Blame it on the rain

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Hola otra vez,

14 JUNE - Thursday • The bus ride to Madrid was split up by a stop in Zaragoza, Spain's fifth-largest city. It's probably best-known for its cathedral, which we visited. It was a really enormous cathedral, constructed thanks to the riches brought back from the Americas, but the Plaza that lines its south side is no doubt one of the biggest I've ever seen, if not the longest. After the visit, we had lunch, which was... an adventure. Our waitress had issues with counting the number of different dishes we ordered, and as a result one of the girls didn't each her entire meal. Many restaurants offer you a full meal for one price - that'd include one plate (soup, salad or maybe some pasta), a second plate (fish/meat and potatoes) a dessert and a drink. We hit one that offered its menú, as it's called, for 8.45€. The food wasn't that bad, but the service was iffy, as I mentioned. Too many plates of chicken, not enough fish, a forgotten turkey stew... it was a desmadre.

It rained all the way to Madrid from Z-town. I'd spent rougly 60 days total in Spain previous to this trip and never once seen rain. I recall one day in Madrid that someone told me it had rained overnight, but I saw no evidence to support the claim. Well, we got caught in a soaker that abated just enough as we arrived at our hotel and began to unload the bus. Nice hotel. They told me it has 700+ rooms! Our floor was mazy enough, so I believe it.

15 JUNE - Friday • It was "cold" this morning in Madrid, which means it was like 60. Babies. We awoke, broke our fasts and hopped in a bus for a little tour and a trip to El Palacio Real, the Royal Palace. We stopped at El Templo de Debod, which was a gift from the government to Spain after the Spanish government helped with the construction of the Aswan Dams on the Nile River. What the Templo is three or four huge stones, arranged in a row, in temple form. They stand in a shallow pool and face west, looking out over the Casa de Campo, one of Madrid's oldest and biggest parks. Pretty neat. I'd been by it a lot, but never stopped to photograph it until this time.

El Palacio Real is huge. 200 rooms, I think. However, Rey Juan Carlos II and Reina Sofía don't stay there. It's ceremonial and used for state dinners, royal family wedding receptions and attracting tourists. Lots of chandeliers and clocks. Lots of tapestries. Lots of old stuff.

We left there and the sun arrived. We headed over towards El Museo Reina Sofía so the kids could see Picasso's Guernica painting. It was probably the fastest group trip to a museum ever, as we viewed the work for all of about 10 minutes. It is still an immensely moving piece of art and I think that the kids who'd already taken Spanish IV learned about it, so they were in awe. Some of the others, not so much. Well, art IS subjective.

I was hungry (go figure) and wanted to grab lunch, so a small group of kids and I busted out and went around the corner to a sandwich shop. I ordered first and told them what some of the menu items were, but five of the seven kids got hamburguesa con queso, which DID differ from its American brother somewhat, as they'll tell you. Again, I applaud their efforts for trying something new and different, even if it wasn't bull's tail or anchovies in garlic. However, they did reward themselves by hitting Dunkin Donuts for dessert. :-)

After the Sofía, we hopped in the bus and drove an hour south to Toledo. We hit the cathedral, the El Greco museum, the former mosque/synagogue and a sword marker's shop before getting out of there to return to Madrid.

The return to Madrid was a highlight for some of the kids, as they were allowed about 1.5 hours of free time to shop. We met up at a bar just below the Plaza Mayor to have a tapas dinner. Some of the members of Profe's Walking Club were complaining about a lack of fruit, so I told them that on tonight's walk back, I'd make sure we got fruit. So we hoofed it down through a cool little neighborhood called El Barrio de la Letras which has different quotes from books and mini-biographical information set into the street in honor of various Spanish literary giants who once lived there - like Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega to name two. My original plan was to walk south and hit a Metro stop that would take us home. Well, we made a turn off my route because someone had to use the bathroom (Starbucks being the most preferable option) and we ended up within walking distance of the hotel. So I decided we'd just go for it - and made it home by 11pm. Í'm still not sure how far we walked - 5 miles? - but it was worth it. At least for me, I think.

One final bit of excitement for the evening. Another teacher and I decided to go grab a copa after I'd returned from my super walk. We popped into this bar next to the hotel and when we came out, the front sidewalk entrance to the hotel was taped off by the police and they were sending people across the street. We asked a passer-by what was up and they mentioned something about a suspicious backpack on a bench. We he and I acted nosy and went around the block to see if there was such a bag. Nothing conclusive. An hour later, the police were gone. Huh. Maybe it was nothing.

Next update: ANDALUCÍA - Córdoba & Sevilla

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

love,
Kev

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