12/24/04

We got up later in the morning and made a proper breakfast. Then set out to find another hostel. We can only stay in our current hostel for a couple more days. We found a very nice one. But now we may go to Segovia for a couple of days in between Christmas and New Years to avoid high hostel costs and to just get out of Madrid a bit. We walked around to observe the Christmas festivities in the city. Adults and kids alike here dress up, sort of like Holloween, with wigs and crazy clothing and glasses. They also light off small fireworks. I think there will be a big fireworks display on New Years Eve. A lot of businesses, like the US, closed early here today. We went back to the hostel and basically sat around and chatted with our fellow hostelers. All such interesting people. Carlos, another guy at our hostel, is a gormet cook and made dinner for everyone (we didn´t eat until midnight, how european) and we partied into the night. Good fun. Many celebrated Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day in their respective countries.