Part 1 of 2 of the Long Update

Since I've been slacking (ie having no internet service, and extremely tired) I will update you on the events of the past 4 days in 2 parts to make it easier for you (and me).

On Sunday... we went to church again at 12.  Carolyn and I have decided, that out of the millions of churches we've seen on this trip (like it might as well be the Catholic tour of Spain) this one is one of the prettiest, and you don't have to pay to get into it.  I'm starting to understand more of what people are saying, so I got more out of the sermon than I did the first time we went to church.  After that we went to the Rastro flee market again, because Carolyn and Patty wanted to get some things.  Carolyn ended up getting a really pretty leather purse, made in Spain of course, and a bathing suit (for only 3€, and I'll explain why she needed one in part 2). We also ventured back to San Miguel Market again.  Whilst Patty and Dave dined on some caviar and champagne (it was their 23rd anniversary, yay Mom and Dad!), Carolyn and I split some delicious frozen yog. and strawberries. nomnom! Since it was about a billion degrees out, we didn't want a big lunch so we went back to the apartment and had sandwiches.  After that we hit up the only museum we had left in Madrid (not really, but it felt like it), the Thyssen-Bornemisza.  It had a pretty cool collection of art, from the crazy modern stuff that I don't really like, to Manets, Monets, Degas etc. And the museum is designed well too so no one is right on top of someone else while trying to view a painting.  For dinner, Patty and Dave had a reservation at the oldest restaurant EVER. Legit, it's in the Guinness Book of Records.  Carolyn and I were going to go shopping whilst they were at dinner, but we left too late and all the stores were closed. We ended up going to dinner at a restaurant right across the street from our apartment called Miranda's.  It was just okay. The Gelato afterwards made up for the ok meal though. :)

On Monday we ventured out of Madrid to Ávila.  Ávila is like an un-touristy Toledo.  The best part of Ávila though, is the medieval wall surrounding the city.  I think the Spain Bible (aka Rick Steves) said it was the best preserved one in all of Europe (at least Spain however).  It was phenomenal. You buy a ticket and you can basically walk on top of the wall 3/4 of the way around the city.  We did the wall walk first. Then we ate lunch in their main plaza, where the paving stones are all made of marble. Pretty schnazzy. The bocadillos (sandwiches) were cheap, HUGE, and delicious.  After lunch we went to the basilica. It was actually really nice, and even though there was no audio-guide, the pamphlet gave a good history.  The story behind it, as far as I can remember, is there were three siblings, (one of them was a saint, or all of them were...? I'll get back to you on that) and they had to run away for some reason or another, and they were captured, tortured, and killed on the grounds of the basilica.  Now, there was a Jew who didn't like that these three siblings were killed, and he repented and was told to go build the church, and he did! I think I got it all there.  Anyway, lots of gold and marble.  We then ventured on over to the Cathedral, butt Carolyn and I had called it quits on churches by then and said, we went to the basilica, lets ixnay the athedralcay. As we were making our way to the Convent of Saint Teresa we stopped at this little specialty shop.  It turned out to be quite advantageous since we bought: wine, honey, chocolate, and yemas to bring home (some as gifts, some to keep, and I better get to enjoy some!) After dropping all our goods off at the car we went to the convent of St. Teresa. (I know, Catholic tour of Spain.. oye). We got to walk around the little church attached to the convent, then go into the little relics showcase where we got to see.... St. Teresa's finger! No lies, it was actually her finger preserved in a little case. They also had one of her sandals, the rope she used to tie her nun robes, and the bone fragments of another saint (whose name escapes me at this time).  That being out last historical stop of the day, we hit up the delicious smelling bakery in the plaza and bought some goodies, which we ate later that night with our cheese and crackers!

Part 2: Adventures to Valencia, coming soon!