We woke up late. I wanted to buy Mac a chocolate cake to thank him for his hospitality, so we went to a big department store called Corte Ingles. I bought some maps, postcards, and trinkets, and then we went downstairs to the supermarket section. We looked at the wine section, and I bought my parents a fairly expensive bottle of 6 year old wine (expensive is relative in Spain, because the bottle only cost $30). We went to the cake section, and bought the cake, along with a chocolate pretzel. We took them back to Mac's place and presented him with the cake.

We were extremely pressed for time at this point, so we grabbed our bags, said bye to Mac, and "ran" to the bus station. I was carrying my suitcase and bag, stomping up escalators and about to die. It's a curious thing about the escalators in Spain in that the only ones which seem to consistently work are the ones that go down. The ones you actually need to work normally don't. Combine this with the fact that everything in Spain is uphill, add 40 lbs of luggage, and you have the makings of a fun time. My heart sounded like a machine gun by the time we reached the bus station.

We met Enrique's friends at the bus station. We all said goodbye, and then we hopped on the bus to Avila (they went to Seville). The trip to Avila was interesting. The mountains north of Madrid are exquisitely beautiful, and the hills outside Avila are lined with windmills (the new kind).

Photo: Avila

We arrived in Avila, and walked to our "hotel". The hotel was inside a renovated 13th century castle, so the room was very nice. We changed clothes and hit the town. They were having some sort of festival in the town.

Of all the kinds of music I expected to hear while I was in Spain, bagpipe music was not high on the list. But there it was. I learned from Enrique that the people in the north of Madrid play Celtic music. We listened for a while, as it was really quite good.

Photo: Spanish bagpipe players

We then set off in search for a place to eat. After several false starts, we found a tiny pub where we could have tapas. I had jamon serrano (Ham) with water. We walked around the city for a bit, and then went back to the hotel. I ate part of the chocolate pretzel I bought at Corte Ingles, and then hit the sack.