutes late however the airport transfer that I had arranged from Madrid Barajas airport was sitting patiently waiting for me when I arrived. The trip from the airport to t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-341143.html