Madrid-Saturday

Spaniards say Madrid is nearest thing to heaven.

My son may disagree as he prefers Sevilla. In fact, after a couple weeks to rest up, I'm going to stay with Cody. Rich & Tasha are taking their delayed honeymoon in Sevilla Spain.

Our bus tour of the city began @ 9 am. Our Madrid guide took us all over the city & turned us loose in Plaza del Sol in city center. There were 6 of us girls who didn't know each other prior to this trip & we've had a ball together. It happens the others are all from different parts of Australia.

After an afternoon of shopping, 4 of us tried to tell a taxi driver the name of the hotel. That didn't work so one of the gals made horns & said "el toro". He understood then & we all had a good laugh. Our hotel is only a block from the bull ring.

We were disappointed that we couldn't see a bullfight tonite. Wouldn't ya know, it's tomorrow. We leave in the morning for Burgos and Bilbao Spain.

Just for my grandson & great granddaughters, I had my picture taken with their favorite characters.

Buenos Dias, Madrid

Today we were on the bus & headed for Madrid @ 7:45. About 2 hours after we left Barcelona, we crossed the meridian for Greenwich Meantime. Hope the picture turns out I snapped as we passed under the arch.

We stopped in Zaragoza for our lunch break. Timing was bad because as we stepped off the bus, the skies opened up. Luckily the main town square is all enclosed with shops & restaurants but it was a cold rain. The main point of interest is the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar built in 1681. There are 2 bombs inside the church that were dropped in 1936 during the Spanish War in an attempt to destroy the church. They were unsuccessful & these undetonated bombs remain in the church!

Since we were there on Good Friday, there were 7 processions throughout the day. Not being Catholic I don't understand the significance, but the popes/priests wore different colors in each procession. In the one we observed they were wearing green. The "scary" part was that their cloaks & pointy hoods looked like those worn by KKK! I didn't get any pictures because it rained so hard that I went for cover. Then the hail started & the ground turned white. Unbelievable weather.

The bus ride got to be a little boring because I had finished the book I was reading. I couldn't find a thing in English in Barcelona. One can only play so many games of Solitaire or Bejeweled on the iPhone:)

I'm looking forward to a day touring & shopping in Madrid but I hope it warms up. It's only supposed to be in the 50's!