the rainbow...

today i finally found a place to burn my pictures cuz i had no more space left on my memory card...God provides...
then i went to h&m to return a shirt that was defective that i bought when i got here...in my limited german i got a full exchange...God provides...
then i get a call from my boss...next week daniela and I were supposed both go to innsbruck to teach...but there aren´t enough registrations...long story short one of us needs to stay and one of us needs to go...the one who stays doesn´t have work...its inconvinient for both of us...
As I got off the bus...it started to rain..not enought to soak me but more like a sun shower...then as I looked up i saw a rainbow behind the beautiful mountains i see everyday and i remembered...God provides..
pray that this situation with Innsbruck will work out friends...i love u all..
daniela

Teachnig in Austria...tales from week 2

hi friends...
2 blogs in a row...aren´t u lucky..

in yesterdays epistle...i mentioned that i had started teachign this week...
well i was assigned a group of 8-11 year olds in Dornbirn which is the city with the main train station nearest to me...we´re in this place called a Kolpinghaus...its kinda like a residence and restaurant and community centre i´m not really sure how to explina it..at any rate its very nice and the people that work there have been great with us and the kids...
Since the group below me (which was assinged to my friend Lorna) only had 3 kids...we blended them together and are doign a team teaching kinda deal...
it works well but we definitely have to repeat things a lot because the younger ones don´t pick it up as quickly...we even have one 5 year old who can´t write yet..Tabea...she is so cute i could eat her...she actually reminds me alot of Laurie when she was a kid...all small and mousy...ha!
there are 8 kids in our class in total and i set of twins...identical...sadly but luckily one of the twins...Chiarra...has a broken arm or else we couldn´t tell her apart from her sister Nina.
We do some structured lessons and a lot of games and activities in bewteen which makes the day fly by. The kids have a lot of fun and i´m exhausted by days end...
On the first day, one little boy kep having crying fits and telling us he wanted to go home cuy his grandpa brought him to cmap without asking him frist...
he is super cute and has long long eyelashes that touch his glasses so wehn he started crying they would fog up...it was so cute...he was fine after lunch and came back wtih a big smile on his face ever since...
LAst week at the camps the kids were playing stella ella olla in german andso we taught them the english one and now we do that whereever we go...these kids picked it up really quick and now i spend all break refereeing stella ella olla games..althought to my advantage i have also learned the german version quite well...
The kids here eat a lot and things that you would never imagine kids at home eating...
they get a snack at 10 30 whcih is usallly yogurt...which is so yumy here...and then eat lunch at 12 30...becasue there is a restaurant at this site its a full affair... we get soup, salad and a main dish froma choice of 3...it takes us like an hour to eat lunch...yesterday they served onion soup adn the kids ate it up...its really neat to see...today onthe menu there was something tha ti couldn´t decipher but all the kids were picking it and in my limited but functional german i asked..." was ist das"...they coulnd´t explain but siad it was good so i picked it...it tunred out to be this delicious thing that seemed more like desert than lunch...it was these little oven baked bread rolls with apircot preserve inside and sitting a bet of vanialla custard wtih furit salad...its a very typical dish called buchtnel...and i´m so glad i tried it...the kids were so excited and kept asking me if i ilked it and i thouroughly did so they were happy...
it is quite a challange to communicate with the children..thank goodness for lorna who speaks german and can translate thing sto them when they really don´t undersatnd the instructions. The kids are so funny too because they run up to me and start rambling in german and i don´t understand a thing...but they dno´t mind...sometimes i even make the sounds that the teacher in Peanuts used to make to Charlie Brown and they just laugh and keep spekaing German...
They say my name differently here too...its not like at home...its more like Daa-neee-ayyyy-la...its really fun..
u have to hear it i guess...
I do have one little terror who just has a bad attitude and gave a anoter kid a fat lip by pushing him the first day...but a couple of stern loks and he´s under control for a couple of hours before he needs another reminder...he is very brihgt however and has excellent enunciation...
Today we took the kids to the playground after lunch and as we were walking over the kids decided to teach me german so they would point to things they knew in english and then make me say them in german...looks like the tables have turned....hahaha..i was quite good i must say...
Tomorrow is water day so we are going to have lots of water games which should be fun...Friday is our children´s theatre...where our parents come and watch ...we are doing a skit and some songs and a weater report which is so cute...
I really wish you guys could see this all its super fun...and its just not the same written down...but i will definitely make up for it by talking ur ears off wheni get back...

Just another little story...on monday night after work the girls that are here this week and louis the one guy went up the cable car in lusteneau...when we got to the top i was intotal silence for like 15 minutes...whcih is a record for me...it was so stunning...i took a million pictures but no one will ever understand the beauty that i witnessed...we had dinner atop the mountain with a friendly waiter who spoke to us all in our correct languages...then we watched the sunset..the colours changed from moment to moment as the city below slowed down and settled in for the night mirroring the sun being tucked in behind the mountains...it was the picture of majesty and perfection that only a skilled Artist could have produced...the heavens declare His glory...we went down the cable car after the sun was gone and headed home...it was such a great experience i will relish it for a long time to come..

well time to go...i have to have energy to run away from all those water baloons tomorrow.

miss u and love u all...keep praying!

Daa-neee-ayyy-la

1present+1 sausage and beer fest +1 trip to switzerland= daniela´s weekend

hi friends...
sorry i haven´t blogged fora while i know u all must have been missing me and my elongated stories...ha!

i had a super weekend here in austria and switzerland...but first iäll tell u about the job...
last week i was helping out with the older group in Bregenz a city near Lustenau (where i live) . the camp was in a monastery and we just used their rooms...it was a really stunning view but a walk up 43 strais eveymorning takes its toll. the kids were really great...the older bunch daniela and i had were kinda dull intha they really didnt want to do any activites and just wanted to play bingo...but they were nice enough...
at the end of the week we invite all the parents to come and watcha litle presentatiion...and our kids told some jokes did a skit and snag fish and chips and vinegar...but they pronounced it WINEGAR because in german v is w...it was funny...at they end some of the girls came and gave us choucalate which was sweet.
We were exhausted friday night and wanted to take it easy since we were leaving for swityerland over the weekend... so we went to this pool down our street which is kinda like a water park. It has a number of diving borads a slide and a lazy river...which we fully exploited until closing time. After that our boos called and told us that in the center square there was going to be this big beer and sausage and music fest. All the girls got ready (which took a while) and we went...
A lot of the streets in Lustenau were closed off so it was kinda a big deal. There was people everywhere eating wurst and drinking beer it was really cool to see the culture up close...i was able to order from the guy in german although they still kinda laugh at me... they eat sausage here like crazy people and i love it...and i had this thing called radeler which is like half beer and half saprkling lemonade...i knwo it sounds gross but its really good...we were too late for the music but we had a fun time after a long week...
On Sat. morning Trapani and I hit the road for Switzerland...we headed for Lucerne first...like true europeans we grabbed a pastry and a coffee on the way and ate it on the train...
we got to lucerne and cheked into our hostel which was really nice...at least copared to our air matress on the floor here inthe pfadeheim..we wen tout into the city and dicovered that we´d made it for thier annual blues festival called the blue balls festival...we got to see some of that at night which was nice...
we explored the city which is so beautiful...it remined me a lot of paris but in a new way..the bridges and the old city are really beautiful ... i had raclette on this elevated cafe the spreuebrucke and then we had super itis....we waled around some more and went to see the slain lion...then like always i had this burst of energy and we walked up to the old city walla nd climed up for a beautiful view of the city...we did some shopping after that for chocolate and watches and other swiss paraphenelia...we were exhasuted so we wen tback to take a little nap.
At night we headed out again and got to see the music festival there were people everywhere and it was by the water so everything was lit up and stunning...we bought some gelato and sat on the boardwalk while we listened to the blues and watched the one of the many swans in lucerne...
the next morning we headed to zurich...it was sunday so we know it would be kinda a quiet day... we walked down the banhofstrausee which is like the most capitalist road in europe maybe the world...it wasnt busy but we window shopped at all the high end stores...we saw the square where the swiss bank has its gold depostis and then waled down to the harbour...we eplored the 3 major churches and saw the beautiful architechture and satined glass...then i wanted to dfind this city park whcih was built on the old roman post but we wnadered in circiles until we finallly realiyed it was up a million stairs...we went up and saw a beautiful view of the river bank and the city and giant chess boards which are everywhere here and which i love...then we walked back down to the staiong bought some sausage adn bread and headed home...
it was such a great trip..really relaxing and just beautiful wherever u looked...
neways there are lots more stories but i cant possibly tell themall so uöll have to wait about 5 weeks to hear them in person...
this week i am teaching and its goign really great...more detail maybe tomorroe but for now we had one crier and a fight today...but daniela´s deathly teacher look did the trick...and i know stella ella ola but in german...i know u can´t wait to hear that...
thanks for ur good thougths and prayers...
i miss u and love u all...
danie

Week one and the fun has just begun...

hello all!
im still alive but our internet went down at the pfadeheim so we went to a little cafe down the street which gives u free internet when u buy a drink...this is good because i wanted an ice coffee..its this very austrian thing that ive been dying to try since munich and so i had one adn get to check the internet...
neway our first week is goign great so far...i had kinda aquiet dayyesterda because i was working at the house while the girls went to their campsites..
it was good because ive been nonstop for the last couple of weeks and i never realiyed how much i really need a quiet day at home sometimes...although i do that in toronto too sometimes..i was able to correct the french and spanish porgrams which had a alot of porblems and also clean our house...i know my mom is gonna be raving that i clean when i´m not at home ...but it was really filthy mommy...
i think thats the one thing i do´t like baout living with som many people...the different habits i mean...u who know me know i am no clean or neat freak..like lidia...but there are some things that bug me...like kitchens...so i took it upon myself to organiye our common area and mop the whole house...it was spotless when the girls got home so they were so happy and now we´re all keeping it up...so i just go tthe ball rolling...
since we´re here all week we had to do groceries yesterday so i met som e of the girls at the messepark... shpping takes forever as i mentioned beofre becaseu we donßt know what anything is and we havea really small fridge so we canßt buy anything big or that requires a freeyer..which is kinda sucky but oh well...daniela and i are like a married couple we share eveything and it works out really well (WE´RE LISTENING TO SONNY WHO TOLD US TO TAKE CARE OF EACHOTHER)..we ate pasta yesterday and had some pie for desert which was super...and then today we made this awesome salád...we just hink we´re suzy homemaker now...hahaha...not...
today i got to go to one of the camps and help with the older kidas...its really chill and the kids are great...well behaved and cute...the place where we were is so beuatiful...i canßt ge tover how nice eveything is to look at here...i use the word beautiful a million times a day...we saw the samlled house in all of europe today on the way home form work...and stopped at a cafe for a pastry...we also did some shopping at the meesspark chocolates and clothes from h and m...i canßt get away from that store man...hahah...
i´m not sure what else to write cuz im really starign to get into a routine here and its kinda becoming like home...eventhough i miss all of u of course...
we may be heading to swityerland over this weekend we have off..so please pray for our safety in travel...
oh and i guess i should update u on my german...i am quite fluent inthe numbers up to 10 now and know basic thing slike hello and excuse me...i can´t speak any german...my name is...and cheese...which i eat to no end here beacuse its so good and so is the yogurt...other than that i´m positively awful at this language i have no instinct about it except when its written ...i have never felt like this like no understanding anything when people speak...its kind of interesting and weird too...at anyy rate...my self taught german tapes are not helping much...but oh well...oh the othe word i know is schimitellinge...which means butterfly...we use that for eveything changing our voice and facial expression depending on the situation...i´m sure u can imagine the looks i get... as i yell schimitallinge when i trip onthe cobblestones inthe center of town...ha!

love u and miss u all...
daniela at the (s)lokal cafe

New place, new travel partner, new adventures

hi friends...
sorry i haven´t been in touch since i got to Austria...its been extremely busy and i haven´t had time to write but hopefully i cna let u in on some of the wonderful things that i´ve been doing..
Daniela and I were lucky to find each other in the huge Munich airport..we headed on the metro to the Hauptbahnhof ...central station in Munich...it was funny because i felt like a local with Daniela in tow since I had already had a chance to kinda figure out the city the day before...at any rate we got there and got my luggae which was in a locker and then went to grab something to eat across the street..
We ordered some food and .5 L of a Sprite like drink which we discovered is quite a lot...haha...Daniela was worried about her potato salad having dairy so she asked our waiter if there was cheese or milk and he stood there and said ...cheese...milk...and thought long and hard and ten said no...it was so funny...Daniela is adding that impression to her repetoire and can´t wait to show it to everyone...hahha
we got on the train and had to transfer about 3 times which was kinda hard because our first change changed the platform from the one on the schedule and the announcement was in German...luckilx this lady was nice enough to ask us where we were going and told us te new platform...we finally got to Dornbirn which is the city near where we are living...if u look at it on the map its actuallz really close to Switzzerland...and Lustenau the city where we are living is on the border on the map and we can walk from our house over the border...ha!
We were sitting at the bus station right outside the train station and it really reminded us of the 905 (SONNY WE CAN´T GET AWAY FROM IT) the buses came like every 40 minutes...
Well we had to sit there for quite a while and suddenly we heard this big group of girls speaking English...i turned and saw it was one of the girls from York so we had found the other teachesr...they were on their way out to dinner cuy it was a Friday night but since we were all tired and sweaty from out trip we decided to just head home...they explained how to get from there onthe bus which was similar to what we had but it was still kinda consugin and very assumptive but for some reason we weren´t worried...until we got on the bus..
We had to get off at a roundabout taht had a huge triangle and circle...
we found it easy enough..the girls told us to take another bus that was across the street and get on and ask for the EISHALLE...whcih means skating rink and that we would get right to the house...which is a scouts house called PFADIHEIM...scouts are called PFADI (pronounced FATTY) here so u can imagine how much fun i´m having with that
We crossed the street and got onto another bus after asking soem kids where the EISHALLE was they looked confused and told us to get onthebus. We got on and asked the bus driver who looked at us completley puzzled...we asked those same boys and somehow they explained to us that they would tell us when to get off...they told us to get off in front of this mall called the Messepark and we did...we looked for something that resemled an ice rink and walked in that direction...however there was nothing...we saw this really cute house that looked like it was out of a story book...white washed walls borwn trim and red flowers in pots in the windows...and hoped it was our house but no...
We asked some man across the street where to go and he said the bus signs were untrue or soemthing along those lines...at which point we were ready to cry..
we decided to take the bus back in the direction we´d come and this time asked for the eishalle in Lustenau to which we got something in German and some signals to get on the bus.
We did and talked to a man on the bus who spoke English..we got ourselves back to the roundabout and the bus driver told us we had to walk 30 minutes down a street because the bus connection wasn´t running...the other guy told us 15 minutes so we were kinda confused...
We started walking and walking and walking....down a street with industiral building on one side and farmland on the other...and a pick your own sunflowers field...haha
we got to a cross walk and didn´t know where to go...some man came by in a car and we asked and he said keep walking 2 more minutes...
We finally came upon a big building that said rhein halle...same as eishalle and the pfadiheim whcih looks like a camping lodge...
the director of the camps had left us a note onthe door stating that the key was under the rock...we thought that was brilliant...
Since none of the girls were home we had a chance to explore and see the house...
its really big and theres wood everywhere...there aren´t beds so we´re on airmatresses right now...but we move to teach in different cities every week so thats not for long...
On that first night some other girls arrived...in total there are 12 or 13 of us and 1 guy...haha...poor Louie..
We all kinda set up that night and kinda got to know eachother...all the girsl are great...its a little surreal to be living in a house full of teacehrs...tonight we were all siting around planning together...it was kinda bizarre...
There are 3 other girls from Canada and the rest are from Oxford in England...we have a lot of time together so its benn really fun getting to know them there are some form london and ireland...and most of them have travelled the world and study modern languages so its so fun to talk to them...and since i love talking well u know how that goes...
This is a really long blog so you should read it in installments but since I have the chance to write i figure i imght as well tell u evercthing...so don´t complain Naomi...
On the Sat. we woke up early and ate whatever was left inthe fridge from the week which wasnßt much we were in dire need of food so we went to the interspar to go grocery shopping...that was an adventure...it took Daniela and I like 15 minutes to decipher that OHNE ZUCKER meant no sugar added and then we found out that it said it in English onthe back of another box...we bought some lunch meats and cheesea nd some breakfast food like eggs and yogurt for the weekend. Since the buses are like in the 905 it took us a year to get back home..and on weekends the bus doesnßt run down our street so we had to walk that bit again...with bags fo food...
We were scheduled to meet with the director at 2pm and thank goodness we made it back in time to make a sandwich and get ready. We had our little orientationa dn got our assignments for the week. There are a ton of materials and the curriculum is all planned out which is reassuring...
I am not teaching this week because they are expanding the program to Spanish and Stefan needs me to translate some stuff so I´ll be working out of the office this week...Daniela is stationed in Bregenz a town about 10 minutes by train from here...but for this week we are living inthe Pfadiheim in Lustenau...which is good..
At night we went to this restaurant for dinner which is right down the stret from our house but inthe middle of these industrail buildings...its a little odd...but the food was great adn they had a live band on the outdor patio which played a lot of classic rock in German...that was fun...then someone from the press came and took lots of pictures at which time we thought we should go home.

This morning we planned to go to Lake Constance which is this beautiful mountain lake in BRegenz nearby...we cuaght the bus into Dornbirn and took the train from there...we got there and just walked aroudna nd got some ice cream while we looked for te beack part of the lake...
We found it and had a day of swimming and sun bathing...i think my tan is a little more even...but u should see the women here they have the most gorgeus tans i have ever seen...i´m so envious...but i think its because they sunbathe nude and i´m just not going there...hahaha
For dinner we ate on this little cafe on water...i had backed camembert in cranberry sauce which was delicious...Jenn you would love it...its like baked and breaded cheese...
The meals here are so slow and you really get to enoy evey part of it...we had a great time talking wtih the girls and enjoying the food...i love european dining more than canadian i think...and i love eating in restaurants at home so u can imagine me here..
Everything here has been great so far and the sights are just beautiful. We´re at the foot of the Swiss Alps and see that everytime we walk down the street to the bus. Its absolutely breathtaking and gets me everytime. The community is so quaint and lovely it looks to be out of a picture book and i love it. The lake we went to today was so stunning with the clear water and the mountains dotted with little houses inthe back grounds...I am so thankful everytime I see something new for the opportunity to be here... I am loving every moment and making the best of it while I´m here...
Sorry for the length of this post but there was a lot to tell and I really felt like my heart was gonna burst if I didn´t share with you all how blessed I´ve been the last couple of days...
I hope you´re all doing well too...i miss u very much
Daniela from Austria

And so it begins...

hello friends...
well the gypsie part of my trip is over and Laurie left from Munich on Friday afternoon...
We had a faboulous time in Munich which is such a modern city that really reminded us of home...
We went on a bike tour with a tour company whose guides were so hilarious..we had such a great time on these 50s style bikes with reallywide handle bars... we drove all around munich and stopped at significant sights...such as the very dissppointing glockenpiel....which was so funny becuse it was so throughly dissappointing...
half way through the bike ride we stopped at the world´s second largest bier garten and had some pretzels, french fries, bratwurst and 1 litre of beer...we didn´t know what we were ordering so when we got the litre of beer we were floored..we drank as much as we could and then had some serious itis...but we got back on the bikes...and kept sightseeing..Laurie was swerving a lot...haha
at one point during the tour we also rode through the Enlgihs Garten this huge metropolitan garden twice the siye of Central Park...we came upon this man made river which had a really strong current and the guides made us jump in and float downstrwam then go under and bridege and get out...then we jumped in again a little farther up stream and swam ot the left bank where there were big rock underwaterand a sort of break wall that had the water go over it with tremoundous force ...you had to carefuly ste over the wall and stand on the other side making sure that the force of the water didn´t topple you over...then when you were balnced you could st down and the water would go over your back like a hydro massage...the water was so forcefu lthat it would go over your head and you would dissappear under the fall...no one had bathing suits so every one jumped in with clothes anda ll...including me...it was one of the coolest experiences i had and laurie took lots of video for you guy so that you can see it if my explanantion is unlcear and doesnt do it justice...

When in Rome...

Hi Friends,
well we got to Rome after some bumps but we're none the worse for wear and have had a faboulous time in Rome. This is our last night here and we've had such a good time even though our stay in Rome was a bit shortened. Thank you for all your prayers about our train it really helped. We were able to get a train from Paris to Nice and then stayed in Nice a couple of hours...we hit the beach for a break from all our running around and enjoyed the beautiful blue water and the scenery...
we fell asleep on the beach and woke up a little late...we walked up a main avenue to a restaurant and ordered some food but then realized we didn't have time...so we just drank the wine and put the bread in our backpack and paid for waht we had and cancelled our order...then we had to do an "amazing race" sprint to the train...when we finally got on we were in a first class compartment with these french people going to their yacht and we were all sweaty from running and with bags hanging from all our limbs...it was a great frist impression...
As it turns out the french people were super nice and we had some good laughs with them and practiced our French. They got off at Genoa and then we had some new travelling companions from Milan.
However, it was here that our train trouble continued.
The train had some "technical" trouble...which is the lingua franca for no one knows what the heck is wrong...and the train came to a complete stop and the enigine turned off.We were there for at least 1.5 hours until they decided to go back to Genoa and attach a new engine to the train and take us to Milan. At this point we had miseed our connnection in MILan to Rome so we were kinda sad....we would have to catch the last train to Rome which was a regional train and would get us there at 6 00 when we were supposed to be there at 2330. At any rate we got to Milan and got onthe train that we didnàt have reservations for. We found an empty car and fell asleep on seat which looked like they,d been there since the Second World War. We were so tried so our sleep was qutie proufound...so profound infact that we missed the announcement to Rome and woke up in Cascerta...near Naples...3 hours from Rome. We jumped off the train in a Frenzy and went to talk to someone from the train station. A super nice lady helped us get back onto the train to Rome and we finally arrived here at 10 00. We hit the city right away and saw all the sites of ancient rome...then we updated it a bit and watche dth world cup final with 2 million italians in the circo massimo...(look it up on wikipedia)..we did as the romans and got some pizza to go, some gelato and of course a giant flag...
we sang the songs, scream and jumped at all the appropraite times and had a great time...
we felt a little like traitors since a couple of days before we had marched up the champs elysees with france flags in flight and shouting French cheers as France eliminated Portugal...but when in Rome do as the Romans do...right?

We're off to Pisa and Venice tomorrow and hopefully we'll write ou from there...this is the last week of our little tour so we're on our last battery life...Laurie will be home before u know it...and i'll be practicing my german...

keep praying!
we love u!
danie and laurie

one more thing..

hi again!
still downloading here...arghhhh
just one more thing I have to ask you for...the trains to Rome are all booked and we might not be able to get there if thats the case...please pray...we are going to the train station this afternoon to see if there are any cancellations and we can get a ticket...if not we are going to Nice for a day and hopefully we can get a train from there...please pray that something opens up on the 8:00 train to Rome.

thanks friends!

daniela

No time to write when you're having fun...

Bonjour from Paris Friends!
We are downloading our pictures before heading to the Louvre and thought that we would pop and tell you that our time here is great. We have been in Paris for the last two days and were in Barcelona before that.

We had an amazing time in Barcelona...we will post in detail later but lest just say that we met a lot of interesting people and had some transportation woes.

We ABSOLUTELY LOVE PARIS and I am relocating here for sure ...it si the cleanest, most beautiful, efficient, well layed out and just incredible city I have ever seen...i liked Madrid and Barcelona but they pale incomparison to Paris...we extended our stay here from 2 to 3 days becuase there is so much to see and we couldn't part with Paris. WE are sad to leave it behind but know that we'll return.

Thank you for all your comments friends, I miss you all and reading your regular banter makes me love you lots!

Wish you were all here with me!!
Whose up for Europe next Summer....after Latin America Jenn and Lids and Australia !!!
Sam...

Danie

Madrid...ups and downs

Hi everyone,
Well we´ve been in Madrid for 2 days now...
we were really tired when we arrived but now we´re ok...kinda
the palce that we´re staying at ended up being really great and close to the metro station...it took us a while to get there from the airport and there was lots of stairs which was good for my arms but it was pretty hassle free...
Except for my dumb sense of direction the first time we jumped on the metro i took us to the wrong stop and then i had to pull a ttc move and get off and go to the other platform...i even do that in Toronto so its ok...gimme a break.

When we got here Laurie was really pooped and her stomach was kinda bugging her from the bad plane food but my mom sent us some homeopathic pills that cure everything you have and your grandmother too...and they did the trick! Thanks Mami!

The first day we did a lot of walking and getting lost. We were trying to find major sighst and saw others along the way that really caught our attention so we would get distracted and then lost. We found this little plaza with these huge letter monuments that spelled LOVE and AMOR and we had a blast taking pictures there. Then we found this HUGE climbable one that said ART and had the brilliant idea to climb up on it to take a picture. So I climbed first and posed ... then i looked down...it wasn´t climbable after all(aka. it was a far jump down). Then some nice lady came and said would you both like to be in the picture and since we don´t get that offer too often Laurie climbed up too. So we posed and smiled for the camera but inside we were tormented about how to get down. The best part was that my purse with all our stuff was at the bottom of the sculpture. Finally I decided to be brave and jump and almost lost the use of both my ankles...and then i caught Laurie as she jumped down. So much for foto-ops for us.

Later in the afternoon we were walking trying to find Puerta del Sol (a major intersection where 6 of Madrids highways converge and stopped at a place called el Museo del Jamon to grab a bite. Then we went back to the hostel cuz we were exhausted from all that walking and both passed out for a couple of hours.

In the evening we did some more walking. As a side note, it is gay pride weekend in Madrid this weekend so we´ve seen lots of ummm unconventional couples....and one of the major road was blocked off for the parade...
This did not help my navagating impairments at all. As we were trying to make out way to Puerta del Sol, I was saying a lot of "Oh wait...this is the wrong street...let´s turn around" and Laurie was doing a lot of sighing. Anyways, we finally found it and I wanted to see this monument to the Spanish coat of arms (the bear and oak tree) and guess what we didn´t find it...
but we found a place to cash our travellers cheques for free...and this major shopping area...
So we did what all young girls who are saddened by the lack of a monument to take pictures of would do... we went SHOPPING!!
We saw some great examples of Madrid fashion which is interesting and we kinda like it. We found a Sears/Bay type store called El Corte Ingles...that had like a million floors (translation 9) and discovered that even in Spain everyone loves a sale since they had like 50% off everything.
After we went to look in Zara and found Laurie a cute jean skirt...very euro...

We left the shopping and started waling again as I was determined to see the monument to Cervantes (famous Spanish novelist...Don Quijote). I lost us again, but we ended up in another plaza, Del Oriente which had a tango singer and dancers as part of Madrid´s Veranos en la Villa. We sat onthe floor and listened to some old tango and watched these beautiful dancers.

After that we found the monument and took some pictures there. We were far from home and since the nearest metro stop was under constrcution we had to walk far to next one. We ended up going in this pedestrian tunnel that was underground and looked like a parking lot because of the trafffic gridlock.

Today has been a long day too... we left the hostel early in the morning and went to the train station which is super nice.We had to wait in line a bit to reserve out train tickets for tomorrow. Then we took the metro to the Rastro which is the Sunday market...I love markets...it was huge it has a main street and all these other little side streets off of it. We found some good deals and it reminded us alot of the markets we´ve seen in South America and there was even woven stuff like in Ecuador which is probably because there is a lot of Ecuadorians here. After that we walked to the Plaza Mayor which is good example of Hapsburg Madrid. It was the middle of the day and we were hot and hungry so we stopped to have lunch in a little restaurant there. We sat in their patio and it was fun to people watch and eat like europeans. We got to eat paella too which was a major goal accomplished for me and I had some wine which combined with the sun made me kinda tipsy that was funny for Laurie. After some sitting we walked all that food off on our way to the Prado musuem. We went inside for free cuz its Sunday and got to admire some beautiful art work. We´re definitely not connoiseurs so we learned alot. It was interesting too because I had seen a lot of slides of the pieces in the museum in my seventeenth century lit. class which I found so boring at the time but now I appreciate that profs. effort to educate us a little. After that we wanted to go the Parque del Retiro because we read that there was some all night drumming there or something...but we got distracted along on the way and walked the botanical gardens. They were nice nothing spectacular alot of the flowers get dried up under the really hot sun....but there was a beautiful fountain with some staues and palms trees. With the light from sun and the sprinklers taht came on it was a "heavenly" looking foto-op. As Laurie was posing for the camera the sprinkeler changed directions and the picture turned into an action shot and Laurie was a little wet. Since we saw a sign outside the gardens for another museum (Reina Sofia) we went there. It was closed and we just took some pictures of the two beuatiful galss elevators that frame the stone building. Then we saw a churro place and had some coffee and churros.

There is some sad news to report which is that our memory card is stupid and has done something retarded and reformatted itself so all those pictures I described are gone. The guy who sold it to me (in TO) told me that the camera didn´t take more than 1 GB but then we tried it and it worked. After a certain number of pics it said error and then there was no images. Laurie and I had some sad moments over coffee and churros but we´re better now. On a happier note I learned to use the compass I brought and we´ve been lost a lot less today. In fact, we´re really getting the hang of this city. Yay for us!

We´re gonna do our best to get some pictures of Madrid for you tonight...
either way this city has been good to us and we´re glad that we were able to see everything we had planned to...although all of u might not....I guess its all part of the fun.
We leave EARLY tomorrow morning for Barcelona....

Love and Miss you all....sorry about the fotos...keep praying for us...its helping!


Danie and Laurie!