Madrid

There are three things you must do if you come to Madrid: Stay up until 4am, try the hot chocolate and a churro, and visit the Museo Del Jamon. That's right... the Museum of Ham. Few people understand and appreciate the varities and complexities that come with a good ham. Here at the Museum of Ham, they are dedicated to educating people on all that Ham has to offer. The self-guided tour takes you through the entire process of producing the rich aromas and gentle tastes that go into making each slab, from slitting the pig's throat to the oven, everything is covered.

Surprisingly, Madrid actually has three really good Museums: El Museo del Prado, El Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and el Museo Thyssen. For some reason they don't let you take pictures of La Guernica, Picaso's famous protest of Nazi Germany's assult on the tiny town during the Spanish Civil War. I snuck a few pictures anyway... haha.

All these Museums are starting to run together. The Reina Sofia was actually pretty interesting, but the Prado has a similar collection to the Louvre, with really life-like portraits. And if I have to see one more reminder of what Christ went through, I'm going to either scream or break down, fall on my knees, throw my hands in the air, and start speaking in tongues.

Fortunately, Madrid has an excellent night life. My hostel organized a trip to an outdoor cuban music concert last night, which was part of the celebration for some saint. It was kind of cool. The salsa lessons I took actually ended up paying off. I've realized, though, that these chance encounters with other backpackers are great, but ultimately fleeting because everyone knows that you're never going to see the other person again. This has both good and bad characteristics ;-)

I've been hearing first hand stories now of people getting pickpocketed. One guy I met last night had his camera stolen from right in front of him by a kid and his mom with 15 other people at his table. Another girl has her passport and money stolen while she was eating lunch with her friend. Needless to say I've been on Alert Level Orange ever since and will remain so until I get out of Spain. Even now, I'm paranoid that people are eyeing my laptop.

I finally found a free wireless hotspot I could mooch off of for awhile today. It luckily coincided with the location of a Starbucks here. So I plopped myself down for a few hours and took advantage while I could. I have to catch a night train to Barcelona in a few hours where I'll be spending all day on the beach.... Oh Yeah!!!! Then it's another night train to Cannes, France for the the Film Festival and Star Wars Premiere.... I'll update again soon.