Today started out bright and early in Madrid. Our bus picked us up at 6:45 am and brought us to the Chamartin train station to catch our 8 am train to Bilbao. Thus began four and a half hours of basically chilling on the train. A little napping, a little reading, it was all good. So, we pulled into Bilbao around 12:40 pm, and most of the kids families were already there waiting to whisk them off to their homes around the Bilbao area. A little more than half are i...

Quoth the Arrowhead students in our group! Today brought us to Segovia, a smaller town to the northwest of Madrid. The "ciudad vieja" (old town) dates from MANY centuries ago. To start with, you have the aqueducts, built over 2000 years ago by the Romans. Yes, I meant for that to have all those zeros. It was actually used to carry water all the way to the end of the 19th century. No mortar, still gorgeous. Then we walked up towards the plaza mayor (yes, nearly al...

Yesterday's nap was a LIFESAVER. I only slept about 45 minutes, but it enabled us to get through the evening. Most of the kids and Jeanne slept about an hour and a half. So, once we were all back up, we headed down to the Puerta del Sol, the "center" of Spain. When Franco was the dictator here, he designed all the highways to run through Madrid - so the freeway system looks like a big bike tire. And " kilometer zero" is right in the Puerta del Sol. Oh, and there ...

Well, actually Jeanne, but hey, it still works! So now I only have to make it through about 18 hours without, so I think I can make it!! Well, the puppies are barking tonight! Two days of walking all over Madrid has taken its toll. This Morning started a little later with our first grou voyage onto the metro. Fortunately we have been blessed with an incredibly well behaved and "with it" group, and everyone got on and off everytime they needed to. We started by he...

We made it! Didn't get too much sleep on the flight over. I think I finely found "remotely comfortable" about 2 hours before we had to wake up for breakfast. Then, through passport control, got all the luggage, and Beatriz and Pepe from Interway travel met us and got us to the hotel. The hotel is REALLY nice. It's a little suite type place, so although Jeanne and I have to share a queen size-ish bed, the shower is amazing, we have a little table and kitchenette t...