Leg 1: Spokane to Madrid + El Museo del Prado

It has been a great first day in Madrid. The weather is perfect and the city is alive with color and plants and all kinds of statues and monuments. I was able to get a little sleep on the flight between watching friends episodes on a thumbnail sized screen; but I´m very ready for bed now. When I got here I bought a metro (subway) pass and got to my hostel pretty quickly. Sunday afternoon there is free admission into the Prado Museum so I went there for a couple of hours after having a tuna empanada and a spanish torta from a happening little restaurant in the city center. Many say that a painting in the Prado called Las Meninas is the best painting ever created but the one that really touched me was The Colossus by Francisco de Goya. It is the most beautiful piece of artwork that I have ever personally rested my eyes on. The museum was unbelievably huge and I don´t think I would have been able to (or wanted to for that matter) see everything in it in an entire day. What an awesome way to start out my journey.

Pilgrimage

Spain and Southern France: Well, in just under one week I will fly from Spokane, WA to Seattle to Paris and then on to Madrid Spain. I will spend a couple of days there and then move on to Seville to the southwest. From Seville I will head to the southern coast and then make my way north along the eastern coast up to Valencia and Barcelona. I'll be in Spain for a total of about two weeks before crossing the border into southern France. I plan to spend a couple days in France before flying out of the Bordeaux airport to Paris and home. I guess I'm a little nervous about going because I will be alone, but mostly I'm very excited. I've wanted to travel to Spain for many years and its finally happening. I'm just taking a couple of backpacks and my camera so it should be an experience to remember. I'm looking forward to having some alone time without any deadlines for a little while. I plan to meditate and read a lot on planes and trains. I think and hope I will grow through this experience.