Hola from Madrid,

After traveling nearly 18 hours, we arrived in Madrid without any problems. Luckily, I was able to sleep on the red eye from Atlanta thanks to a Dramamine and a really boring movie. We spent almost 5 hours in the Paris airport until our connecting flight, and wow, were we tired. Needless to say, I slept very well last night!

Today, we spent the morning in Toledo, which is about 70 minutes from Madrid. Toledo is a beautiful old city that is very hilly with very narrow streets. It´s known for being the workplace of one of Spain´s most famous artists, El Greco. It also has the second largest cathedral in Spain (it´s BEAUTIFUL!). Toledo also used to be the home of many Jews, Christains, and Muslims who lived peacefully until the Spanish Inquisition forced the Jews and Muslims out of Spain or made them convert to Christanity. So, we also visited the oldest synogogue in all of Spain, even though there is only one Jewish family left in Toledo.

We returned to Madrid for a free afternoon and evening. So, my new friends and I ate a yummy lunch before braving the metro. We took a tour of the Real Madrid soccer stadium, and wow, was it a tour! We saw everything from the stadium to the dressing rooms! It was awesome. Then, we went to the Parque Retiro which is just like Central Park in New York. We ate some tortilla espanola and walked around for awhile.

It´s now 11:03 in the evening, so I´m going to go out for sangria and retire for the evening. Tomorrow we´re going to all the art museums, and then I found the theater for the Spanish National Ballet. The tickets cost 20 euros ($28), so we think it´s worth it to see the show.

Un beso a todos!