Next Stop - Madrid!

Captain’s Log – Tren AVE 3112 – 12:55 PM

It’s Day 2 here in the vast rolling hills of Spain. This morning we gathered our stuff from our little room in Barcelona and set out for the train station. Victoria and I have been teasing Addy relentlessly about her bag since before we left Colorado, and Karma finally came back around as we wheeled down the streets of the city. Wheeled suitcases are an excellent idea right up to the moment when you’re walking down a sidewalk made entirely of 2-inch tiles, and textured ones at that. You’d think there was a fleet coming we were so loud. We got so many bothered looks. Addy probably felt pretty cool though as we flanked her as her personal marching band and had people practically running away so they could actually hear the conversations they were trying to have. We stopped in a little café on the way for café con leche and croissants (I ate eggs sin leche, don’t worry mom). We paid 6 euros for everything, and tried to pay twice because we thought he had only let Addy pay for hers. Pretty neat! Afterward we made our way to the train station and hopped on (right train, wrong car, but we made it) and were off to Madrid!

Our apartment in Barcelona:

                

Yummy breakfast on a budget

So here we are, on a very nice train (American Airlines should take notes) cruising through the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen. As far as you can see, green and tan fields are patched together to cover the never-ending hills, which reach to the bottom of the distant mountains that would (almost) make the Rockies proud. Vineyards with seemingly infinite rows of deep green vines surround the ivy-covered homes that have no doubt been here for hundreds of years. Occasionally we’ll zoom past a hillside with clusters of buildings and one tall, pointed steeple of a church rising above the tiled roofs of the homes below. Other times we’ll pass areas with no one to be seen at all, just continuous round, bushy trees until they drop out of view. At the start of our journey we caught a quick peak between two mountains of the ocean on the horizon past a small town, a view that won’t be soon forgotten.

Some views from the train:

                 

Tus chicas favoritas ;)

That one view I told you about

We are nearly to Madrid, where the temperature currently sits at a lowly 94 degrees plus humidity. That’s okay though, we are all too excited to mind. We plan to find our apartment downtown, deposit our goods, and go explore!

All we keep saying is, “Pinch me…wait don’t”, “I can’t believe this is real”, and “we are really here.” We are so lucky to have this opportunity and can’t thank everyone enough for the support we received throughout the planning process and the love we feel from you now. We miss you and love you all, and promise to keep you with us through our adventures! Hasta luego!

Staircase in the Barcelona apartment building.