con los Madrileños

Im in spain! woohoo!  I figured it was too far to fly to California for Christmas, so I flew to Spain to spend Christmas with some old family friends in Madrid.  They are really great people, and it has been wonderful to be in a real home, with good food, doing lots of lounging, and in general living a catlike existence, excepting the hunting of small mammals and the licking of fur.  Spain is lovely, and who knew that the sun set later than 4pm anywhere in the world? (i'd kinda forgotten).  It makes me miss California, because it looks so similar but is different in so many ways.  

 I did go to Segovia, a small town about an hour away, which is in every way the stereotypical Spanish town, complete with a moated castle, a spired cathedral, and a colossal Roman aqueduct.  Some pictures fall below. I have also met a number of interesting characters, including a 45 year old man obsessed with swords and medieval hand-to-hand combat, and a 12 year old boy obsessed with Tolstoy's War and Peace. 

My reason for going to Spain (other than mooching off my parent's friends for an American Christmas) is for rowing.  We have our annual training camp in Banyoles, Spain, which is where they held the rowing at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.  It will be an intense two weeks, with lots of seatracing.  I think at the end of these weeks we will have a good idea of what the blue boat will be.  fingers crossed.