...It´s all happening at the zoo......

On Friday afternoon we went to the Zoo. The Parque Zoologico in Madrid is huge - we were there nearly 4 hours and saw most of it at a leisurely pace. It is divided into continents. We were quite amused to see the North American Wood Duck - that familiar brownish duck with with the bright green ring around its neck in a zoo setting. There was a condor, rhinoceros, elephants, lions and tigers and bears, oh my! And a great looking anteater!

We got to the dolphin show - I never miss a dolphin show! No matter how many times I see them, I enjoy it! Madrid has the kind of zoo where many of the animals can come right up near you...the peacocks and peahens and the peachicks (yes, I am making it up as I go along!) are all walking around in the open.... they hopped up on the edge of the dolphin pool during the show - kept getting in the way of good photos!

Saturday was a trip to Segovia. The train is new, modern, clean and FAST! We left from the northern Madrid station of Chamartin. Once again, the responsibility was on the boys to get to the station at the appointed hour because as we know, if a train in Spain leaves at 07:01, at 07:02 it is gone!



Segovia is a wonderful midievel city noted for its Roman aqueduct which is over 2000 years old, brought water to the city from about 8 miles away in the mountains and was still in use up until the 1980´s. It still functions perfectly well, but they ceased to use it for sanitary reasons - open to the air, animals, etc.
It is about 100 meters high and definitely the ¨trademark image¨of Segovia. We also visited the Alcazar, a fortress that is a residence. It was the residence of Isabel and Fernando when Colubus came to ask them for the funds to find the new route to the Indies. In addition to it being a fantastic castle (Walt Disney used it as his model for the castle in Disneyland) it has a wonderful collection of arms, armor, furnishings and art.

It was a long, hot day and once again, I had a tired group arriving back in Madrid. Sunday I gave them a ¨free¨day. I went to the Rastro at 9:30 am and a group did meet me to come as well. There was some gift shopping to be done and also some sunglasses to be purchased. I suspect there might have been a few more purchases of flags and shirts in anticipation of the Spain/Germany final this evening.

I went to the Prado Museum today - but I regret to say that I went alone. Well, regret may not be exactly the right word. I really enjoyed having the time to wander peacefully around the museum for the afternoon. Entrance is free from 1700h to closing 20:00h on Sundays and although I invited any who wanted to come with me, I guess they all had futbol fever and begged off. It is a pity, really as there is an amazing Goya exhibit just now and works have been brought in from New York, Boston, Russia, France and private collections from all over the world. It was really worth the effort to see it...works I have only ever seen in books are on display! Magnificent! I might coerce, I mean convince a few to go back to see it. Entrance is free weekdays as well from 18:00h to closing.

PODEMOS! We did it! In an amazing 1-0 win, Spain is the 2008 Eurocup Champion! What an amazing night. I understand that the match was televised live in the US, but you can have no idea of the elation here as time ran out! Car horns, fireworks, shouting, horns of all kinds rang out throughout the city, no the entire country! The King and Queen were present (the Queen wearing a gorgeous red suit and carrying a red spanish fan with a gold border!)the Prince and Princess of Asturias, the President and many other dignitaries, entertainment stars and people of note. It was a wonderful experience for the students and it continues!

On Monday night in Plaza Colon where the huge screens are (see the post from the other day) the team will arrive tonight to greet its adoring fans! I personally will be at home... I tend to stay away from large crowds and riot police...but no doubt the students will be there for a look!

I forgot to mention that on Friday afternoon a TV crew arrived from RealMadridTV to interview foreign (particularly english speaking) students about their reactions to all the madness. They were thrilled to speak to our students and they said that the edited version would go out over the wire on Friday afternoon. I haven´t been able to find it and of course we don´t get that station at our house so I haven´t seen it. But I got some photos of the boys being interviewed...They were all quite excited and happy to talk to the TV cameras!!!

And so our third week in Spain begins!