Ola from Espana

Hi Kids,
I´m in Alcala de Henares, a city close to Madrid, Spain. I can´t show you pictures until I get home but I wanted to tell you a bit about my trip. Miss Elaine and I are following the route of Don Quixote (pronounced Don Kee-oh-tee). He is a character in a book written 400 years ago -- maybe the most famous book in Spain. It was written by a man named Cervantes (Sir-vahn-tays) and I will go see his house later today. It is a funny book -- but very long. Cervantes was making fun of the popular reading material of his time -- stories about brave knights going on dangerous missions and saving damsels in distress. That´s an old-fashioned way of saying ´´ ladies in peril.´´ Don Quixote read too many of those books and he began to imagine that he was a brave knight going on missions. He wore a cardboard helmet that he made and got a bony, old horse and thought it was a strong, young war horse. He imagined many dangers on his trips -- I´ll tell you more later.
Miss Elaine and I are staying in a parador -- this is a hotel owned by the Spanish government. They take historic buildings and turn them into really cool places to stay. Centuries ago, this was a convent. Now it is a modern hotel -- so modern that we don´t have a room key. We just hold a card to a spot on the door and it opens. When we get in the room, we put the card in a slot and all the lights go on automatically. When we wanted to take a nap, Miss Elaine pressed a button and curtains came out of the ceiling and made the room dark. Wow! I love this place. Miss Elaine is taking lots of pictures. Maybe we can do a show when we get back.ç
Love,
Batman