Roma

Our last few days in Madrid were great and included a long bike ride throughout the city and a tour of the royal palace. The bike tour was a lot of fun and and took us to some really great views, side streets, and markets. The best market was San Miguel market. We stopped there after being delayed by sheep wrangling and it was such an amazing place. We relaxed at parque del buen retiro with the tour group and we met some fun people from Ireland, Australia, and Singapore. Now I know I need to order a "baby guiness" next time I'm at an Irish pub.

After the bike tour we went to the Palacio Real. This place was breathtaking. Each room was more ornate than the last. My (Adam) favorite part was the armory which was full of weaponry and armor. The spanish are no wimps that's for sure.

Our flight to Rome was at 7am today so we went to bed early and caught a cab to the airport around 4:30. It was only about 20 minutes and 15€ , not bad! You can totally do Madrid on a budget.

Now on to Rome. Rome is simply amazing...

I have loved every second of it so far. Our hotel has free wifi and breakfast as well as large bed and bathrooms. We even have a futon in the "guest" room. We dropped off our gear and found some great pizza before heading towards the Colosseo. I just couldn't believe I was standing where people watched gladiators fight hundreds of years ago. Turns out the movies aren't that exaggerated. They would build great scenes down on the sand for hunts and fighting. There really are trap doors and lifts for tigers and other exotic beasts. My favorite story was that they build a huge whale in the arena to represent a whale that had washed up on the Italian coast that year. However, in the colosseum, 40 bears came out from the whale's mouth for the gladiators to fight!

We took a bus tour to round out the evening and caught a glimpse of all the sights we need to check out tomorrow. After that we grabbed some amazing hand made pasta for dinner and headed back.

We are both a little sick, Shelby more than I. Hopefully a good nights rest will be the cure.

Caio for now!