Our Happy Home

About a week ago we had to move. After about two weeks of limited sleep because of street noise the school moved us to a new apartment. We're now on the tenth floor of a complex that is only a 3 minute walk from school. We use to walk 15-20 minutes to school. Not anymore. Here are some pictures of the new apartment.


The view from the doorway.



Our dining room



Living Room



Living Room from another angle



Amelia on the balcony.



The Bible does say that two are better than one, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what it was talking about.


Our bedroom


Our huge closets


The dining room all lit up.


Kitchen



Balcony again


Fireplace



View from the balcony.

Cathedrals, Castles, Cars & Segovia

Here's the look from our bedroom window if you look to the left. It looks a lit like Seattle's Space Needle... but only like half of it. We still don't know what this building is.



The parking situation here is strange. You probably wouldn't believe it unless you see it for yourself. Everyone parallel parks so close to each other on the streets, that it makes you wonder how they leave. It's seriously 2-3 inches in the front and 2-3 inches in the back differences between the cars. Yet they make it work somehow. Yesterday we actually watched somebody parallel park and it was the most amazing thing we've ever seen. They're good.



Friday we went to Segovia on an excursion with the University. Amelia studied in Segovia for four months in 2004. It was really cool to see all the sites that she had seen in the first 6 months of our relationship. It's a beautiful place. Very traditional with a lot of really old buildings. When we say really old, we mean like 1200's old, and they're still in great shape. Unbelievable. Especially when you think of how the buildings in Wheeling look after 50-100 years downtown.
We took tours of a castle and a cathedral and also had a chance to check out an aquaduct that was a mile long that they still use although cast iron pipes were laid in the original Roman channel. The aquaduct was built at the end of 1st to early 2nd century BC by the Romans during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula to bring water from the Río Frío (Cold River). Ok, the history lesson is done for the day.


We also went to this cathedral. It is widely considered Europe's last great Gothic cathedral. You were not permitted to take pictures inside, but we did anyway, and now we'll post them on the internet, just for spite...

It took over 600 years to build because they kept running on of finances to finish it.
By-the-way, that guy at the bottom of the picture has a great mullet... he ran out of finances to finish his haircut.

Here are some super secret inside pictures of the Cathedral. (Don't tell!)




Storks on the roof




In the garden










Here are some pictures of the inside and outside of the castle.






















Nick thought this guy looked like the King from Burger King, what do you think?

NO HABLAMOS! OYE!

Well, we have FINALLY made it to Madrid. A little run down, jet lagged and a little sick. At the bottom of the post we'll post some photographs, but for now we'll just do a little chronology of our story so far.
We drove to Washington DC late Friday evening arriving around 11pm. Got a bite to eat with Coleen (Amelia's Madre) and went to sleep. The next morning we checked out and took a shuttle to Dullas International Airport where we flew to Frankfurt Germany to speaka the douiche as they say in Germany. From Frankfurt we flew into Madrid 2 hours later.
On the way to Frankfurt we could've possibly had the nicest international airbus ever. It was basically new. We had two meals which were better than expected. At first we didn't have a seat next to eachother, but we switched. The only thing that wasn't so great was the people onb either side of us who hogged most of out elbowroom. To the point where the guy next to Nick was basically in his seat. Muy loco.
When we got to Madrid we didn't have a place to stay yet because the room wasn't available til Monday, so we found a hostel (which is like a hotel, but cheaper and with less efficencies.) We crashed for about two hours when we got to the hostel and then went for a walk to get some food. Then we went back to the hostel at 4:00pm and crashed until 9:00. When we woke up the Euro Cup was on TV. Italy vs Spain. Spain hasn't beaten Italy in 88 years in competition. However that night they did in overtime on penalty kicks. It was a really big deal here. People in the streets were going CRAZY. Shouting and chanting. I thought there might have been a riot about to happen, but all went well.
We left the hostel this morning and went to Saint Louis University where we were given the keys to our apartment, which is a short 15 minute walk away, so we had to take a taxi to take out luggage. Our apartment is nice, really nice. We share it with an older couple from San Antonio, Jim and Maria. Maria is in her fifth year in the program and graduates this summer. We also just found out that there is another person living with us, because we looked in the other room and there is clothes that niether couple owns. We think it's a girl, but it's a mystery thus far.
We have a lot of walking each day, so we need to stay hydrated. Good news is a 1.5 Litre water is only .36 euros. That's pretty cheap! Amelia said that our friend Stacey would love it here because there is so much walking. We miss our friends a great deal. Nick is very lonley especially, because he really has nobody to talk to and it is a little trying to function in a new city/country/culture while being sick and not knowing the language, but he is doing well. He hit his head off of a table at lunch today while picking up some ladies euros which spilled on the floor. Ouch. Anyways, on to the few pictures we have. More will follow.

Coffee in Dulles International Airport.



Getting ready to fly to Frankfurt



Speaking the douice in Germany



Amelia pretending to sleep in Germany



When we arrived at the hostel



After channelsurfing at the hostel. Never channel flip at a hostel. EVER! Especially if you have children. Every other channel is porn.



Our "what was that?" look



Amelia and our hostel

We're In Washington DC!

We made it to Washington DC tonight around 11:00 and we'll soon be asleep and ready to fly out to Madrid tomorrow afternoon. Here you'll see a couple of pictures of how tired we are after the long drives this weekend. Enjoy.