Mas!

I've been looking over all the Spain pictures and decided I'm not done yet. David's close friend and coworker, Mark, had to travel there too, so to keep the ladies at bay, he brought his wife for me to hang out with. Yes, we were set up on a "play-date".
Lucky for us, we totally hit it off. This is her and me annoying our husbands and acting goofy. The streets were so narrow in some parts-and cars would zip right through. We had to slide our backs against the walls to let them by sometimes. Anyway, Lori, Mark's wife, was a delight. We yukked it up the whole week. Our husbands will probably never let us see each other again.
Here I am looking for more euros. That's the curency. Sadly, our precious dollar is worth $1.30 to their one. Also, they have one and two dollar coins. There would be beggars on the metro we rode into town. Several had kareoke machines and sang for their captive audiences. Some played instruments...you get the idea. Then, just before the train would stop, they would walk around with an open coin purse. I think I gave away five bucks a pop, thinking it was fifty cents! I hope I get points in heaven for my generosity.

Lori and I quickly became obsessed with buying "Botas" and scarves. We couldn't get enough. They were fairly inexpensive and looking back, I wish I had bought more. Sniffle. Moving on...

I ate gellato every chance I got. One day when the men were working ( 6 out of the 7, if you must know) and we roamed the streets ( doesn't that sound delightful?), I ate three double scoops. I am not ashamed. My only regret is that now I am going through detox. Not pretty.

On one occasion we went to see flamenco dancers. It was so fun! Boy can those ladies stamp their feet! We got to hoot and churn them on as we ate delicious paella with fresh seafood. Yum.

The hotel was nice. David has been traveling like mad ever since he got out of college, and has racked up some nice points in the hotel department. His co-worker, who has traveled as much as him never signed up for these points. Daily,David and I teased the poor lowly "2nd" floor dwellers as we sat in the "executive lounge" with our thrice a day freshly stocked buffet. We had pity on them on occasion and threw down a "Coca Cola light" every once in a while. Poor dears.

The hotel had a lovely gym. Even better was their sauna. I could get addicted to that thing.

The flight is a ten hour squashed feet and stuffy headed day of bliss. On our way home some chain smoker decided he could sneak a smoke in the bathroom. Obviously that went well. Alarms, warnings, stinky plane...etc. What happens a couple hours later? The smarty pants does it again!!! Normally I don't like to get involved in the correcting the behaviors of those around me, but when we are flying over the ocean, and you filling our air with smoke, risking a fire, and waking those around you with the alarm, I hope you get what you deserve. That is all I am going to say about that.


David and I got busted for this picture. Do not enjoy the hockey playing knight. It is illegal.

This is Mark and Lori. They were such good sports to hang with us.



Here we are on the tour bus. Shameless tourists. Every time I attempted to speak Spanish, I must have really impressed the locals because they answered with such speedy responses that I left tongue twisted. Note to self" brush up on deciphering Spanish for next trip! Oh yes. There will be a next trip. Who wants to watch my kids? Anyone? They got sick with bronchitis, spent a few nights wheezing and fevered, lost a tooth, had to be dressed in hockey gear on several occasions, and begged for taco bell nightly. If this sounds like your thing, feel free to volunteer.