I have no idea how the hell I ran into Brian in the middle of Barcelona. It was about 9pm and I was headed into the gothic part of town for dinner and saw Brian headed the other way. I spotted him immediately because of the aura of anticipated disaster that loomed above him!

We crossed paths again at the train station in Madrid and everything went blurry after that. Somewhere in the following two days we found ourselves near Puerto del Toledo doing a tapas crawl.

Brian was talking in tongues. It was amazing. I could barely manage Spanglish, but Dema the Greek turned Zorro right before my eyes and the rest is history. A great night and I felt like I really got a chance to meet the spanish at last.

Brian also ommitted one detail. Sanchez Vara. He is a matador who starred on our visit to the Madrid bull ring (Ventas Oro Del Torro). That was an incredible experience. Thanks Brian for edifying a novice, I have learned much and am grateful. Sanchex was the hero however. This guy looks like a chimp in a clown suit when he walks onto the ring, but he is the stuff of legends. He got flipped by the bull in the most dramatic scene imaginable. For a second it looked like he wouldnt get up. The matorettes were running from everywhere to distract the bull and then Sanchez hops back on his feet and waves his sword at the other guys – the message being ‘this is MY bull’.

I have written a few stories from Madrid and will put them online tomorrow. It is a great city. Brian tells me the Prada was pretty cool too.