Back at "home" in Madrid

We enjoyed a lazy morning including lounging at the beach in Barcelona before flying back to Madrid this afternoon. After another meal at McDonald's (sorry - Lauren and I just aren't adventurous eaters and we've seen way too many things like "eel" and "baby octupus" on the menus here for our liking) we headed back to our hostal. We really love where we're staying. We bought a fresh baguette at a bakery in Barcelona which Lauren loved, so we asked our hostal mama if there was a bakery within walking distance. Today was the first day we've seen most of the area businesses open. Apparently, it's common to be closed on Sundays and Mondays (Tuesday and most of today we were in Barcelona). It ends up that where we're staying is a hopping little neighborhood. We found a corner store and loaded up on snacks and a fresh baguette (which has already been devoured!). Our hostal is just a hundred feet or so from a large Plaza (town square) and tonight there is a huge concert going on there. We're enjoying the music from our room! Looking forward to one more day of exploring Madrid tomorrow and then on to Kenya!

We were thrilled to find a "Spanish Walmart" in Barcelona. I needed sunscreen and we picked up a few more things while we were there... wandered around just looking at things!
A cool sculpture in Barcelona. We walked from our hotel to a shopping center.
The Mediterrean Sea... the beach right across from our hotel. It was pretty, but I think I'm pretty spoiled from the sugar sands of the Gulf. It was crowded - even in the evening and the water was really cold. Lots of thong bathing suits and even some nude bathers, so it was another adventure for these two Southern girls :) We're headed back in the morning to get a bag of sand for our collection.
Lauren in Barcelona.
Us at 5 a.m. in the Madrid airport, headed to Barcelona. Operating on not much sleep! We decided this was our version of "backpacking across Europe"... we went from Madrid to Barcelona for an overnight trip with just our backpacks.We made it to Barcelona! We're enjoying the smells and sounds of the Mediterranean Sea. We left our hostal in Madrid at 4 a.m. this morning, arrived at the airport at 4:30 and proceeded to wait 2 1/2 hours for our flight. We'd been warned to be at the airport at least 2 hours in advance due to long lines, but apparently no one is flying at 4:30 a.m. because we went straight through security and to our gate. Around 5 we found a McDonald's and had breakfast. The McDonald's here have amazing coffee (cafe con leche) which is basically like a really good capuccino. So much better than McDonald's coffee back home! Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Barcelona around 8 a.m., headed to the hotel, and went straight to bed! We're having a really hard time adjusting to the time change and both had insomnia most of the night. I fell asleep around 3 and the alarm went off at 3:30. Lauren didn't get much more than that. After recharging with a long nap, we headed out to explore a local shopping area, ate dinner at a German pub, and went to the beach. Now, we're preparing for the World Cup Game (Spain vs. Portugal). We'll spend the morning at the beach and then head to the airport after lunch to return to Madrid. Looking forward to visiting the Prado Museum on Thursday and exploring the Plaza Mayor shops and restaurants. Then will head to Kenya early Friday morning.

Great day in Spain!

La Puerta del Sol - a major square in downtown Madrid
The entrance to our hostal...

See why I was a little nervous when we arrived yesterday? We absolutely love it though, and it's actually in a very safe area. We have a "hostal mama" who is taking good care of us and we're just one block off of the Gran Via - the main thoroughfare in Madrid. Hostal Mama was able to get the air conditioning working for us today, so I am a happy camper today!

The Gran Via

Amazing architecture all around the city. I took tons of pictures! This is a dome atop one of the buildings.
The National Cathedral next to the Royal Palace.Okay... so today we really discovered Madrid - from the top of a double decker bus. It was a blast. We had amazing views of everything and decided to ride the full 70 minute route and then take it a second time getting on and off (we had a full day pass). We ended up riding it a third time to visit La Puerta del Sol (a major square) and to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We're doing a lot of speaking in Spanish... my favorite souvenir of the day - really cool handmade art out of a cerveza (beer) can. A guy was sitting on the street making them (Lauren got her picture with him). All for 1 euro. Can't beat that!

A taxi is coming for us at 4 a.m. so we can go to Barcelona tomorrow and hang out on the beach. We're traveling light - backpacks only and are leaving everything else at our hostal. We ended up getting flights for $90 - way cheaper than the train. We're spending one night in Barcelona and will be back in Madrid late Wednesday afternoon. We're going to attempt to get from the airport to the hostal on the subway. I mapped the route tonight and it's going to be crazy! I think we have to change lines three times!!

Not sure if we'll have internet access in Barcelona or night... this trip has been planned "Lauren style" which means completely no plan :) It is a lot of fun, though... More from Spain in the next day or two...

Pictures from our first class travels :)

Can't sleep...

Okay, so don't usually expect three posts in one day :) I can't sleep and have been laying in bed listening to the sounds of Spain outside my balcony door and am hungry from the wonderful smells of the family who runs the hostal cooking their dinner across the hall. After a shower and brief nap, I am much happier to be in Spain than I was in my earlier post. I also figured out that my adaptor comes apart and guess what was inside??? Yep - a European adaptor, so I now have a hair dryer and can recharge my laptop. Life is good!

I'm starting to get into this whole hostal experience... everything is an adventure. The shower, for example, was made for midgets. I had to stand in one place with about 4 inches between me and the shower wall. No shelf to put your shampoo or soap on. I felt like a gymnast every time I bent down to pick something up. The decorator in me loves the clean lines and colors of the room. Everything is bright white with wood floors, doors, and furniture. The room is tiny - about 10 x 10 with two twin beds and a nightstand between. The beds, however, have beautiful white European linens and there are flowy white linen drapes that move in the breeze. It's all incredibly peaceful - looking, that is. Madrid is tall building upon tall building. If I lean way out my balcony, I could probably touch hands with the person across the way. There's lots of singing, shouting, and blaring of tv. So far it's fun to listen to (ask me again at 3 a.m.). So far, I'm not tempted to move to the hotel - I'm liking feeling a part of things.

I just have to mention the flight here one more time for those who have never flown business/first class across the ocean. It was so amazing! I couldn't get over the amount of space we had (think exit row leg room times five!) with private tv's, noise reducing headphones, down pillows, and quilted blankets. They also gave us little personal kits with slipper socks, toothpaste/toothbrush, lotion, chapstick, and other necessities (it was like Christmas when I dug mine out today and looked through it). We were greeted with champagne and mimosas and the food just got better from there. Dinner was a multi-course meal with cloth tablecloths (and hot towels to wash your hands with first). We had two appetizers, soup, salad, and our choice of entree. Lauren and I went with the filet mignon which was wonderful. They had a whole cart of desserts including chocolate cheesecake and made-to-order sundaes. They also had a nice selection of wines including my favorite - Tawny Port - which helped put me right to sleep after dinner. It was probably obvious to everyone else that Lauren and I had been upgraded - we kept ooing and ahhing and snapping pictures of everything.

Tomorrow, we go in search of a Spanish adventure... enough already of shopping and touristy restaurants. We want to eat real Spanish food, shop in a market, and see the amazing architecture we've heard so much about. We're starting the day out with a double decker bus tour so we can get the lay of the land and then we'll start using the subway to get around the city.

Hope all is well with each of you. Thanks for sharing in our adventure!

oops... forgot

I was typing in a hurry because I'm running out of battery. Our converter DOES NOT WORK here and so far we've been unable to find a place to get one. So, it's possible that I won't be able to post again until I arrive in Kenya in almost a week. Just didn't want folks worrying!

Spain

Wow... we're here in Spain. So far we're off to a mixed start. We were LUCKY to be upgraded to first class for the 8 hour flight from Atlanta to Madrid. It was amazing. Even better than my first class experiences in the US. The seats completely reclined and we were able to sleep for several hours. The taxi service met us upon arrival (thanks, Linda Holden, for suggesting I book airport transfers ahead of time). We had a fabulous mercedes. Then we arrived at our hostal... hmmm... interesting is all I can say. It's a tiny place with about 5 rooms (looks like sometime turned an apartment into a mini-hotel). While they advertised air conditioning, it appears to me that they just mounted a thermostat on the wall for looks. We arrived here at around 10 but our room wasn't ready until after 1. We'll see if I can manage to survive a week with no A/C in a tiny room on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator!! I've already checked with the hotel around the corner and they have vacancies if I get tired of this "adventure".

We got out for a few hours and explored Madrid on foot today. We're staying right off of the Gran Via which is the main shopping district. It's Sunday so lots of places were closed. What we did see were primarily restaurants and clothing/shoe shops. The prices seem to be significantly higher than in the US. Tomorrow, we're planning to get on the double decker tour bus and see other parts of the city. The subway system is massive here, so we'll have a way to get around (if we can figure it out!). I'm surprised at how few people speak English and also impressed with Lauren's Spanish. She's had to be the primary communicator at our hostal where there is NO English spoken.

Tuesday we head to Barcelona for some time on the beach and then to Kenya on Friday.

On the way...

Hello from the Atlanta airport! We left home at 9 this morning and are hanging out in the Delta Sky Club getting ready for the US World Cup soccer game to start. We have a 6 hour layover here in Atlanta, so I thought I'd go ahead and get started blogging. Lauren is thrilled that we are able to catch the soccer game - our layover coordinated perfectly with the world cup schedule. We are excited about our trip! David arrived in Kenya at 6:30 this morning local time (about 10:30 p.m. Central Time last night). I'm sure he and the rest of his team are catching up on rest, although I know they did visit the orphanage this morning. The biggest need right at the moment for our friends in Kenya is prayer. A few days ago there was a terrible accident involving a school bus. Several lives were lost and Patrick (the orphanage director) has a niece and nephew who were on the bus and who were injured. The latest update is that his niece, Rosemary, suffered facial injuries but will recover. His nephew, Solomon, had major trauma (including the loss of one his ears) and was in ICU the last I heard. His ear reattachment surgery and hospitalization costs have already exceeded $5,000. While that isn't an outrageous amount by our standards, most Kenyans subsist on less than $1,000 a year, so this amount is extraordinary for them. I understand that Solomon won't be released from the hospital until his bill is paid. Please lift Solomon, Rosemary, and their family up in your prayers. If you would like to contribute to help with Solomon's medical expenses, please do so through Global Connections. If you're in the Columbus area, their office is located at Brickerton inside the Brickyard Properties Office Suite. If you're from out of town, the mailing address and contact info are on the website: www.globalconnectionsonline.org. Thanks so much to Anna Puckett who was the first of our team to arrive in Kenya and who has been sending wonderful email updates.

At 9:30 a.m. local time (Sunday), Lauren and I should arrive in Madrid (2:30 a.m. Central Time). We'll spend Sunday and Monday in Madrid, Tuesday and Wednesday in Barcelona, and Thursday back in Madrid before flying to Kenya early Friday morning. This trip is completely in Lauren's hands, so other than airport transfers and accommodations, we have no plan and no schedule. She wanted to stay in a hostal instead of a hotel, so we're doing that (except in Barcelona where we have a hotel on the beach). We also plan to watch world cup soccer in a local establishment - it should be crazy because Spain is apparently playing Tuesday night, and I hear that Spaniards are intense soccer fans. We're looking forward to swimming in the Mediterranean when we go to Barcelona. We actually went to the Mediterranean last year when we were in Egypt and put our feet in the water. It was far too dirty and crowded there, though, to swim.

Some of you know that Lauren is being baptized in a lake in Kenya the first Sunday we are there (July 4). Please keep her in your prayers as she takes this important step in her faith. Please also be praying for health and safety for our entire team during the next four weeks.

My next post should be from Spain... Adios amigos :)

Getting ready to return to Kenya

Our family is once again preparing for a trip to Kenya. David will be there June 24-July 8, and Lauren and I will be there July 2-22. Lauren and I leave on June 26th and will spend almost a week in Spain on our way to Kenya.

We are already packed and ready to go because Lauren and I are living on campus for the Mississippi Governor's School which ends on June 25th (we will fly out the next morning).

We appreciate your thoughts and prayers and are planning to post blog entries every few days or as our limited internet access allows.

I am so looking forward to seeing our many friends, especially our godchild John Kahera.

Read on if you'd like to know about our 2009 trip... I've left up all of the posts from last year.