Holiday weekend (post #3)

Friday, October 12, was national day. A day when the military parades in Madrid. Amy and Michelle (one of the girls Amy stayed with in Madrid) had planned a rock climbing outing. Amy and I took the bus to Madrid Thursday night and Friday morning 6 of us took the bus to Patones to rock climb. We had a good time (next time we will stay longer). It was just good to be outside near the mountains.

trying to get a ride from where the bus dropped us off to the climbing spot

Saturday Amy and I explored Madrid a little. We walked around the center and then rode the Teleférica cable cars to a big park called Casa del Campo. Looks like it would be a great place to mountain bike, lots of smooth single track. We came back on the cable cars and then went out for lunch. It is very common here for restaurants to have a menú del dia which includes two courses, a drink, and desert, all for a very reasonable price. After a wonderful and filling lunch we headed to the Reina Sofia art museum which has Picasso´s Guernica and a lot of Salvador Dali too. The museum´s glass elevators on the outside of the building are distinctive.

That night we were quite tired once again. We ended up playing mafia and watching a movie. The girls we stayed with are really a great group of Christian girls. We took the train back Sunday morning (as the bus drivers were on strike) so we would be back in time for the evening service at church.