Madrid, Spain was our first stop after New York City. I'd been there years ago on a trip with my sister, grandma, and aunt, but my memories of Madrid were vague at best... We only spent a day or two in Madrid before flying to Italy, but we did get to explore a bit.

I tried a traditional vermouth (fortified wine - basically spiced wine) at a tapas bar in downtown Madrid. Restaurants open for dinner at about 9 pm and close around 1 or 2 am. I remember hearing about this last time I was in Spain, but it's not an exaggeration. Dinner is typically very late.

Here, we see Michelle trying the iconic dish, paella. On my last visit to Spain, paella and flan were server at nearly every dinner on the 10 day tour. It turns out that it comes from Valencia, but is often associated with Spain in general.

Time for more photos! We just got into Rome last night - I'll be lagging behind a couple days on photos, but things are going well so far...

Before I get into the travel photos, a quick shot of the wedding is in order... Below we have Mikey, Phil, Jason, me, Michelle, Jen, Brienna, and Shelley. It was a great wedding - even with a few weather related mishaps. Credit for this photo goes to none other than my great friend Chuck Y. Thanks for coming to the wedding Chuck!

... and now back to NYC adventures. We got to be experts in the use of the subway. In fact, we haven't used a taxi in NYC yet. Interesting fact of the day: Jay-Z (music artist whom I know nothing about) got his name from the subway lines he took to get to school: the J line and the Z line.

Me and my new wife (!!) in the midst of a typical afternoon at the notorious Times Square.

Followed by a wide shot of the chaos and advertising monstrosity!

Followed by a rather awesome shot Michelle took during our bus tour. I'm sure the brownish tone could have been added afterwards with some photo editing, but she took this picture through her sunglass lens!

Heading out to Madrid this evening. In the meantime, here are a few photos from our recent stay in NYC!
Central Park looking awesome as usual! Apparently the whole thing was designed by two guys who had never designed a park. They seemed to do an alright job though...

Me modelling some Arizona iced tea. Michelle and I spent a relaxing Saturday afternoon at Central Park, watching some baseball with some takeout from a deli on Columbus and 106th.

A few days ago, we got tickets for a NYC night tour and enjoyed it quite a bit! I believe we were just crossing the Brooklyn Bridge here and got lucky with beautiful moon above the city.

I'm currently in NYC with my new wife, Michelle! Got here earlier this afternoon and we had a nice lunch with one of my WWU classmates, Chuck. We wandered around the huge Toys'R'Us store in Times Square before taking the very humid subway and settling into Hotel 99.

We are just about to head out for something to eat. The next few days should be full of adventure and fun!

(photo above from http://www.trekexchange.com/images/NYC_Times_Square.jpg ). I'll get my own photos up and running soon!

Last day as a bachelor?

Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I'll be married! I never would have guessed how much work and planning was involved in creating a successful wedding event. It will be such a relief to have it behind us and just enjoy time together.

We'll be heading overseas towards southern Europe soon. More info on that (and pictures?) soon...