Toledo and Madrid

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We took the train to Toledo today and had the best tour of the town from a 29 year old Spanish guy who was so enthusiastic about being from Toledo and working there as a Guide. He’s getting married in the Cathedral 6/25/16 and showed us that chapel he was baptized and where he will be married. We probably spend 90 minutes in the Cathedral, the second largest in Spain after Seville, and even got to hear the organ play a couple hymns. But the most impressive room was the sacristy, where the priests and alter boys change into their clothes for Mass. It had a ceiling with frescos like the Sistine Chapel. Remarkable. And also many El Greco’s depicting Christ and the Apostles.I’m enjoying being back in Spain and think Madrid is pretty cool, but it is big, as big as Houston, 3.5 million. And I think I like the smaller places in Portugal better.Last night our travel agent Antonio took us on a Tapas tour of three bars in the area near our hotel. The first was over 100 years old and had a backroom that we got to by ducking under the bar and then going back. It probably had 12 chairs. He ordered a kind of fortified wine that is had in the bar and probably has a 30% alcohol content. We had two tapas of fired calemari and Russian Salad, a kind of tuna salad with potato and mayo. We moved on to the next bar, which was famous for it croquettes, and had beers and two kinds of croquettes. Antonio told us that this was the place that the Rolling Stones liked to hang out in when they were in town. Then we moved on to a slightly more upscale place run by a 80 year old and had wine and two kinds of tapas, large breaded scrimp and breaded lamb brains. The brains are an acquired taste that I have no intention of acquiring, but they were "interesting." Tomorrow is an day of rest, unless the sun is shining, and them we may go to the Park.

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