We are in Madrid-- this is our second day here, and we have 3 more days, one of which is a day trip to Toledo. Today we had a day trip to El Escorial, a palace outside of Madrid mostly known for housing the royal mausoleum, and Valle de los Caidos, a huge underground monument to and burial place for those who died in Spain´s civil war. It also has Francisco Franco´s grave. Valle de los Caidos was definitely more interesting.
We have also had some interesting pickpocket experience today. We are going to a flea market tomorrow that is supposedly crawling with them, so we weren´t expecting to have any encounters today. But my backpack was unzipped as we walked down the umbrella-crowded streets (it´s raining and kind of miserable today). I felt it happening, and turned around to see this little girl trying to pretend she hadn´t been trying to rip me off. Good thing I caught it in time--nothing was taken. Another fellow wasn´t so lucky. Half an hour later we were sitting eating dinner watching the pedestrians and saw a pickpocket duo just pulling stuff out of this old guy´s bag, under the cover of an expertly placed umbrella. Poor old man... poor now, I guess.
On pants... just wanted to comment that I don´t think my clothes are going to come from Sevilla, so I have one pair of pants to get me through the whole summer. I also have a skirt (I´m wearing that right now) and a dress, so I will be fine. My pants are drying right now as yesterday was sink-laundry day.
Also, I have never encountered so many different ways to flush a toilet. It is purely amazing. Sometimes there is a handle like most American home toilets, but that´s unusual. Sometimes there´s a button on the top of the tank, other times there is a button on the wall. Sometimes there´s a handle coming off the front of the toilet; sometimes there´s a thing to pull up. One hostel had a string hanging from the ceiling with a strap attached. Very interesting.
Time´s up! More later... Adios!
16 June 2007
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