Chocolat y Churros

We have had a fun few days in Madrid. We switched from coffee to hot chocolate as our beverage. The chocolate is thick and used to dip churros (kind of like waffles, but not as heavy).

We went to a bullfight last evening and left after two fights. Steve has a new cause to fight - not to outlaw bullfighting, but to make it more fair for the bull. It was actually quite sad watching the bull "fight" - he was already injured before he came out. Then it is six against one. More on that later.

Today, we walked to Retiro Park and had a nice lunch and walked around the city. Hopefully, tonight we will get some Tapas.

Lisbon to Madrid

We spent our third day in Lisbon walking around, drinking coffee, and eating cheap pastries. We checked out of our hostel and went to purchase our "autocarros" tickets. We bought the last two and were lucky to get them. We arrived at the bus station at 7:30pm for our 9:00pm reservation - looked good and comfortable. Only one small problem - No Bano!!! If you have ever been on a drive with Kelly for more than 2 hours, you would understand our problem of no bathrooms. The bus was not bad - leather seats! - Kelly slept reasonably well (thanks to dramanine), and Steve slept about 2 of the 8 hours on the bus. The best part was that when you got on the bus you got a pair of free headphones to listen to the bus radio - the only problem with that was that there were only three stations, one of which played the Michael Jackson song "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on repeat the whole trip.

We arrived in Madrid at 6:30am and hopped on the metro. We exited the underground surprised to see a bustling city at 7:00am on a Sunday morning. So many people, just out sipping coffee, etc. We walked about 3 blocks to our hostel, but check in was at 12:00pm, so we left our bags and explored the city.

Outside, most of the people were gone. Apparently, everyone was up from the night before. Kelly had our morning planned out, so we headed to an outdoor market that opened at 8:00am. It was nice for the two of us to wander around Madrid like we had the city to ourselves. During our hour walk (we got lost a few times), we passed only a handful of people - all of whom were very happy and eager to give the two American tourist directions. Steve can barely be nice to himself that early!!

When we arrived at the market, we were shocked by the amount of people. Only a minute ago, we thought we had an entire city to ourselves, then suddenly hundreds of people were trying to buy other people's used products. It was a huge flea market that was several blocks long, on a very steep hill. We decided to try to get Steve some culture, so we headed of to the Museo National del Prada (it is free on Sunday.) We saw paintings by some very famous artists that Steve already cannot remember.

By this time, we were able to check in to our hostel, and get the well deserved shower. Now we are taking a break so that we can stay up late and eat tapas!!

We'll post back soon.

Mary HAD a Little Lamb...

Well, we didn't quite get that good night's sleep. We are still getting used to the time difference so we tried to go bed pretty early (like 10pm) which is actually 5pm so we both woke up an hour or so later like we'd just taken a little nap. Luckily, the coffee here is amazing and super strong - even Steve has to put sugar in it. It's cool - there are coffee and pastry shops just about ever block and you go in and have a little cafe standing right there at the "bar." We can definitely get used to that. The food is great - just look at our picture of one of the many butcher shops. Last night, we had some excellent seafood and we just finished off a bag of roasted chesnuts.

Lisbon is beautiful and our hostel is in a great section overlooking the river. There is cobblestone everywhere and lots of painted tiles and terraces on the buildings. Yesterday and today so far we have toured around the areas of Baixa (mainly shopping), Alfama (lots of history with twisty cobblestone roads), and Belem (more historic sites including a huge old monastery). I think we've realized we are basically going to be spending the next five weeks just walking.

Tonight, there is a 5 euro Portuguese meal at the hostel for dinner at 9pm (dinner is late here - perfect for us) which we are going to go to and then tomorrow some more sightseeing and then off to Madrid. We think we might take the bus over to Spain - it's a good deal cheaper - so wish us luck. Hopefully, we'll find some faster internet over there so you can see some of our (many) photos - most of which are Steve standing in front of this or that monument.

We'll write back soon.

Our 1st Day!!!

Well, we made it to Lisbon without any problems. It was a long and cramped plane ride. It is very beautiful and very hilly. The hostel we are staying at is very nice and clean. Better than a Holiday Inn, except we share a room with 2 other people. They seem nice, and are visiting from Australia.

We are still tired, and we are looking forward to a good night's sleep. The coffee here is great and inexpensive. The scenery is outstanding with a lot of history.

We are trying to post our pictures, but the internet connection is slow right now.

Pre Flight at the Walls B&B

Kelly and I are all set for our trip. We leave in about 3 hours. We have all of our bags packed. Our bags weigh just under 13lbs. Hopefully, we will be updating this page every 2-3 days with stories and pictures. Our picture link is in the upper left corner.

Its been a long few days getting everything together, double and triple checking bags, passports, etc. Kelly is very excited about having breakfast in Lisbon tomorrow.

Thanks to all of our family and friends for all of your help and support. We will be thinking about you often, and of course, we will be talking with you. Five weeks will go by fast and you will have to see our faces again.

A special thanks to Neil and Kathleen(Steve's Mom) for watching Maggie, Sammy, and Sunny.

The Walls B&B was excellent as usual. Food arrived within 5 minutes of our arrival, and the service and conversation was excellent. Thanks again, we will be back shortly.


Steve and Kelly