Madrid!

So, Spain is amazing so far (though I guess I don't really expect that to change).

First order of business though...AAARRRGGGG European keyboards. They are sooooooo close to the keyboards I am used to, but there are slight differences. For example, this symbol ´ is in the apostrophe spot (little finger on the right hand) and the actual apostrophe ' is next to the zero on the top row. Also, quotation marks " are shift 2 and the ? is also next to the zero instead of down below. A few other slight problems, but I'm doing my best!

So the flights were pretty easy, and customs in Spain were even easier. I gave my passport to a bored-looking woman behind a desk as I got off the plane and she stamped it. Then I went and picked up my luggage and just left. Getting a taxi to my hotel was pretty easy also. My Spanish is only slightly rusty when I have to speak, though in the two days I've been here I've never listened to anyone and not been able to fully understand what they were saying!

We went on a quick bus tour of Madrid Saturday night. It was pretty cool. We saw an Egyptian palace, the Royal Palace, the Suicide Bridge (so named for all of the people who jump off it and kill themselves; icky, right? there is plexiglass between the sidewalk and the edge now to further discourage people), a botanical garden, the opera house, and a bunch of other cool things.

Question...so has anyone heard of El Corte Inglés? It is a supermarket type store here, and apparently it's so big and famous that a lot of the kids I'm with learned about it in their Spanish textbooks in high school! Who knew! Anyways, it is like a super duper nice version of a WalMart (closest thing I can think of to describe it, I guess). There are four outside our hotel. Literally. One is the food market, one is a papeleria (stationary office supplies type of store), one is electronics, and I don't even know what the fourth is. And they are all the size of the biggest WalMart I've ever been in. They're huge!

Also, apparently everything here is on sale right now. They seem to have an annual sale (they being every single store in Madrid) that runs from Jan 7 to Feb 13 or so. There are signs everywhere that say REBAJAS! in huge letters. The same signs, on different stores. It's weird, but nice for shopping.

So just a quick update of what has gone on so far, and I'll write more later and post pictures. Right now I'm in an internet cafe and can't use my own computer. :(

So after the bus tour yesterday my two roommates Jenna and Carrie and a friend Jason and I went exploring. We got on the Metro and went in the direction of El Plaza del Sol to find some dinner. Jenna got here a day early so she had stayed in a hostel in the area so she led us around. We ended up at a tapas bar that had amazing food. We didn't really know what to order, so we just told the waiter to bring us three things he liked. So he brought us garlic prawns, little spicy sausages, and calamari or something like it. We also had an order of the tomato bread which is extremely finely chopped tomatoes (almost like a sauce) on bread with olive oil on it. Very yummy. We shared a pitcher of Sangria and a bottle of wine between us. The Sangria was very different from any I've had before and I liked it a lot. It was very sweet. We took the Metro back home afterwards. The Metro system here is very nice and easy to use!

Today we went to Valle de los Caidos which is a huge monument/church on top of a hill to commemorate those that died during the Spanish Civil War. It was created during the regime of Franco, and he is interred there. Got to see that part too. I'll tell you more about it when I can get photos up.

We also went to San Lorenzo de El Escorial. There is a huge monastery/library/palace/tomb there. It is an Austrian palace and it is the tomb where all the Spanish kings and queens are buried. It is also still a working monastery and there are monks who live there. The church part was beautiful, pictures to come later.

Other than that, I came back to the hotel and fell asleep. And now I'm here in an internet cafe that is connected to a Subway restaurant, where I found an hour of internet for €1, which is a pretty good price considering it is €5,50 for half an hour in the hotel.

I'll write more later!