The excitement continues...........

We went to Plaza de España yesterday afternoon. This is one of Madrid´s busiest traffic intersections and most popular meeting places. There is a stone statue of author Cervantes, and below it, are Don Quixote on his horse and Sancho Panza on his donkey. We then headed over to Plaza Mayor. Much of the bullfighting, executions, pageants, and trials took place here. There were tons of lights and vendors set up in the plaza. I bought a peluca (wig) and enormously long fake eyelashes, ya know, getting ready for fin de años and all. Before getting back, we stopped by the supermercado and bought some bread, cheese, and ham, then had dinner at the hostel. The hostel owner prepared champaigne for everyone. There are people from all over the world, it was like the UN.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, warm enough to walk around without a coat. We strolled through Parque del Retiro, fed birds and ducks, then hired a boat and rowed around the boating lake in front of the monument of Alfonso XII. Us tres chicas had some arms! After lunch, I parted ways with the girls and did some solo exploration around Bourbon Madrid. I strolled past the National Library, the Ritz Hotel which was turned into a hospital at the start of the Civil War, went inside the San Jeronimo church, saw the Puerta de Alcala momument, Plaza de Canovas del Castillo, Plaza de Cibeles, Plaza de Colon, Teatro Español........the first song to play on my iPod was ¨Sitting on top of the world¨, and how appropriate that was!

Now I´m back at the hostel, about to take a nap before heading out for the night. The three of us are having a blast! This is the first time Stef and I had a chance to hang out by ourselves, and I just love her to death! Nina cracks me up, and I guess anyone who gets my humor is pretty admirable! And bless her heart for trying to speak English so that I´d understand. And no, we´re not teaching each other bad words in our languages!

Thanks to those who left comments! It makes me feel like I´m home away from home! So keep them coming! Em and Suz, you´re going to have such a great time here! I´ll give you all the deets when I get back!

Miss you all! Hasta pronto!