Madrid

Well, thanks for the feedback on the beating I gave out. I keep wishing I had hit him hard initially instead of trying to wrestle his neck, but I bet his neck still bothers him a little.
I decided after that that I would leave Barcelona for another location. Spain is pretty big, so I went to Madrid.
Noting that I said I did not think much of Spain's rail system, I was really surprised when I got to my train for Madrid and found that it was as nice as most any that I have been on with only a few exceptions, and it was not even the fast train (I saw one of those too, and they looked really nice). The best thing, considering that with a 1st class rail pass I still had to pay $25 extra for the train, was that they served a pretty good meal. It was like any airplane I have taken in that respect. There was even a movie (School of Rock- it kind of loses something in the translation, but it still was fun).
Did you know that there is a desert in the middle of Spain? I knew that the region near Almeria (south coast, east of Malaga, and the location of filming for "The Man with No Name" trilogy) had a desert appearance, but this was really dry and dusty. It was not a sand dune thing, but it was impressive.
Madrid is really nice. It is pretty quiet really, and not blazing hot. The people usually are easy-going and let me struggle through with my Spanish as it is. It still bugs me a little when waiters use English to ask if I want things like bread or something. Maybe I am not familiar with some things on a menu, but at least they could give me the benefit of the doubt if we have already spoken everything else in Spanish. I find it funny who does that and who does not. It is usually the more educated (who may speak better English even) who will let me struggle a bit, while the less educated (who often only know a little English) tend to jump a the chance to tell me things in English. I can never tell if they are doing it for the opportunity to use English, or if they are only doing it because they think that they are being helpful (to both of us). It does not really matter, because I am not going to use English with them unless they ask me to do so.
Tomorrow I am returning to Granada, where I spent 3 months last fall/winter. I am looking forward to seeing it in the summertime. I have a few friends there with whom I am going to stay, so that should be nice as well.