Today we explored Madrid more. I saw a large Spanish synagogue. We took a 6 hour train ride to France and now we are on an overnight train to Paris.

On the first train we met Sebastian, a very handsome French 21 year old, and Jen and I talked to him for over 2 hours, though he speaks English with SUCH a difficult to understand accent. We talked about music, movies, life, countries...and he taught us how to say things in French and how he and his friends shake hands. We taught him how we shake and greet, and he was surprized to learn that Americans don't kiss on both cheeks. He thought it was so strange, and we both laughed at several things differing about our countries. Sebastian came later to greet us in our little room. I'm sure we'll see him in the morning as well.

Did I mention we also met a famous soccer player AND a bullfighter in Spain?

One more thing. There were flamenco dancers in a giant elegant courtyard on Saturday night. There were SO many people out! NO ONE stays home on Saturdays in Spain. There were people juggling flames too. And street vendors. In Spain, for dinner we had lentil soup, ice cream, the best salad ever, and dinner rolls.

departure - arrival