Today started off like any other normal day on an NETC tour…the students got their wake up call at 630 and we were down for breakfast at 730.  We stopped to take a picture in the stairwell of the hotel as the spiral staircase provides a perfect backdrop for what we would think to lead to a perfect day. :^)  After breakfast we took the bus to the AVE (Spanish for “bird” or “high speed train” (that one is Andrea’s joke)) to head for Barcelona.   The train ride was very uneventful as most everyone (Andrea and I, and maybe Lauren*) slept.  We rode this train with the other NETC group (of 45 high schoolers) we were originally supposed to travel our tour with.  It was a sight trying to get all of the luggage for everyone loaded and unloaded, however, being the well-oiled middle school machine that we are, it went flawlessly thanks mostly to your kids forming an “assembly line” quickly.

We arrived at our hotel, the hotel Tryp Apolo, shortly after noon.  After a smooth and efficient check-we headed off to the subway to go to lunch and the Picasso Museum where the students were able to view some of the earlier works of Picasso, showing "his growth as an artist and morph into a cubist."

This is pretty much where the smoothness of the day came to a halt for a little bit, for as we boarded the very crowded Metro on our way to lunch and the museum, we were so busy with keeping the students corralled that I was PICK-POCKETED (of all things).  After reminding the students frequently to keep their passport holders (often times also holding money) around their necks, dumb me still had mine in my pocket.  It was stolen as we entered the subway car.  I realized it as soon as the perpetrators left the subway car just as the doors closed.  Luckily the kids were corralled the way we had taught them, so they were not affected or in harm’s way.  While the students went to the Museum with Andrea and Pauline, I took a cab back to the hotel and cancelled my debit card and back-up credit card and will be getting my new passport at the embassy in the morning.  The students were very surprised at how quickly and easily these “thieves” move (very much like magicians :^).  They were also very supportive, and their loving character came out when they wanted to buy us lunch and offered us some of their your money if we needed it :^) (luckily, there was no money in my passport holder).  What an amazing group!  This also served as a first-hand life lesson for them, and me too…that now I should listen to Andrea I guess.  The students were also surprised at how positive we were during the whole situation when I stated with smiling enthusiasm “sure I got pick-pocketed, but I got pick-pocketed IN BARCELONA!!." :^)

I rejoined the group after their trip to the Museum and carried on with our incredible journey through the city.  We spent a couple of hours shopping at Las Ramblas (the 16^th street mall of Barcelona, only 10 times longer, and with local artists selling their work) and watching the street performers (living statues).  You should know that the kids picked out some very thoughtful gifts for you.  At the north end of Las  Ramblas is a circular square (please, just go with it) called Plaza Catalunya.  We had some quality downtime relaxing in front of some fountains and the students talked about what they have been enjoying about the trip (mostly food and shopping* :^)  The square is full of pigeons that the students enjoyed feeding, chasing, and terrorizing (ahhhhhh….middle schoolers*).  On one corner of the circular square was our restaurant for dinner, Navarra.  We had a tremendous meal starting with Risotto as the appetizer (with bread), a main course of glazed porkchops and fresh veggies, followed by a dessert of tiramisu sprinkled with cocoa and topped with kiwi.

Afterwards we had a leisurely stroll down Las Ramblas again on our way back to the hotel.  The students should now be in bed and sleeping very soundly (as angels should).

Tomorrow, we are off to see more of Barcelona on a sight-seeing tour around the city by bus with a local native, Eva.  Our tour will include the Royal Palace, the Olympic stadium, Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, and Parc Güell.  We will also be going to a Flamenco show after dinner. 

Again, Buenas Nachos.

(*indicates joke by Andrea, as she wants some credit for humor too)*

(**indicates combined effort to make you laugh)**

¡Vive España!

Guten Tag from Madrid! (I told you the jokes don't get better).  Judging from the time, you can obviously see that we are a little slap happy (It is almost midnight…again).  Today we took Madrid by storm, or rather, by bus and Metro (that’s “subway” for you non-Euro types :^).  We got our wake-up call at 7, and sat down for breakfast at 8am.  This morning’s meal consisted of the typical European cuisine of meats and cheeses, yogurt, assorted breads, fresh fruit, and various pastries (like chocolate covered doughnuts!), and juice.  Promptly after breakfast we hit the ground running (riding) for our tour of the city of Madrid.  We had a guest tour guide for this bus excursion, Rosana.  She was very knowledgeable about the city.  It seemed that at every turn she knew information about the buildings, culture, or history surrounding that area of town.  It was truly a learning experience.  Some of our stops along the way included the statue of Cervantes accompanied by his good pals Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, a memorial to the Spaniards who gave their lives in the Spanish Civil War, an ancient Egyptian temple (given to Spain as a gift), and finally the Prado Museum, where we recalled Jackson’s presentation on Diego Velazquez.  Also there were works by El Greco, Goya, and Rubens.  It is the most popular museum in Spain, and 11^th most popular in the world (based on the number of visitors annually).  After we spent a couple of hours learning the significance of several paintings, and the difference between renaissance and neo-classic art, we walked to lunch near the Reina Sofia Museum, where we had our first Spanish lunch of, you guessed it, Pizza!  The students tried to order in Spanish the best they could under the guidance of Ms. Huff and our four Spanish students (Tugg, Josh, Sarah, and Juliana).  Then we spent another two hours walking off all of the goat cheese in the Reina Sofia modern art museum.  We immediately entered and proceeded to Guernica, by Picasso, a painting used to draw attention to the bombing of the city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  Also in this museum were works by Salvador Dali, Jacques Lipchitz, and Francis Bacon.

From there we walked back to our hotel and spent some time shopping for souvenirs and water for tomorrow’s continued adventures to Barcelona.  Then, the students braved Madrid’s Metro to go to our cooking school.  You really should be proud of your children as they worked together to make a fabulous menu of a meal for themselves, peeling, chopping, stirring, cooking, chilling, and caramelizing a wonderful meal with Sangria (non-alcoholic), Pan a la Catalana, tortilla, Paella (both chicken and seafood.  The seafood paella consisted of rice, mussels, clams, shrimp, and calamari), and Crema Catalana for dessert (much like crème brulee or Flan).  By the way, if you need proof that your children can cook, I have it on video.  I guess they can’t make any more excuses.

Then we ate it.  Oh boy was it wonderful!  The students also liked working with each other, and enjoyed a delightful conversation on the day’s events (and their favorite paintings) with each other, while the adults discussed things like the economical state of Spain and Greece (something we didn’t think the kids would be interested in).  This offered them time to leisurely talk with each other over a wonderful meal.  They bonded. :^)  As a matter of fact, they are now feeling so comfortable that on the way back to the Metro station, the students led the way, as they did also returning to the hotel from the metro and then on to a 10pm snack of Churros y chocolate (another Spanish favorite).  They are learning, growing, and maturing in front of our eyes already and it has only been 48ish hours.

Tomorrow we are up at 630 to leave on the AVE to Barcelona.

Buenas Noches!  (Estoy muy consado).  

Greetings from Madrid (at 11:07pm on Tuesday the 29th)!

Prior to leaving DIA, the students had plenty of time to spend all of your hard earned money on Caribou frozen drinks, Panda Express, and believe it or not, flaming socks (ask Jackson).  The kids sat around in a circle and played card games for a while before boarding.  After we got onto the plane and in our assigned seats, the students moved around to sit where they wanted.  It was a crowded flight AND a large plane: a Boeing 777 (lucky 21).

We left DIA on time and had a fairly good flight (albeit with moments of rough turbulence).  It was uneventful with lots of movie watching.  Those little TV’s in the backs of everyone’s seats everyone kept pretty occupied (except for Lauren… her TV didn’t work :^( ).  I think the entertainment of choice for some was The Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe.  Others, like Meena, watched some of their favorite shows like The Big Bang Theory.  There was also a lot of sleeping going on.  The time change is always odd on a plane traveling east.  We felt like we had Panda Express for breakfast and breakfast for lunch.  And then, for some unknown reason, when approaching Heathrow Airport the pilot made two complete 360 degree turns over London (“Look kids…Big Ben, Parliament!”).  The landing was smooth.

Our layover in Heathrow didn’t go quite as we had hoped.  We were counting on staying in the same terminal since we only had one hour prior to leaving for Madrid.  But…we had to switch terminals, and as a result we also had to go through security again.  This put us to our connecting gate five minutes prior to boarding which was barely enough time to add “going to the bathroom” to our schedule (pronounced “shed jule” in England.  I’m sure they learned how to say that word in Grammar Shool, and just so you know, the jokes don’t get any better :^).

The flight to Madrid was very smooth with no turbulence whatsoever.  Some of the students slept again and others passed their cell phones between the seats to converse without yelling over the engine noise.  This flight was only half full (I choose optimism) and the students all seemed very relaxed.  

 After a slightly bumpy landing we proceeded through customs (YAY!  We are REALLY in Europe now!) to meet our tour guide Pauline.  She was born in Paris and has lived in Europe for most of her life.  She is wonderful with the kids and very mild-mannered.  We boarded the tour bus (wow, we sound like rock stars) and headed to our hotel, Hotel Moderno in downtown Madrid.  We had an hour to rest and figure out how to work the lights in our rooms before we walked to dinner at the La Cathedral Restaurante where we ate a three course meal consisting of water and bread.  Just kidding...we had a vegetable pastry for an appetizer, glazed chicken with capers and European styled potatoes.  For dessert we had Flan (a fancy way of saying "custard")  with a coffee/caramel sauce and cream puffs drizzled with chocolate (is your mouth watering yet?).  We were VERY proud of all of the kids for trying everything on their plates, and some even found that vegetables can be tasty (even without hot sauce).

Afterwards we walked to and through Plaza Mayor (which included an ATM stop, so don't be surprised if your money starts disappearing).  By the way, a couple of students could only take out a certain amount of money, which confused them (Please let us know if there is anything we should share with your kids about their accounts). The kids loved stopping to take pictures of the buildings and people including various street performers.  On the way back to the hotel for the night, a few of us stopped at the Corte Inglés (the SuperTarget of Spain) to get a few supplies for tomorrow...like water. :^)  

Now we are going to bed.  Since this post covers a couple of days it may be a bit longer than most.  But just know that your kids are doing great!  They started off quiet and tired, but already have tried new things, worked through some home-sickness, and have even purchased and ordered things in Spanish (even the French students).  If the last two days are any indication, this is going to be a fabulous trip.  Tomorrow we are going to the Reina Sofia and Prado museums and making food at Cocina Española.  More will follow tomorrow...