Madrid Spain - not much to read, not much time

Sorry guys (if anyone is even reading this thing), I have not posted much from Madrid as I have been on the move almost the whole time while in Madrid, mainly because, the way my arrival and departures worked out, it really only gave me 3 full days in the city instead of my normal 4-5 I have had everywhere else. I also had to work through an airline strike situation which consumed the better part of this afternoon (you can read about the strike here) but luckily, after going to the airport and talking face to face with some people, I have a new flight and will still be returning to the United States soon.

I fly from Madrid to London (now on British Airways instead of Iberia airlines) at 2:00pm local time on Monday, and then depart the following day around 2:00pm for Houston, TX (direct flight with British Airways). I will have less than 24 hours in London but will try to at least see a few of the sights and snap a few photographs along the way.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been pretty busy in Madrid and have seen quite a bit here. My favorite two things about Madrid? All the beautiful park space they have here and TAPAS! I am convinced that Tapas and the Spanish way of eating is the only way to go. I wish the US could adopt this - so fun, so social, so delicioso! I also did one of the coolest things here on my whole trip which was attend a Flamenco Dance show. The #1 rated show in town is located just 3 doors down from my hostel, so I went there the second night and took in a show which was awesome! I haven't uploaded all my photos from Madrid, but I did upload some photographs (pretty dark and blurry, no flashes allowed) and videos from that night. When I get home, I will try and edit the video a little better to just show the highlights, but for now there are some slow parts included. Try to find the video where the dancers are really getting into it! They go crazy! A spontaneous commotion of clapping, tapping, and spinning. It was really fun.

Well, that's all I got for tonight, need to get some sleep so that I can wake up early and pack. Gonna be tought as I picked up a few items here in Madrid since it was towards the end of my trip. This might be my last post, but do not worry, Zack! Harris in the flesh will be making his return to the USA soon enough. Feed me Mexican Food (tex-mex please) now! HANGRY!

-Zack!

Flamenco Dance Show photos and videos:

Flamenco

Palace of Versailles (catch up post from 2 days ago)

hope you all enjoyed the Paris pictures in my previous post, if you didn't get a chance to check them out, make sure to scroll down and view them, you don't want to miss them! i did want to send out my Versailles pictures and take you through a little bit of that day.


i woke up early on Wednesday to take a hot shower at my hotel and get ready for what was about to ensue - an all day, rainy bike ride in cold temps to the palace of Versailles. I got to the Fat Tire Bike shop around 8:45am for the 9:00 trip, and there were only 4 other people there...and that is all that showed up. the Sunday bike ride had 26 people on it, but a lot of folks either decided to stay home or flat out didn't decide to sign up because of the 70-80% chance of rain...but luckily it was not yet raining as of 9:00am.


our tour guide Adam addressed our group of five and made the statement "as I look up at the [dark, black, gloomy] sky, I'm feeling good about today, I don't think it's gonna rain on us." it proceeded to start raining just 5 minutes after this optimistic statement and continued the rest of the day. i had worn a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a jacket, a rain coat, and 2 pairs of gloves, but it was still pretty darn cold and miserable.

the trip is supposed to go something like this: bike from paris to the RER train station, load your bikes on the train and take a short 20 minute train ride out to Versailles. then bike another 20 minutes or so to the large Versailles marketplace to purchase goods for a picnic lunch in the Versailles Gardens later in the afternoon. we did all of that, only it was raining on us the entire time, not an all out drenching downpour, not a drizzle, but just a constant rain that never quit.


on our trip was a newly married couple (old guy married to a girl way to young for him, neither of them that attractive - AKA ugly, oddly matched couple) and a Dutch woman and her 12 year old daughter (i do not comment on the looks of moms and/or their underage daugthers). before entering the Versailles market, we were asked to take a vote - either eat in a Versailles cafe, or proceed with the normal tour and purchase goods for a picnic in the Gardens, as the two other groups really couldn't make up their mind (I was indifferent), our guide, Adam, decided we would picnic as normal. i proceeded immediately to the wine shop and purchased a full bottle of wine, then went and got the obligatory french baguette and some cheese from a fromagerie.

we were the ONLY people that actually were in the Gardens (except for one bad french jogger who passed) and we leaned up against some trees to try and shield us from some of the rain and to keep our asses dry from the soggy ground. i polished off over half of my bottle of wine (hey, i was trying to keep warm) and ate about 3/4 of my baguette. honestly, even though it was raining and i was freezing cold, who all can say that they had a picnic in the rain in the gardens of Versailles? pretty neat.

we then finished off the rest of what was to see around the gardens (the Hamlet, the king & queens apartments, etc) and then biked back to the famous Palace of Versailles to take in the sights of the glorious palace - gold everywhere, perfectly manicured gardens, perfectly squared-off trees, the Hall of Mirrors, dozens of chandeliers, etc. it was also nice to get inside and warm up. after the audioguide tour and about 1.5 - 2 hours, we were back on the bikes on our way home. the end.


-zack!


check out full pictures from my tour to Versailles below (complete with a few captions/comments):

Versailles Trip

The Paris Photo Albums - DISCLAIMER: lots of photographs, but well worth your time

my little Canon point-and-shoot camera defintely got put through its paces in Paris. really made me want a good digital SLR, but the simple fact is, i wouldn't have had near enough room for it on this trip, and my little pocket camera ended up taking some amazing shots that i was very happy with. i took well over 600+ photos while in Paris, which i deleted some of after review, and i tried to only post ones rated 6 and higher in the below albums, but as indecisive as i am, there are still tons of albums/photos to sort through. i did try to add captions/comments where i remembered what the structure was.

i tried to group them into some meaningful categories (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, etc) and once I get back to the states, i think i am going to make a highlight reel of all my favorite photos from the entire trip, but i simply don't want to take the time to figure that out at the moment here. I really like some of shots in the Eiffel Tower Album (my favorite photo subject thus far on the trip), some of the night shots at the Louvre are cool, and there a a bunch of neat photos of random things in the "General Photos" album. So grab a "Cafe au'lais", sit back and browse through the albums below. there are some real gems in each album, and i can't wait to get back home and blow some of them up for my house or office. let me know what you think!

-z!

Eiffel Tower

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe & Champs Elysees

Orsay Museum

Paris - General Photos

Paris - second roll

Paris - last night, last wash

Tonight is my last night in Paris and man have I done a lot here! Even with everything I have done, I know I have only scraped the surface of this wonderful city - you could spend a month here with no job and still be overwhelmed by how much there is to see and do. Today I took a day trip to the Palace of Versailles, which was quite a rainy affair (as expected). The picnic in the garden wasn't very pleasurable, that is, until I cracked open my bottle of wine! I bought a decent 12 euro bottle at the open market in Versailles and finished half of it on the tour and the other half in my hotel room earlier tonight.

Most of my night had been consumed with my least favorite vacation activity - doing laundry. I did most of it at the local laundromat (always one right around the corner and Europe) and then I came back to the room and even washed the clothes I was wearing, just to get every single bit clean so that I don't have to do laundry again the rest of the trip. Up next? Madrid for 4 nights and then 1 night in London before returning to the States. Now, to bed! I'm sleeping in!

Paris - checklist nearly complete

Sorry I have not had much time to update my blog these past few days. Paris just has so much to see and if you aren't out there in it the whole day, you could miss something. Yesterday I saw SO MUCH STUFF! The Moulin Rouge, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, ate Amorinos Gelati...twice (thanks Kassie), the Orsay museum, the Rodin Museum (they have the sculpture "The Thinker"), the Arc de Triumphe, the Obelisque, the Tuileries Gardens, the Ile St. Louis, and a nightime trip up and down the Eiffel Tower...a rewarding but exhausting day to say the least. Today I am up early to wake up for my bike tour trip to the Palace of Versailles. We are going to take a train out there at 9:30, spend most of the day in Versailles, complete with biking most of the gardens (hard to see all of it without a bike so I'm glad I'm taking the tour), a tour of the palace, and a market picnic in the gardens! The only downer could be this 70% chance of rain...oh well, Berlin prepared me for rainy biking. Now I gotta finish this French energy drink, hop in the shower and get going! I will try to get some of my photos up here in the next few days...yesterday I took over 300!!!

Best,
Zack!