Madrid

Early Monday morning Josh and I enjoyed our last walk through chilly Stockholm at 5:30am. As it began to snow we realized we were leaving for Spain on the perfect day. We had a short four hour flight from Stockholms Arlanda Airport to Madrid, Spain. The landscape is like nothing I have seen before except maybe something like the desert around Las Vegas. Very dry looking and different tones of red. When we landed it was about 15degrees celcius. From the airport we took a few different subways to get close to our location the Cats Hostel. Here is a link to copy if you would like to see pictures of the hostel:
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/CatsHostel-Madrid-6657?

Once we came up to ground level it was soo exciting and intimidating. This is a large dramatic city full of people and traffic and noise. With little to no sleep it was too much to take in speaking for myself anyways. We went directly to the hostel and unpacked and then went on a little walk around our neighborhood. Apparently 10 minutes from our hostel and you are directly in central Madrid. I have heard so much about tapas bars in Spain so I thought I wanted to try one. All of the ones we saw were quite dirty and the food was something to question. But as we have seen over the next few days most are the same way very loud and lively, a little bit scary as they yell at you to take your order and I dont know what to yell back, ENGLISH!!!! The people here really live their l ives out in the street, much different from a more conservative canada. So far as a generalization i would have to say the spainairds really enjoy their salt, fat, and oil something i will have to try and get used to. We went back to our hostel whcih is amazing, it used to be some sort of palace and is newly renovated for a hostel, this is one time I can actually say the real thing was better than the pictures. Tuesday moring we decided that we both wanted to spend more of our time in the smaller beach towns where we could actually relax. I used to think I would love to sepnd all of my time in the cities but once you are here it is quite different. They are so exciting and crazy and I get too nervous about not seeing everything in the time that we have so I do not relax at all. So we are off to Cacias a smaller beach town just outside of Lisbon, Portugal. And they great thing is that we are staying in a bed and breakfast. Because you know this entire week of hostels has just been too much We got a great deal so we are off today on a nine hour train ride, at least it is an overnight train. After our nuturious breakfast a doughnut, we went off to the metro station to get our tickets. Inside was a lush and large jungle of palm trees and tropical plants. In the middle of this is a sanctuary for hundreds of turtles and little fish, it helped pass the time. So we somehow managed to communicate what we needed, unlike stockholm most people do not speak english in madrid. And my spainsh skills leave much to be desired. Afterwards we walked to the Prada musuem another museum full of wonderful sacred art. unfotunatly today was the day dedicated to group tours so we skipped and went into the botanical gardens next door. This was quite an exprience, the city outside faded away and we were in a beautiful jungle. Apparently every specie of plant is in that garden somewhere. Amazing pictures to follow. This was just what the doctor ordered for me it really helped me calm down and put things in perspective. So the pace was set for the rest of the day, we walked across to a square where the Reina Sofia is housed, yet another art musuem that was closed today. So we sat in the hot sunshine in an outdoor cafe in the pavillion and drank delicious sangria for a couple hours. I really dont know if I can do this for two months, haha!