Ola from Madrid, Everyone

Our last day in Paris was great -- we had a bike tour with a friendly guide who took us through the backstreets of the Marais district and down the river and through little neighborhoods. We also saw Notre Dame and wandered around the city a bit. For all of you who thought I couldn't work a map *DAD*, you're wrong! I am kicking ass with maps thank you very much, maybe even more than Christopher.
 
The overnight train from Paris to Madrid was not so great. We had more communication issues with Spanish people all over the place, but had our first real breakfast on this trip so far, as it was included. I love having pastries for breakfast! The sleep was pretty rough (it was very loud), but the Spanish scenery was beautiful. It's similar to the Foothills, but a lot rockier, with quaint little villages. We arrived in Madrid (it's hot here! yay!) and maneouvered the Metro no problem -- we are used to the Paris Metro, and they are very similar. Hopefully we won't have trouble with the Lisbon, Porto or Barcelona ones either. So far the communication is a problem -- We know 'ola' but that's about it. Luckily we have been finding other tourists to speak to (like some people from Lake Tahoe, who helped us find the entrance to the Raina Sofia art museum... but that's another story). C is tending to avoid cafes, etc, that he suspects don't speak English, which probably won't work for the rest of this trip, we'll just have to mime our way through.
 
We have a great hotel in Madrid - what a difference a nice hotel can make!! It's very central, near to the biggest square in town with tons of cafes and restaurants. We have a balcony overlooking a small plaza which usually has someone playing guitar or trumpet, a safe, two beds, air conditioning, a TV (but it's all in Spanish), and best of all... a REAL BATHROOM! It has it's very own sink and toilet, a mirror big enough to see yourself in, a human-sized shower, and a DOOR!!! All you people at home take bathrooms for granted!!!

We walked down some cute little back streets with shops and cafes to get to the Raina Sofia art museum, which I was really looking forward to because it has Dali and Goya and Picasso's Guernica. We spent about half an hour walking around the entire thing trying to find an entrance, before we ran into the English-speaking Lake Tahoe tourists who walked around with us. A bit later someone informed us it was closed for the day. THat's something I don't like about Europe --- things are closed on strange days, and they're usually they day you're wanting to see it. They recommended the Prado museum which is nearby and apparently more famous, so we paid the 8 euros to get in but were disappointed. I only knew one painting in the whole place (Saturn Eating His Sons, by Goya... I got scolded for taking its picture, but I still got one! Suckers!) and the rest was fat royalty in big robes on fat horses, and fat royalty kids with their fat dogs or whatever. Anyways we left after a bit and walked back to the hotel (it's siesta time now. how nice it would be for all of calgary to shut down for 2 hours mid-day so everyone could go nap). 
 
We leave Madrid tomorrow and head for Lisbon ( we do not recommend overnight trains!), which we are excited for. We hear Portugal is beautiful.... and they are supposed to speak English there as well! Thank god!!
 
Miss you all,
 
Suzanne & Christopher