Live from Lyngby

Lyngby -> Copenhagen -> Lyon -> Toledo -> Madrid -> Valencia/Las Fallas

I have so much to talk about but I don't want to bore you or force you to spend inordinate amounts of time reading through this entry so I will simply provide a small, day-by-day, multi segment outline of my trip.

Thursday March 13th

Today I left for Spain.  Following my neurophysics lecture I made the 45 minute trip to the airport with two of my roommates who were traveling to Berlin.  I took a 7:20 flight to Lyon, France where I had a layover.  This flight was interesting because it was the first flight I had ever heard of making a stop at another airport before reaching the final destination and letting people on and off.  It was like a train in the way that we also stopped at the Strasbourg Airport.  We arrived at Lyon around half past ten at which point I decided it would be nice to go see the city.  I took a bus into Lyon where a friendly guy showed me how the metro worked and pointed out on a map some sights to see.  He was also a student at DTU who was spending his spring break in Lyon where he had gone to school before coming to DTU for his masters.

I was off, wandering around Lyon in the dark and taking in what I could.  My mother would have died if she had known and I almost did because I don't know if I've ever been this scared in my life.  I never felt directly threatened but walking around alone in a foreign city at night doesn't provide the most comforting feeling.  I did get to see some pretty cool sights though...

...the city at night...



...the Cathedral of St. Jean...



...and from the highest point I reached before scaring myself enough to turn back.



After this I turned back, nearly ran back as fast as I could to the bus stop passing quickly past some famous churches and interesting squares.  Back at the bus stop I realized I would be stuck for another three hours until five o'clock until the bus started running again so I waited with a few other people trying to stay as warm as I could in my fleece in the barely above freezing weather.  I can say that the bus arriving was a welcome relief.

Friday March 14th

Today I left the St. Exupery airport in Lyon early and arrived in Madrid at about half past ten in the morning.  Evan was to meet me but did not show up until about fifteen minutes after I arrived.  I was really glad to see him because a) I wasn't completely sure he would do so and b) he was late (as expected although I do give him credit because he caught a train sometime between five and six to arrive as early as he did).

We decided to take a trip to Toledo for the day.  Toledo is a beautiful city but the seven and a half hours we gave it was much more than it deserves (considering we were cheap and everything cost money to enter).  Basically we simply walked around taking in the great views and the historic architecture and catching up.  We did see a great medieval museum (read tourist trap) and a great art exhibit (read free and actually quite amazing).  

Here are a few of the pictures of the town (which I think would make a great setting a James Bond film although I've heard Siena, Italy has received the distinction of old, historical town in the next one)...







Oh, and they are famous for their swords so I have to show you one.



We caught the 9:30 train back to Madrid and had the slightest trouble finding our hostel without a proper map.  Once we found our hostel we both showered and settled in before heading out to a bar for a drink to celebrate the impending St. Patrick's Day.  After about an hour out we called it a night as we were both really tired and wanted to see as much of Madrid as we could the next morning.

Saturday March 15th

We woke up around 9:30 or so, packed up real quick and ate a spot of breakfast before my friend Eric Tola met up with Evan and I to show us around the city a little at ten o'clock.

First, I must say, Madrid is a beautiful city and really a great place and all my Spanish friends who are rather unimpressed with their capital city are certainly mistaken.  We went and saw all of the major sights from the outside at least.

We started off in the park Buen Retiro...



...wandered past the Prado...



...saw the Plaza Mayor...



...went to the Palacio Real...



...saw an old Egyptian building of some sort...



...wandered down Gran Via...



...saw some government buildings while looking for the town meeting hall (because congress means meeting not Congress in Spanish)...



...saw the Real Madrid stadium...



...and finally saw the Parliament building...



...before catching the train out of there.



All in all, it was just a bit rushed and I would have loved to have been able to spend a day in the Prado and perhaps a few more just walking around and relaxing in any number of the city's beautiful parks but we had a train to catch and Las Fallas was calling.  

We took the 7 o'clock train to Valencia and arrived about three and a half hours later.  After a little dinner at Pans and Co. we walked the thirty to forty minutes to Evan's host mom's place.  She ended up being out on the town until about four o'clock that night (which she swore was unusual) so without any proper bedding I slept on Evan's floor, crashing around 1 o'clock from exhaustion and anticipation for my first real experience with Las Fallas the next morning.