Day 6 - 5/28/2003 - Day of Obnoxious Children

Temperature: 29° C = 84° F
Weather: Sunny!
Location: Madrid and Segovia

The day started with a journey to Segovia (a lovely town north of Madrid) to see a castle and aqueducts. On the two-hour train ride there, however, there were obnoxious teenagers running around, hooting and hollering at all the women who walked by and even spouted some teasing our way. Even though we didn’t understand the language, we knew what they were saying wasn’t friendly. It goes to show how much of communication is non-verbal.

When they got off the train, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. I was able to concentrate on writing in my journal and we were able to enjoy the view from our train’s window.

We took a bus to the Catholic Church in town and walked from there to the Alcazar, a “castle in the clouds” or “fairy-tale castle.” It was pretty impressive, but we were still more impressed with the castle from Seville. There were so many kids there. There must have been a field trip or something because there must have been5 groups of 30 grade-school kids. We rented a couple of audio-guides again and walked through the castle. Most of the castle was burned down in the 1800’s, so there wasn’t much left that was original. At the end of our tour, we went up 150 steps to the tower of the castle. It was pretty high up, and the narrow spiral staircase was the only way up and down the tower, and the kids were clogging the stairway, but it was the only way up and down the tower, and the kids were clogging the stairway, but it was worth the climb. We could see a nearby cathedral and some other great views of the surrounding area.

After the castle, we went to the aqueducts. They were huge (about 95 feet tall and 800 meters wide)! We ate a late lunch at “Meson de Candidos” and sat at a table overlooking the aqueducts. It was perfect! I had leg of lamb and Hilary had roast pork and both were amazing. Fromer’s recommended the restaurant. Perhaps the book tells the truth every now and then. =)

We took a few quick pictures and hurried back to the train station and just made our train back to Madrid. We freaked out, too, because after we got on the train, it kept saying it was going to Guadalajara, which is WAY out of the way. We thought we got on the wrong train, but as it turns out, Guadalajara is the end of the line. After Madrid, it loops around to go there. Thanks to our new friends from Ireland on the train that helped us figure that out! =)

Now, I’m still on that train and I’m all caught up writing about the last three days. My hand is cramped, so I’ll let you know how the rest of the day ends up later! =)
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It was the right train! =) We got back to Madrid and headed towards Plaza Espana, but it was under construction, so we left to go back to the hotel and drop off our things.

We went to the internet café to have some tappas (appetizers) and to write home. We passed by a neat-looking outdoor mini-mall, too. In the restaurant, we ordered canapés (buttered toast with different toping sand Hilary had a glass of San Gria! She liked it!

After the meal, we had ice cream and headed upstairs for the internet. Our email was down (go figure) so we couldn’t send mail or check mail. I did chat with Dave and Saj! Saj wrote, “Seeeeeeeeeenniorrrrrr AAAAAAANDERRSONNN” ehhehe. Dave kept going “SPAIN!? You’re in SPAIN!?” in disbelief! =)

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