Spain - Toledo - Ohhhhhh Toledo!!!

Although not as early as we wanted, we did get up and out of our room by about 10am. Our intent was to walk from our hotel, which is outside the old part of the city of Toledo, down into Toledo. We were ready to venture out on our own, but the friendly girl behind the front desk offered us a map, and sketched out our path into the city. The walk was only about 20-30 minutes, and it was a beautiful morning for it. The skies were a perfect blue, and I don't think there were any clouds anywhere in the vicscnity. With Vee's Rio Carbon mp3 player pumping Hoobastank through my ear buds, it was the perfect walk, and in my opinion, over too quickly. We were at the foot of town in just 4 songs time. The first place we came upon was a large Franciscan monastary. We ponied up the cost of admission, not more than 4 euros, and spent about about 30 minutes or so walking the grounds. The gardens inside were pretty, with their orange trees and water well in the middle. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the church, and that would be the case for pretty much every place we'd visit today. I guess in Toledo, they think it would be bad for business to have tourists sharing pictures of the insides of their tourist destinations in fear of other potential tourists seeing the pictures or videos and deciding they'd no longer need to visit. Go figure. Anyway, it was a nice start to the day. We continued walking the narrow corridors of the city and next came upon historical museum of Toledo, which was also inside of an old church. It was extremely well-done with lots of audio visual, but unfortunately for me, it was all in Spanish. I wished so much that I could understand as there is a HUGE amount of history here and this place seemed to have it all. The next major stop was the Cathedral of Toledo. This place was absolutely unbelievable. I remember being similarly stunned when I had been inside of some of the old cathedrals in England when I studied there for a Summer in college. There really were not words to describe it. The thought that recurred in my mind was this: if my life were a film, and each recollection were a single frame, it would pale in comparison to the number of artistic pieces in this cathedral. For Vee, only in Rome could anything compare. Absolutely staggering. Not just the shear number of works, but the history, the magnitude, the significance, the grandeur. Sculpted wood and marble, paintings, tile, frescos, gold and silver and jewells, crowns, sculptures, fabrics, clothing, with every single square nanometer accounted for. Unfortunately, once again, "no fotos". I wanted so badly to film the insides because there is no way to communicate its grandeur. This is where kings were coronated. This was the religious heart of Spain before the royal court was moved to Madrid in the mid 17th century. Next, we explored the Biblioteca of Toledo. Once again, we were not allowed to take any pictures from inside, but the views from the top, where they had a cafeteria, were well worth the visit.

Spain - Madrid to Toledo - Eurail Lessons in Leaving Madrid

I am writing this from the RENFE train station in Madrid, on the Calle de Atoche. We just had our first dose of not-so-good news since we've been here. Apparently, our Eurail pass is only valid when it is accompanied by it's corresponding "control voucher" and the official Eurail ticket cover. In preparation for our trip, and trying to minimize everything and pack as efficiently as possible with easy access to all documentation, I must have thrown away the cover thinking it was not necessary. The ticket agent said that we may not be able to get on the train. So, the moral of the story is that if you buy Eurail passes, don't throw anything away. We'll just have to wait and see how it works out.Monday would be our first day in transition from our original day of arrival. We planned to take the 12:20pm train to Toledo, rather than an earlier one, since we needed to build in space for the unknown. Hopefully, as we get better at this, we'll be able to take much earlier trains. We packed up our bags, checked out of our room, and once down in the building entryway, strapped on our huge packs, each weighing probably 50 pounds or so. I commented that if I had fallen over, I'd never be able to get back up. These packs are excellent though, as each has a built-in extendable pull-behind bar and wheels so you can pull it behind you like a traditional tavelling bag, while also, having hideaway "straps" (I know this is not the right terminology") for wearing them like a traditional hikers backpack. And, the removable day pack, that zippers and straps onto the main pack, is an absolute dream. Everything is very well padded and comfortable, although, with the amount of stuff we have crammed in there, it does not take long to become quite a burden when it's all on your back at once. For me, it felt like it was cutting off circulation between my neck and shoulders and as if my lungs were being stretched outside my chest cavity. Anyway, we decided to walk directly to the train station, since it was a beautiful day for it, and since on the map, it looked like a straight shot down the Calle de Atroche. The walk took maybe 20-30 minutes. We followed people inside and were immediately struck with the beautiful deep green jungle that took up the center of the station's main terminal. There was a constant warm mist that was pumped into the vegetation and the affect was that of an authentic in-house jungle. Nice! We disengaged ourselves from the packs and pulled out our Eurail passes, got in line for reservations, and waited 10 minutes or so before it was our turn. It was then that the agent pointed out the fact that if we did not have our Eurail "cover", we don't necessarilly have to be let on the train. Wonderful. So, what could we do? Luckily, he validated our passes, and left it up to us to figure it out. We were pretty upset, but there was nothing we could do at this point. We had everything else, BUT the stupid cover, and so we put it all together and hoped that if anyone decided to give us a hard time, we'd just show them everything else and try to squirm our way through it. I get this feeling though, that once we are in countries like Germany, and Switzerland, our squirming might not work as well...we'll just have to wait and see and in the meantime, call Eurail customer service, and find out how we can get a new ticket cover. Yes, this is a cover, just like the flimsy useless ones they give you at the ticketing counter of an airline in an airport that holds your boarding passes, the kind you throw away as soon as you feel it no longer serves much purpose. Unbelievable. So anyway, we took the slightly inclining conveyorbelt escalators up to the second level where the train platforms were, and patiently waited for our train. Once on board, I immediately wished all modes of transportation could be as nice. The interiors are spacious, immaculate, seemingly brand new and modern. The trip would be an amazingly fast one since this was a high speed line, taking just 35 minutes for us to arrive in Toledo. The landscape that whizzed by was rather plain, mostly just vast emptiness. A few breaths later, we where there, and outside taking snaps of each other, just like most every other tourist around us. The train station itself was a beautiful, morroccan style building with lots of colored tile and pretty woodwork, but nothing we felt inspired to photograph. We knew that their was much more out there to be seen that would be even more impressive. We didn't get the whole taxi-thing right away, but eventually figured out where we had to stand in order to get one. The trip to our hotel was only 5-10 minutes, and the scenery on the way was gorgeous. It seems the perfect place to build a fortress and the river surrounding the town provides a natural moat, and beyond it is nothing but shear rocky ledges leading straight up to the city above. The city is layer after layer of mauve-colored buildings and copper-toned roofs, with zig-zagging streets that carve their way to the top where a fortress and cathedral commands attention. Unfortunately, the afternoon was already growing late, and we knew that as much as we wanted to, we would not be able to walk into town in time enough to walk back again, and we'd have to put that off until the next day. Once to the hotel, we really just could not believe it. We booked this online through bookings.es because it was the cheapest, and looked livable. It is much more than that, and the price is considerably less than what we spent on our tiny place in Madrid. Our room has a spectacular view, with our own balcony, a well-appointed bathroom, two beds, a desk and chairs, closet, safe, and tv. The hotel has a pool, dining room, bar, lounge and is nestled with a beautiful view to the city of Toledo. The downside is that there is not immediate access to the city, like we had in Madrid, but on the flipside, we have a beautiful tranquil setting, romance, peace and quiet. We still had not eaten anything, so soon after we got our room, we explored the dining options and found that our only option was the in-house dining room. The setting was beautiful, and the food was excellent, and not even that expensive. We had a bottle of the house red-wine, I had trout with fried potatos and carrots, and Vee had salmon with asparagus. Our meal came with bread, and 4 empanadas. The wait staff were friendly and we felt very welcome. All this for 27 euros. We finished everything but the wine, and took it and our two glasses, with our waiter's permission of course, back to our room. There is supposed to be Wi-Fi, but just like last time, it is never as easy as expected, and I still cannot connect. Vee is napping, as the wine has had it's usual affect on her. We are both very excited about tomorrow, and look forward to setting out early for a long full day of Toledo.

Spain - Madrid - Oh Beautiful Madrid!

Sunday was PERFECT. We slept in late, not getting out of bed until after 11am. I was feeling alot better, and Vee was feeling worse. My cough was still there, but it no longer hurt, but now Vee's little sniffles had grown into a sore throat, deep cough, and a fully congested head. Regardless, we had alot we wanted to accomplish, and we were successful on all fronts. First, we realized that the electric plug adapter we brought for our computer was not going to work. It did not accept the 3 prong plug that our computers cables use, so we had to find a new adapter. On Sunday, alot of the stores are closed, but we found that the huge 5-story store called FNAC was open, and since they seemed to specialize in selling electronics, we felt assured that we would find the adapter there. No luck, they were all sold out and did not know where we could go to find the adapter. Once back outside, I heard classical music, and walked towards it, and we were rewarded to find a street group, consisting of 5 to 6 men playing ragged string instruments, and it was absolutely amazing. They were drawing a decent crowd, and the music was beautiful. Who needs the symphony? We stuck around for a few songs and then continued onward. Then I spotted a tiny camera shop, went inside and found a friendly shopkeeper who had plenty of the adapters we were looking for, and we bought one for 4 euros. Now, we were golden. Next up, was medication for Vee. We found a pharmacy selling Aspirina Complex and quickly knocked that out. We wanted something to eat and wandered into the Museo de Jamon (Museum of Ham) and had a tastey stand-up meal in what was a fun and vibrant place. I had a beer (Amstel) and ham, egg and cheese mixto, and Vee had a smoked ham and cheeze baguette. We also had a plate of olives. It hit the spot perfectly. The weather was alot nicer, with blues skies and puffy white clouds. A cold breeze was blowing, so we savored the moments in the sun. We wanted to go to the large open-air market that runs each Sunday in the Barrio La Latina, called El Rastro. Another place we wanted to see was the Plaza Mayor, and without even knowing it, we wandered right inside. At the time, we were just ambling down Calle Mayor towards La Latina, when I spotted some kind of activity to our left, and it just happened to be a Carnival parade inside the Plaza Mayor, full of crowds, people in costume, fireworks, horse-drawn floats, etc. We shot some video and some pics, hardly believing our dumb-luck, and then continued on our way. Each street was like Christmas morning for a child, revealing surprise after beautiful surprise. We found a great Cafe Italia where we pulled ourselves up to the bar and had two delicious coffees and a wonderful fluffy tiramisu. Absolute heaven. Vee's map interpretation and navigation skills were excellent and we were at El Rastro in no time. The market was full of clothes, both new and used, trinkets, hardware, shoes, etc. We found a table selling locks, and having none with combinations, they pointed us to a store where we bought 3 more combination locks for our packs. Another mission accomplished! So far, 3 for 3. What a day! After perusing the market, we wandered around the viscinity and stumbled upon one treasure after another. Having finally gotten some pictures and video taken, we were feeling more comfortable with taking more. We ended up at a beautiful edge of the city where we found some incredible valley vistas, city-vews, mountain-views, and wonderful buildings, including a huge cathedral that turned out to be the Archdiocese of Spain. We went inside and explored it's entirety, then once back outside, walked to La Puerta De Toledo, which wasn't very impressive, but still fun to see. Something that amazed us was the fact that here it was Sunday late afternoon, and it seemed as if every pub, cerveceria, and cafe was at pretty much capacity. This city has a vibrancy unlike any other I've experienced, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Everywhere, it was aflutter, with groups of people marching this way and that. It was quite a fantastic afternoon, and we had experienced much more than we had expected, and felt extremely fortunate and ready to head back to the hostale. Back in our room, using the wireless Internet connection, we called home on Skype to talk with Mom, made our next reservations for Toledo and Sevilla using www.bookings.es, and also attempted to reserve our seats on Eurail, but learned you have to call at least 27 hours in advance to do so. Vee worked on editing our pics and videos, and I got some more reading done. Then, around 10:45 or so, we went to a pub around the corner that we had tried to get into the previous night, but couldn't because it was too full. It was still packed, but there was a little wall-mounted bar area where we pulled up two stools. I had a lasagna and two beers, and Vee had a delicious cheesecake and zumo de pina. It was a fun place with lots of young people, a mix of pop music, and for seating in the main area, they had little pod-like clusters not much different from the spinning cups in Disney or Dutch Wonderland back home. We didn't stay out too late, and came back to the room for some more work on the computer and reading, and then eventually to sleep around 1am or so.

Spain - Madrid - First Full Day

Saturday, we awoke fairly early, since we had slept all afternoon Friday, and then pretty much through the whole night. I was dying of thirst, and went out in search of water. The only place that I could find was a Dunkin Donuts (I know, that is pretty lame). Feeling much better with some hydration, we showered and put ourselves together, locked up our main packs to a chair in the room, put on our daypacks, and headed out. The weather was cold and wet, but the rain was just an intermittant drizzle, with an occasional mix of snow flurries. We stopped in a hotel cafeteria for a bit of breakfast, where Vee had a mixto (sandwich of ham and cheese) and I had a pincho de tortilla (spanish omellette). Their spanish omellette is not what I am accustomed to since it was really just a potato pie, which was fine though. The whole meal was 5 euros. After finishing, we walked towards El Prado, and waited maybe 10 minutes in line to get in, and once inside, had to go through the typical security check-in at which point, I understood they wanted to keep my daypack. My computer and video camera were inside the daypack, and I reacted a bit too hastily, rather than trying to negotiate an alternative solution, said no, and left. I was really disappointed, in myself, and in the fact that we were not going to get inside the El Prado museum, which I was really looking forward to. Anyway, we readjusted, and ended up walking up a street that led us to an excellent museum, called Thyssen Bornemisza. It was a fantastic space, and it contained artwork from just about every single artist of note that I could ever think of that had painted since the 16th century. Although the paintings themselves were not the masterpieces from these artists, it was extremely impressive. The collection was privately owned until it was purchased for $300 million and set up as a museum. It took us the entire afternoon to see all of the works. We took a short break, in between the 2nd and 3rd floors, to leave the building for a bit of lunch in another typical cafeteria style place where I had a turkey club, and Vee had a vegetarian sandwich. We pretty much went straight back to the hostale after the Thyssen, and napped until later that evening. Around 11pm or so, we decided to head out for a dessert and wine. We ended up in a quaint little cafe, with tiny little wooden stools, and we each had a glass of the house red, and shared an almond tart and an apple pie. The whoole day, I was feeling really strange, as if I was hungover, probably from the weird schedule, accumulated stress, medications, lack of food and water, etc. We went to bed as soon as we got back to the hostale. I read my book for a bit, "Chasing Matisse", and then quickly fell asleep.

Spain - Madrid - We Actually Made It!

Arrived. Despite missing our first SEPTA train, despite Vee being picked for a random bag check at PHL, despite the airplane check-in agents pulling Vee aside to further scrutinize her Passport and ID, and despite our being seated in the last row of the plane, two feet from the lavatory, we made it to Madrid. Exhausted, and now both of us sick with head and chest colds, we are here, and so very happy to have made it. The flight, USAirways #12, direct from PHL to MAD was bumpy at times, but otherwise fine. Of course our seats were impossible to sleep in, but luckily, at 6 hours, the flight wasn't terribly long. And anyway, having paid just $250+/- for each ticket on SkyAuction.com, we had no room to complain.

Flying over Spain revealed a very diverse geography, including a long sandy coast, vast mountain ranges, some peaks were snow-capped, others looked dry and desert-like. There were vast patchworks of perfectly delineated farmlands. I wondered aloud what kind of trees were planted so perfectly in line, absolutely equidistant to each surrounding tree; that'll be something we find out eventually. There were plenty of the orange-red colors that I expected to see in the land, and building rooftops. Once on the ground at the airport, the "Control - Policia" didn't raise any issues, and within moments we were officially IN. We wandered the airport for a while looking for the Metro, and asked their information desk to clarify how the ticket purchasing and metro riding process worked. We got a 10-ride pass for 6 Euros, and after 2 changes, popped out above ground at Puerta del Sol, which is where our hostale is located. The time difference is 6 hours, check-in is 1pm, it was about 11am local time, and we were getting hungry, so we got some tastey falafels and "papas flamencas" at a street-side open-air stand. The weather is chilly, but beautiful. And actually, as the day wore on, the sun really warmed things up. It took us a while to figure out where we actually were, as the street names aren't immediately evident, and to describe the street pattern as weblike would give the wrong impression of the streets being at least somewhat organized. One street we crossed, "Calle de Alcala" has special significance because it is Vee's family name on her Mom's side, revealing her deep Spanish heritage. The architecture is exactly as I had envisioned, and it is beautiful. Lots of cobblestone streets, very narrow streets, small cars, lots of mopeds and motorcycles, and very very busy with pedestrian traffic. The people are fairly diverse, but most are of a darker complexion than me.

We found our hostale, on Calle de la Cruz, called "Hostale Adriano", and it is a fantastic little place on the 4th floor of a typical medium-rise building. The hostale-keeper was very friendly and helpful, speaking Spanish and even English for my benefit. We were provided all the information we needed, some good tips, our keys, and some brochures about things to do in the area. Our room is small, but very cute and comfy, with our own clean bathroom, fridge, cable tv, electronic safe, and a queen-size bed with clean sheets and fluffy comforter. We peeled off, and slept.

Waking up around 6pm, we tried the wireless Internet access, but it is encrypted, and the person at the front desk doesn't know the key. Interesting. So, we'll read some, and plan out our days ahead.

First Entry - T Minus 2

Today, Wednesday February 22, 2005, is our last full day in the States before we fly for Europe. The series of events leading up to our forthcoming departure is worthy of a few words here. What has happened over the past few weeks could be taken to be quite foreboding, and if I were a more superstitious person, I could be quite nervous about what lies ahead. But I am not. And I am not one to dwell on things past, nor am I one who chooses to see the proverbial glass half-empty. The process of thinking about what has happened, and documenting them in the list below, will help clean the slate and open the door through which more positive energy will flow. By no means am I equating each item in the following list with every other item in the list, but for simplicity, I will list them somewhat chronologically:

- On our 5 year wedding anniversary, our only car “Monty” (a 1999 Mitsubishi Montero with 100k miles) is broken into at the train station 3 blocks from our home. The driver-side windows is shattered, the dashboard is shredded and the stereo head unit is stolen.
- The next day, my father’s best friend, Sen. Bob Thompson, tragically passes away, without expectation.
- In preparation for our trip, our visits to the dentist reveal the urgent need for Vee to have a root canal, a wisdom tooth extraction, and follow-up oral surgery. All done within a week.
- Late in the night following her oral surgery, Vee wakes up with horrible stomach pains, stumbles into a wall, goes unconscious for 4-5 minutes, freaks me out, and we both end up riding the ambulance to the Emergency Room. After a few hours of IV, meds, and nausea and vomiting, Vee is released. It takes about 1 ½ hours for the taxi to arrive and take us home.
- The next morning, I learn that my Dad was up late the same night with horrible stomach issues while at the same time my Mom ends up taking my sister to the Emergency Room for what turns out to be a failing gall bladder. My sister has surgery to remove her gall bladder the next day.
- The following morning, my parents beloved dog, Gigi, a standard poodle, passes away, after collapsing with twisted bowels.
- Yesterday, I end up in the Emergency Room with deep chest pain and coughing to find out that I have Bronchitis. As I write this, I am pumped full of Z-Pack, and a bunch of over the counter medications, soaked through the sheets, with hardly a few hours sleep.
- And the body shop still has the car.

There, done. Now, onward and upward. Let the good times roll………..