LISBON

We flew off the rock and landed running. It's a good thing we had the stroller to lean on. The wheels kept us mobile.

The Lisbon bullring was right around the corner from our hotel, but our first priority was a mall. We took the subway directly to the food court and began gorging!

McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC never tasted so good!

The Baxio is historical downtown Lisbon. Very unique and welcoming. There were throngs of people and street theater and yet there was room to walk and places to sit and watch. Very "un" big city.

We saw so many great places and it wasn't very complicated getting around. When traveling always try to get a hotel near a metro stop. Very helpful!

So much of our vacation was in the "getting there": Lots of walking, waiting in subway stations, buses, and Tram 28 (that was an adventure in itself). Luckily the weather was fantastic so when we tired, the grass was a welcome stop.

MADRID

Madrid was freezing! We had to get out the winter coats and gloves and it spit rain on most days. All of us were running out of steam, especially me who had been fighting some voice stealing illness. The hotel was not bad, but not as nice. And it wasn't in a part of town you wanted to walk around and just look about. It reminded me of Detroit!

One good thing about the hotel was it was on top of the train station and metro. All kinds of food places (though expensive), and when we were done for the day the metro took us home.

The weather didn't hurt us too much in Madrid because we had destinations. The Royal Palace was amazing (but didn't allow photography). The Prado was even better (but didn't allow photography). The Rein Sophia was maybe even better than that, but we couldn't photograph Guernica (we did anyway).

The park outside the Prado would have been a nice day to spend in the sun had we had the warmth. There were also hoodlums trying to scam us out of money, so I was watching my back.

Madrid is very big city. This felt more like NYC. Even if you speak the language they look at you funny.

It was harder to fit in. Three adults and seven kids, what so weird about that?

The language was not a big problem because we had three Spanish speakers (some better than others). But in Espana we didn't find as many willing to try English, and so we had our moments of glory and disappointment.

Everyone feels a little better coming back to Terciera knowing our stay for another year is imminent. It's a beautiful world out there and it's nice to see a small part. We've explored a little and now we can appreciate and share!