Capital of Spain

From Madrid....
Our train ride to Madrid was nice and smooth. It was a holiday in Spain so the train was packed with people but, it was still a good trip. In coach class we got to watch a movie (and it was in English subtitled in Spanish), had access to the cafeteria car, and there was even a plug in for my laptap.

After a short cab ride we found ourselve at our hostal...yes, hostal..not a typo.

We got settled in our room and then went out. We walked to the Prado Museum just to see where it was at and then around the area our hotel was at. We had a very good dinner at a place called ¨Miau,¨ yes, that is Spanish for meow. They had a digitized photo of a cat on the doors. We thought it was funny. They food was really good though. After all this time I think we finally figured out the secret to getting good service in a restaurant...sit at the bar.

After dinner we walked around to a one of the many different plaza´s where people hang out. Our first clue should have been the amount of police presence there. Amanda found a clothing store that had some inexpensive clothing. I just wandered about outside the store waiting for her. It only took about 3 minutes until someone who we´ll call, an independant relationship consultant of the night wanted to make my aquaintance for 20 Euro. And in the spirit of the Howie Mandell game show.....¨NO DEAL!¨ So, after this there were 2 plain clothes police officers near that I saw making contact with different people so I thought I would visit with them. I told the officer that the lady had said to me and he said, yeah, she´s a prostitute. I asked if that was normal and legal here and he said yes. Interesting. Í did not know that. I let them get back to work and I again was just hanging out.

I video taped the area just to show the shady side of Madrid. There were another group of police officers that had come through and were making different contacts. They were 40 or so yards away from me with their backs turned my way. I had some other lady whom I highly suspect of being a coworker of the first tell me in spanish that I could not video tape here and I could not video tape the police. My response was ¨ok¨ however I think it was obvious there was a big hint of ¨go away¨ in it. She told me that she was going to run and tell the police...which she did. The police officers raised one a hand and told her to go away in the same manner you would try to get rid of a cat off of your front porch. After that, she just paced near me giving me the evil Spanish eye. I am not sure why this lady had problem with me but, she did.

As soon as Amanda was done in the store, we left that place. I the first 10 minutes were an indication of what was to come there...I didn´t want it.

We walked around some more and then made it back to the hostal without any other experiences with police or prostitutes...strange how that can actually be an accomplishment.

After a restful sleep for me at least (Amanda said she didn´t sleep very well) I write you this update and wait to see what the day holds here.

Tonight is our last night in Spain so maybe I will write again tomorrow before we leave. Tomorrow it is off to Hamburg Germany. For the most part, our crazy hectic days I believe will come to an end. Our goal in Germany is not to run all over the place (although we will be in 3 different cities) but to take time to visit with our good friends there. Hopefully there will still be time for updates and photos.

From Madrid...

(oh, and in case some of you are wandering...and I know probably a few of you are, no, I did not get a photo with the prostitute).


God Bless.