Pamplona & Madrid

Hola amigas,

After Paris, I went to Bordeaux. It is absolutely beautiful there and I tried my best to sample as many wines as possible. My 3 Aussie girls and I purchased 6 bottles of wine for roughly 3-4 euros each.  After dinner, we went down to the water and drank a few bottles of wine with plastic cups just like the locals. Heidi, my best Aussie friend, was proposed to that evening by some cute French guy named Phillipe. 
 
I apparently forgot the rule of sticking with white OR red that night in Bordeaux, but the pounding in my noggin' the following day reminded me of that oh-so-important guideline. 

After Bordeaux, we went to Biarritz to possibly do some surfing. We bought baguette sandwiches and cans of Heinekin (largest ones that I've ever seen...they were as big as my forearm!) and enjoyed them on the beach.

We headed down to Pamplona after Biarritz and I am awe-struck by the Spanish countryside.  It was 35 degrees in Pamplona and I walked the running of the bulls route. I was tempted to break out into a full blown sprint, screaming "the bulls are loose!" but I didn't want to anger the Spaniards.  I found out that it is better to be gored and maimed by a bull than to not make it to the final ring. Really?  No....really?  I think those crazy Spaniards are drinking too much sangria. 

My girlfriends and I had tapas at an outdoor cafe that evening and my wine was cheaper than Ange's coca-cola. How do you say "this is heaven" in Spanish?  We were also entertained by a couple of accordian players. The buskers in Spain are a little more aggressive as they would come to your table and demand that you pay for their services. This worked on the Aussie girls but I quickly learned how to say "beat it" en espanol.

After Pamplona, we headed to Madrid with a stop in Burgos along the way.  Burgos was prepping for the St. Christoper so they had a bunch of mini-ceremonies going on. I did my first bit of shopping and got some gorgeous tops. We had some tapas and sangria for lunch and headed to Madrid.

Once in Madrid, the girls and I got dolled up, went for some dinner, and then went salsa dancing. Muey caliente!!!  The clubs in Madrid are awesome as they don't know what it is to measure a shot. Free-pouring is the name of the game. I ordered a vodka on the rocks and I received a full glass...roughly 4 oz of vodka.

After salsa dancing, a few of us went to a club called "Joy". It doesn't even get busy until after 2am. I finally left the club around 6am and didn't bother taking an organized tour of Madrid that left at 9am. Sleep was more important to the giff than seeing Toledo. There were a few of us in the same boat as me, so we wandered through the streets of Madrid on our own. We landed at a beautiful park and Mickey and Minnie Mouse was there...so I decided that I needed my picture taken with Minnie. Apparently I was supposed to pay Minnie and she chased me through the park demanding money. I'm sure that made an interesting sight. I finally gave that crazy mouse 0.10€ and got Minnie off my back.

Tomorrow I am off to Barcelona and really looking forward to the shopping!! 

Buenas Noches,
Giff