Luke & Lindsay Travel Europe: From Basque Country to Iberia

We move from Basque Country to the centre of Iberia. Iberia is Spain and Portugal the big peninsula. Centre of this region is Castille. This region the call the land of castles. Castles that were round meant they were lived in by Christian. Square meant Muslim. We also learned that They don't know for certain that St. James really was in Spain. But it was a way that they made Christianity tangible. Madrid is the modern capital of Spain, Toledo was the old capital, where Jews, Muslims, and Christians all co existed in peace. After rain here, the snails come out instead of worms. Apparently bar owners will walk around and snatch them up and cook em. All of this of coarse we learn through Rick Steves. Ahh what a wonderfully weird guy. Full of so much information and makes me sound so knowledgable, also makes me sound a little like a robot as I try to recall what he says without making it flow together.

We had a late start this morning, and it was glorious. Sleeping in was wonderful as we went to bed late last night will bellies full of Mexican cuisine. We listened to Rick this morning as we were lazy and wanted to continue to do nothing but not waste the day away entirely. What a great way to do it! After we decided it was time to get moving. Luke found a wonderful GLUTEN FREE BAKERY! Yes it was amazing. And so was the customer service as the guy who served us gave us some places that we need to go and visit. Here we each enjoyed a hot beverage as well as a hot sandwich, and dessert. Luke got a delicious cupcake and I got a white chocolate brownie smothered in whip cream and chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmmmm! Was delightful. I hope that we return as it was good eatin.

This place was off of Gran Via which is their Main Street here. Full of large stores and malls and crowds, and crowds of people. There is one square here that they compare to Times Square. Not quite as impressive but still cool to see. People are everywhere. Also being a weekend that doesn't really make things any easier. I am not really a crowd person. Nor would I say Luke is, and that is one thing that we are adjusting to as crowds are becoming apart of our every day life. Sad but true.

Amidst the crowds we have noticed that people in Madrid are better dressed then some of the places we have been so far. Wether that be because they are tourists or just we are in a higher fashion area I am not sure but that seems to be the case. Except when it it comes to some fashions. Now I have a slight disclaimer here. As many of you know I am definitely my own person and a special breed of special, as Luke likes to say, although he follows it up with I love it, or I love you, anyways, I love overalls. I have a pair of overall shorts at home that I wanted bring on the trip and Luke gave me a firm NO, even though I must admit they were a little on the tight side for comfort. :( but overalls are coming back friends!!! And I will be one of the first to jump on this band wagon. I love them and I have no idea why! I will definitely be on board this style no matter what anyone says (sorry everyone in advance) feel free to make comments because I will be so comfortable I won't even care. The one style I will not get on board with though, is crop tops. Sorry folks this is not a flattering style. They are all around here. As Luke likes to sa, also what he says for jeans with rips in them, I hope you paid half price cause you only got half a shirt(or pants). I happen to agree here and will not supper this one. Keep your bellies to yourselves!

The one thing the have consistently succeeded with over here are there French fries! MMMMMM! Delightful they are thick, yet crisp, but not over cooked, they are really everything you could ever want in a French fry. I hope this keeps up cause three more months of perfection in that area I will take.

They have a crazy amount of fountains in Madrid. Almost every traffic circle (and there continue to be many) has a fountain in the middle. Random little squares have fountains. As well as just parks in general or in the middle of any open space. Some are cool then others and much more intricate but they are the masters of them here. Complete with lights in the evening and all.

Another randomly weird thing I didn't know. Let's say cause I am innocent and pure, is that you can roll your own cigarettes. That seems to be the thing over here. Felt real dumb the first time I leaned to Luke to tell him I think a guy just rolled a joint and he told me it was a cigarrette. Now I notice them al the time. People even seem to have special containers that they keep the stuff in. It is crazy how many people here do this all the time. They go for a smoke often so this would seem like more of a chore then anything.

The rooms that we have had so far have pretty consistently been all white. White walls, white sheets, white lights. It is a little odd. I understand it is probably easier for them but still sometimes feels border line hospital like. Luckily not quite that far yet... Yet.

Okay now for a slightly awkward one. PDA, or Public displays of affection. This has never been in Luke and I's interest, ever. It is very European to be all over each other. We have seen it all. Make outs on park benches, strattling each other on stairs, making out standing up, walking around holding each other. We have seen it all, and it is sooooo weird. Awkward really. Especially because no one wants to see that. sorry if you do, but we don't want to see that, I don't want to see that and it is awkward. That's enough of that, we hold hands, that's good enough for us.

So here is a story about the last time I was in Europe, on the Greece and Italy trip in grade 12. I had what my family calls an episode. We had stopped to get refreshments and use the facilities, and it was raining out side. I decided I would run back to the bus where everyone was. As I ran down the stairs, I fell. I mean I really fell. I rolled down a set of outdoor stairs. I got up quickly and ran onto the bus. Promptly found Luke as he was sitting in our seats, and very forcefully told him he needed to move over and get me something to puke in. Now I am pretty certain that I hit my head on my journey down the stair case and I really don't know how I got up. Because I felt so nauseous and I honestly thought I was going to puke. I rolled up one of my pants and saw a massive gauge in my leg, I am fairly certain I probably should have gotten stitches. I also had some other scratches but nothing compared to what was on my shin. I have disgusting pictures of its healing progress. For the rest of the trip Luke had to nurse me back to health. Any how to this day I have a big scare on my shin. Although it is very, very gradually getting smaller but hardly at all. But we saw someone who Luke said had met the ground earlier today which caused us both to think of that. It also did after I fell in London, but I didn't even get a mark from that one. Another proud(in a not so proud way) Lindsay moment of the past.

ANYWAY how about today. Well we walked around a lot and saw many things. Plaza Mayor, where there is some kind of festival happening. Plaza de Espana, many streets as well. Fairly certain we heard fireworks even tonight. Royal Palace that we are going to go back to and actually go in. A Cathedral and the crypts that lay below it, as well as many other places along the way. We ended up at a cafe bar, most cafes here in Europe seem to be cafe bars, and enjoyed a few hours of just being together and people watching. We have definitely had good conversations on our trip. Not about school. Not about work. Just about pretty much anything else that we want. The skies the limit. It has been great to just be together and talk and not have our minds focused anywhere else.