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Embassy
Today was suppposed to be the day that Yai returned to the US for summer school. However, because Air France lost her bag, she did not have a plane ticket or the proper student visa. We got up extra early this morn to make it to the embassy. After getting lost a bit downtown, Yai found the Japanese embassy. However, there was no luck with the visa. They had not yet received the papers they need from the university in the States. We drove to the airport anyway. Now it was too late and we were without a visa.
Airport
Got lost again on the way to the airport and had more problems upon arrival. Continental could not understand the papers from Air France, so they had to call Paris. Then they decided that the proper authorization had not come from Continental in America. All these problems are despite the fact that the original baggage and papers were lost about three weeks ago. We were all tired of airports and silly stuff for the day, so we decided to regroup and come back on Friday. They promised that all would be better then.
Toledo
After wading through the traffic jam known as Madrid, we drove out to nearby Toledo. Toledo features an old castle town perched on a hill. All of the buildings are old and the roads paved with stone. We arrived in the heat of the day and started to search for a room. There were plenty of hostals and hotels, we chose the cheapest: Hostal las Armas. We parked the car in a dead end tunnel at the bottom of a hill (?) and walked back to Plaza Zocodover.
Atmosphere
Toledo is a pretty cool city with history of Christian, Islam, and Jewish people's. There are cathedrals and sinagogues to visit, and plenty of junk shops to keep anyone busy. We chose to just soak up
the atmosphere of the town. It isn't easy to ignore the McDonald's and numerous foreign tourists that crowd the plazas and narrow streets, but the old town atmosphere is still there. The best adventure comes with ignoring the map and trying to find your way through the narrow winding streets. It was impossible to drive through this city, but walking is quite fun. The main streets are shaded by a number of large white streets strung between the second floor of all the buildings. The effect seems like something out of Disney's Alladin, and is very helpful in keeping the hot sun away.
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