First Stop of 2007: Madrid

Life is never dull with Dixon and Howorun in my life.

While our Barcelona new years wasn't quite as crazy as anticipated, the trip to Madrid this past Monday was fabulous! Three days in this amazing city is obviously not enough. The day before we were a little hesitant about going, as the Basque Country terrorist organization, ETA (which has been fighting for independance from Spain for the last 30 years) had reportedly set off a car bomb in the parking lot of the Madrid airport on December 30th. Thankfully we are now safe and sound back in Barcelona, and our trip was uneventful in that respect.

I really like the B&W setting on my camera, so to start here are some typical shots of the city.

We stayed at a hostel right downtown and spent the majority of our time just wandering the streets, window shopping, and getting a feeling for the city. For lunch each day we bought sandwhiches and ate them in the very beautiful Retiro park.

On Tuesday we went to one of the world's most famous fine art museums, El Prado. There is so much in this building that after 2 and a half hours we were feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted. Without the audioguide I wouldn't have had much of an idea of what I was looking at; the number of masterpieces was phenomenal.

Also, this city is in full Christmas shopping swing (which they will celebrate this Saturday) and thus the streets were almost impossible to walk as of 4:30 in the afternoon,... this is one thing I did not miss about the holiday season this year. However, the streets were beautifully decorated in the downtown quarter later at night.

We returned late last night, and tonight I will have my last evening with these two best friends. We have had as many good talks as we've had hilarious laughs. Seeing them has reminded me why I respect these two women so much. Not only are they elite athletes, and university scholars, but even though they are constantly under the public eye, they manage to stay grounded, and in the real world (at least most of the time, haha). :) They really do inspire me, and remind me of what is important in life,... apparently I am too serious and responsible. Who knows if this will change over the next couple of years... They give me so much to think about.

Carino ~ Steph, Stef, and Sarah.