11 Apr 2008.  9:19pm.

For lunch, Gloria, Jani, Asunta, Merced and I go to El Museo del Jamón, which, for its goofy name, is actually quite good.  The paella is especially tasty, chock-full of little seafood.

Following lunch, we meet the teacher and the others in front of the entrance to the Palacio Real.  We get in and as our guide takes us from room to room, I'm almost sickened by how gaudy and ostentatious it all is.  While it's pretty, it's mostly pointless.  I guess I understand it on an intellectual level, but as the guide tells me of the 1.000+ rooms in the palace, making it the largest in all of Western Europe, I think to myself, What the crap for?!?  I express my thoughts to Jani, who says, "No kidding!  I've seen pictures of your White House, and it's nothing like this.  It's pretty, but this place . . . it's too much."

I nod, concurring in silence.

Following the palace tour, we retire to the Cathedral of the Almudena.  It's huge - no quite Sagrada Familia sized, but it's massive inside.  I walk from small side chapel to the next, almost reverently, snapping photos carefully.  Gloria follows, amazed.  I explain my affectation for churches, and she gives me a funny look and says, "I thought you were Mormon."

I laugh, responding, "I am.  But I still think churches are really cool, especially Catholic churches.  I don't really know why."

She smiles and replies, "It's probably just because you're a really religious person.  I mean, no drinking, no smoking, no tea or coffee - you're kind of a weird.  But you're funny, so we'll keep you."

I give a Cheshire's grin and thank her.

We leave, intent on going to Café Gijón, if only to say we've been in the very café of the famous tertulias, where Pérez Galdós and Ramón y Cajal met to discuss art, literature, politics and the like.

We arrive and are seated.  I order a coke and the rest order coffees.  It's frankly not as exciting as we hoped, and at 3,50 Euros a coke/coffee (that's almost $5) we're a little nonplussed.

After two full days of visiting, we're all bushwhacked and head back to our respective hostels.  We plan to hang out when we get back to Tarragona (they're all heading back tomorrow) and exchange mobile numbers.

It's been really good to make some friends.

Now I just hope we actually hang out.