Getting to know the city

So after a rather rocky start, the guys are getting to know the city! They are all settling into their classes, getting used to the heat and dryness and figuring out how to use the money and the metro. Madrid is about 1/2 mile above sea level and while that isn´t really high, combined with the heat and dryness it can make for difficulty sleeping and a little bit of altitude sickness. It is important to stay hydrated and to try to get sleep - but as you can imagine, the sleep part is... well, let´s just say the guys don´t really believe me.

On Monday afternoon they all went swimming at Dan and Tim´s house. Isabel´s daughter Sandra has alerted all her friends to the arrival of ¨los chicos americanos¨and they are all dying to meet them! While the girls are younger, it is a great opportunity for all the kids to practise their language learning - Sandra will be going to London later in the summer to improve her English.

The boys are enjoying their classes - they are very different from what they are used to. Much more discussion, action and active rather than passive language use. Our after school activity was a trip to the Iglesia de San Antonio de la Florida - a small church formerly (in the 18th century) on the outskirts of Madrid - now near the Principe Pio metro station - whose dome and vault were painted by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. It is the first of Goya´s works that they have seen. We will certainly see a great many more when we go to the Prado Museum later in the trip. It is also the site where Goya is buried, but alas, no photos are allowed. later, we walked back through the gardens of the Palacio Real and got a chance to enter La Catedral de la Almudena - the very modern cathedral of the city of Madrid. There they were able to snap photos to their heart´s delight. It is a very modern Cathedral, dedicated by Pope John Paul II in the mid nineties - very different from the massive 14th century gothic cathedrals we will see in Toledo and Sevilla.

Last night after dinner, I took them out for ´chocolate y churros´. We went to the famous Churreria de San Gines near the Puerta del Sol - the city center. They all ordered their own and while churros are usually served for breakfast, they had no problem having them as a late night snack!