It is the 16th already. did not get a chance to make an entry last night when we got back to temple housing 1 roommate was there and in bed.
The 15th we got up and had to change rooms. we also had to wait an hour during cleaning time. so we did not get away from the place until 10am. we went to a park with florida flags at the entrance. we walked around looking at the statutes and looked for a geocache but could not find it.
we wandered the streets for a while looking at the sights and found a geocache by a monument that looked like the arc de triumphe in paris. We went back to the temple and met Ben's mission president and wife that were to the stake center by the temple for interviews. The boys left to find a place to sleep for the night. The other 4 of us did a session and participated in some sealings. We walked to a sidewalk cafe for supper and back to bed.
May 16.
up and out of temple hostel before 9am. Rode the metro to bilbao station to meet the boys. We then went looking for a place to sleep tonite. We picked the hotel anaco in the centro ciudad. Dropped our packes and went exploring. Went to the kings palace and the cathedral next door. we did not go in the palace because the line was at least a block long to get thru security. we then went to bens favorite eating place called dona kabob which made sandwiches in a pita bread with lamb or chicken. They cook the meat on a spit vertically turning it. the meat is pressed on the spit and is about 18 inches in diameter and 2.5 feet long. After eating we went to an egyptian temple, but it was closed already so we took pictures of the outside. We sat in a park for a while and then came back to the hotel. Seth, rosie and i went shopping for a few more gifts. we bougth 2 leather bags for hayden and noah and some earrings for sarah. I got a couple of patches of cities in spain. We came back to the hotel and checked our reservations for tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 11:35 am. Seth and Jen got changed to a different flight, we are leaving early to see if they can get changed back. otherwise they get home at 11pm with a 5 hour layover in newark.
Done for now. We get home about 8:30pm tomorrow.

Time flies, here it is the 14th already. After Caceres, we went to Salamanca, Stayed in a hotel for the price we were expecting to pay for a hostel. it even had wifi. We wandered Salamanca, saw the castle and other very old buildings. This was Ben's first area of his mission. Seth drove to here and I took over for the next 2 days. We found a geocache by a small church in the old part of town. It was a micro stuck on a metal bench. I twisted my ankle and bought a cheap cane to walk with.
The next day we drove to Cocoa which has a well preserved castle to explore, the steps were too high for me and lots of them. It wore on my knees. After Cocoa We drove to Segovia where the castle is the one that the castle in sleeping beauty. WE stayed in a hotel just off the plaza de mayor.
When we got up, we found it was market day. the plaza was full of stalls selling fruits, vegetables, sweets, clothes, whatever someone thinks needs to be sold once a week. We left and drove to a monument called the valley of the fallen. A monument Franco build to those who died in the spanish civil war. It also has a monestery. There was a mass going on when we got there so we could not go in where it was being held. The monument is a 500 meter high cross.
After we left there, we drove to the Madrid Temple. Checked into housing. Ben and I took the car back to the rental agent and rode the metro back to the templ. We got cleaned up and attended a session. After the session we went out for pizza. Rosie, Seth, Jen and I went looking for a geocache, but it appears to have been muggled. We came back and talked a while and now we are going to sleep.

caceres again

We stopped using the internet that cost and went to eat. We found a mall with free wifi.
We drove to Elvas, portugual. There are a couple of ruins we went to. At the first it had no one around so we wandered around for a while and found a geocache. I dropped a travel bug in the geocache. We went to the old plaza in the town. Did some shopping and sightseeing. Back in the car to drive to Caceres, where we are. Seth and I have had to put up with blisters. Seths getting better but mine is dragging on. 11pm and I am tired.

Spain day 1

We arrived on the train hotel at 9am. Rented a car and drove to where Ben attended church when he was in the Mission Office. After Sacrament meeting (which was in spainish of course, so I didnot understand any of the talks), We drove to Toledo and saw the big castle and walked around some. The streets in the old town are so narrow. The van we rented can have the mirrors fold in so that you can fit thru some of the streets. After Toledo we drove to Trujillo and spent the night in a Hostal. We ate supper at a place that charges 15 € per plate. They served us salad, bread, lamb, pork , soups. The servings were very generous. We toured the castle in Trujillo and then drove to Merida. In Merida there is the remains of a roman aqueduct and a roman coliseum. More tomorrow, I am out of time.

Spain

We made it to Spain. We took the hoteltrain from Paris to Madrid. The trip took 14 hours. The rooms were very small when the beds were out in the room there was a narrow walkwaybetween the beds. The boys slept on bunks above Rosemary and I. We rented a minivan and drove to the ward Ben attended when in worked in the Mission Office. After church we stopped at a small grocery store and bought sandwich food to eat as we drove to Toledo. We wandered around the castle at toledo a while and Drove to a hill to take pictures of the city. We left and drove to Trujillo for the night. We went to the castle there to eat at a resturant by the castle. They do not serve dinner until 8:30pm so we looked for an internet cafe to get on the internet. No USB connection so no pictures tonight maybe tomorrow.

Paris

It is 5:40 pm and we stopped at the University of Paris to get on the internet to update things. We Took Eurostar here this morning arriving at about 10a m. the train gets up to 160mph. We got a metro day pass and have been to the arc de triumphe, eiffel tower, Louvre and Notre Dame. It has been raining. We left Luke and Ben at the Louvre to spend the afternoon looking and the rest went to notredame and leasurely walked toward the train station. When we leave here we will bet on the train for a night trip to Madrid.

Well, Friday is over and we are tired. We did a bus/boat tour of London. Ben and I left the rest and took a train to Gilwell Park, the internation headquarters of Boy Scouts. We bought a few memorabilia and took the train back to London. We went to Buckingham Palace and then back to the Hostel. The others have not returned yet. The boat ride took us from Westminister Abbey to the Tower bridge, which many think is the London bridge, but it is not. Here is a picture of Ben in front of Buckingham Palace. the guards in the colorful outfits were not there, just regular looking soldiers. I will add afew more pictures to my facebook album of the trip.