Madrid now

In Madid starting tonight. Have spent the last few days in Barcelona, with a day in Zaragoza (a halfway point between the cities and capital of the Aragon province). Basic summary of stuffI´vedone:

Barcelona´s Cathedral (under construction)
Barcelona´s Zoo (we wanted to!)
Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia and Park Guall, as well as various hotels etc of his
The Olympic stadium and surrounding hullabolu
The Placa Espana and castle in Barcelona
The excavations and subterranian Roman ruins in Zaragoza (docks, forums, baths, and a theatre)
Bus rides...surprisingly interesting. Parts are very Southern California, bits very Europe. Stone houses and old monastaries cropping up in the middle of crop fields, forests and brambly hills. Very ¨oh, I can see Don Quixote here!¨ although of course its the wrong place entirely.

Theo and Ashley are proving interesting traveling partners. As the only Spanish speaker, I feel like the parent occasionally, getting stuff and getting us out of jams (although, as with any dependence, a great deal is contrived. They could manage just as well without me, albeit perhaps a mite slower). Ashley is very much a girl interested in cleanliness and food and ooooh pretty. Theo´s been on the road for a bit and I´ll admit I´m impressed by the sense for directions and maps he´s accquired. The tightly clutched camera and ¨what we should see is what´s on the postcards¨ gets to me, but overall no murders yet. I´ve gotten to do some very cool stuff, but it feels a bit too much like a family vacation (though in hostels eating baguette and chorizo from the supermarket) for my comfort. Madrid has loads of nightlife which I´ll see if I can snag away from the others, as well as hopefully some interesting areas. We all have our different types of tourism, and my preffered one is cultural. Egypt was brilliant for that...this less so. On the first day I was excited because, in dealing with ATM people, I had gotten myself thinking in Spanish. Now I´m solidly back in ye olde Ingles.