Olga Abroad

Guess what we found!! A CEREAL CAFE! Also, we went there for breakfast and they gave us the weirdest looks for ordering regular cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats) without adding any Whoppers, M&M's, or other extreme amounts of chocolate... I think that this was intended to be more of a dessert place than a cereal breakfast place.  Anyway, the milk was blue!! After breakfast, Marijka and I went to the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park. Bird Sanctuary The Crystal Palace was one of my absolute favorite spots in Madrid. It is was a greenhouse created for the king when Retiro was owned and held by the royal family. Now, it is a part of the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art. The Crystal Palace had an exibit featuring the names of individuals who have lost their lives while trying to come to Spain by boat. The names were carved into the floor of the building, and water was poured into the engraving to spell out the names of the individuals.

When I was in Spain, some of my friends and I got homesick for Colorado. Hence, we decided to do the most Colorado thing there is to do... we went hiking! Parque del Collado was a beautiful hiking area just a short bus drive away from Madrid. It is located in the Bustarviejo municipality. On our hike, we ran into a man with a dog, and asked him if he knew any good spots in the area that we should check out. He was very nice, very friendly, and tolerated our broken Spanish. He told us that there was a well, next to a restaurant, just down the street from where we were. The well provides fresh water for all of the people in the village, so we decided to commemorate our trip to Bustarviejo by helping ourselves to cold, crisp water. We continued our trip with a packed picnic and set up a hammock. My personal favorite part of our hike was the dance session we had on the rocks. When in Spain. Adios amigos!

While in Spain, I was told by several individuals (on several occasians) that San Sebastian was the most beautiful city in the country and that it was important that I go there. So, since we were so close to San Sebastian while visiting Bilbao, the girls and I decided that the bus ride was worth it. And it definitely was! It was a beautiful city, with beautiful people! The murky weather and drizzling rain did not stop us - we spend about 10 minutes on the beach, and the rest of the time in a cute little coffee shop not far from it. Being there for such a short period of time, made me appreciate the city more and I definitely want to go back for more than 4 hours! Also, we saw this very nice note on the side of a building. Vale, adios! Olga