Madrid=New York

Anyone who has traveled with me know I am not a fan of public bathrooms, this was essentially the outhouse at the train station that I had no other choice but to use. Let's just say, I was hardpressed to even use the bathroom, much less would I have taken a moment for personal hygeiene. Seriously? Probably could have passed on the install of the bidet city planners.

Just as we were getting used to saying "obridago," it's time to change it "gracias." Or as my sweet friend Natalie Bean said when we traveled in Spain, "Grass-E-ess...Grass-E-ess so much!!" Oh to see the Spainards faces when she looked them square in the eye and gave them that big white smile of hers, proclaiming her appreciation in that pure as gold Mississippi accent of hers.

On our way to Madrid we had a 5 hour train "layover" in a quaint little town named Entrocampento. We made our way into town to find some food and then parked ourselves in the park. Ragan killed some time playing Solitaire. It was cold!

Is it U2? No, just a knock off band that enterainted us while we are on our train stop to Madrid. I have to say, they did a pretty decent job. It was funny because the guy had practically memorized any U2 video ever made and he'd be talking to the crowd (*Portugese*Portugese*) "There's been a lot of talk about this song....maybe too much talk." It was pretty funny.

Ragan I traveled from Porto, Portugal to Madrid, Spain on Saturday night via a night train. Our friend Daniella told us that it would be the "best sleep of our lives!" We were super excited and waiting for this since we hadn't slept all that well the night before. It would have been a great night, but we weren't anticipating two things. The first being, the anti-climatic Disneyworld Space Mountain ride we had over the mountains and the second being, that we would be the first room in the train cab. Since we were climbing over the mountains throughout the night we heard ALL the noise from the transition between train cabs. And well....I woke up at one point wondering if this is what the inside of an old man's knee joint would sound like. It was LOUD and cranky! Once we made it over the mountains at about 5am, it was smooth sailing and we would have slept great had it been like that all night. Oh well, it was a fun experience. When I opened the shades the next morning we were roaring through the countryside of Spain. To be completely honest it looked a lot like Kansas, but because we are in Spain, we'll call it a lovely European landscape. They served the most comical and random looking breakfast. It was unfortunate that I didn't have my camera. Scrambled eggs. Good. Small mushrooms caps. Kinda see where they were coming from? A hot dog the size of my thumb cut in half. Seriously? Who thinks chocolate crossiants and minature hot dogs.

Madrid has been OK, not at the top of our list, but we are glad we've experienced it. It's a large city and very metropolitan, actuallty quite Westernized. It's a lot like New York, less Jewish more Spanish. That's about the only difference. We are more small town kind of travelers, but the city has a fantastic energy to it that's fun to be around. They love the night here! Nothing comes alive until well after dark, when I think the entire city comes out to eat dinner. You can't tell the difference between the locals and the toursist, everyone just kind of meshes together. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway spent quite a bit of time here and would frequent what is now considered the "Oldest Restaurant in the World" according to Guiness. We decided to skip it after we saw it ran $75-$100/person on the cheap! What's the big deal about Hemingway? I hardly read books anyway. Yes, I just said that aloud.

Palacio Real

We toured the Palacio Real (Royal Palace of Madrid) today and it was beyond impressive. Room and room was so ornate in it's own way. The craftmanship and immaculate attention to detail was hard to take in. The rooms were all created over several centuries so it's also like a little history in design.I Built in the 18th and 19th century after the capital of Spain was moved to Madrid, it's only used for state events now. I hate that I have no pictures of the interiors, but they are very strict about no photography and too many guards to even sneak one in! It's a must see if you're in Madrid!

Ragan has been sick, so that's given me a little reprieve for the past few days. He doesn't think he's sick...he just thinks he got cold the other night when he was sleeping. OK, Mr. Hacking Cough, Running Nose and Low Fever. We'll say you got "cold." I'm sure it has nothing to do with you running on adrenaline the first week of our trip and wearing your body out. When Ragan is traveling and exploring new things he goes at superspeed. He doesn't sleep, never rests, and goes like he's on crack. His feet never feel like someone has beat them with a bat like mine do. He doesn't even get hungry, totally don't understand that AT ALL! I just let him work through it and wait for him on the other side called "normal human speed." Not sure it's going to happen on this trip though.

New Orleans has Cafe DuMonde, Madrid has Choclateria. They are famous for the chocolate churros. They say they are addictive as the Europeans are to their cigarettes. I'm just trying to blend...

Pretty boring post, but not a lot happened while we were in Madrid.

Onto to Seville we go!