Day 2 - Toledo blog and pics

Photos here. apologies for the weirdness, the Flickr app isn't meant for this kind of uploading I don't think and it has way fewer options than the website so the pics are kinda out of order and I can't customize much. Anyway, onto today's entry:

Day 1 pics

Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633381147668/

Day 1 - arrival in Madrid and Toledo

7:24am - plane landed relatively on time in rainy darkness. Surprisingly attractive and fast-moving terminal brought me through passport control in no time. Spain passport stamp getting cozy with switzerland. Already encountered a stupid chip-and-pin credit card machine at airport station. Thank goodness for having a few coins on me. Sitting on train to madrid's main station, we'll see if I can change my train to Toledo to an earlier one so I don't have to sit there for two hours.

8:38 - train change an hour earlier (at NO cost, mind you!) and one much-needed cafe con leche later (just 1.50€ in a major train station, no less - take note, Starbucks), and I'm waiting for the 9:20 train to Toledo. Interestingly, they do a cursory luggage X-ray here. For a country with no money, everything is surprisingly clean, efficient, and modern. Rather embarrassingly so, to be quite honest.

Now, if the rain would kindly cease by 10am, that'd be appreciated.

Day 0 - the adventure begins

As I lie in my seat somewhere above the Atlantic, laid out surprisingly comfortably on a mostly empty plane, on the way to embark on another grand European adventure, I feel I must discuss some of the more striking differences between American and European airlines, having taken a redeye on united just three days prior that has fresh comparisons clear in my mind: