Madrid: The city that only sleeps between one and four... in the afternoon.

My, my, was Madrid a completely different experience than Paris. I guess that is kind of the point, right? Paris was fast-paced, expensive, and full of sights to see; Madrid was slow, cheap, and time was spent not at tourist attractions but rather in parks or plazas.

After a very late night the night before spent experiencing Madrid's nightlife (yay dancing!), we took our siesta in the morning and didn't get out into Madrid into much later than one is used to while traveling. Madrid has a small, personal vibe to it, where almost everything is walkable and pretty easy to find. Once again, we mastered a strange city's metro system. Unlike Paris, however, we stopped in the evening to relax with sangria and headed back to the hostel.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days in Europe so far. After yet another late start (Madrid's lazy atmosphere is contagious!), we went to the biggest park I've ever seen, rented rowboats, and spent a lazy hour floating around on a lake sorrounded by statues. We then wandered over to a shady patch of grass and napped. Oh, this is the life.

I am actually typing this from Rome, where I have been for only about an hour after (amazingly enough) a problem-free morning of travel! I will update this later in the week with my observations on Roma, which should be pretty intense.

Comment and let me know how you are doing!