Machu Picchu!

We hopped out of bed at 4am to climb up the many stairs to Machu Picchu!

Some first light photo fun for ya...


A little taste of the scenery along our climb...


Once atop Machu Picchu, we promptly made our way to the guardhouse to wait for the sun to peak over this mountain on us...


That is what I'm talking about!


Another classic view!

Making our way to Machu Pichhu!

We boarded the over-priced Peru Rail to Aguas Calientes... the town at the base of Machu Picchu!


And made our way through rural Peru...


And had a blast doing it!

Cuzco!

After 32 hours of travel (flying and layovers) for Rebekah and I... we finally arrived in Cuzco!!! Thanks Star Peru for being the most comfortable flight ever! And even putting down our tray tables while we slept so we could wake up to a snack!




Cuzco is quite pretty, isn't it? The whole time we were there, it made us want to watch "The Emperor's New Groove" more and more!


While in a random shop, I made a new friend...

PERU!!!

Look who we found at the Lima airport at 1 AM! Crazy running into her here!


Breakfast of champions! After staying up all night in the airport, we slammed this delicious and nutritious meal at about 4:30 AM!


Look at all these confiscated goodies!

Comida de Espana!

Sangria with Tapas... LOVE tapas! Free snacks! Heck yes!


That doesn't look like a tortilla, but it is... a Spanish Tortilla! (we would call it a potato omelet)


And the ever classic... Paella!



We even made sure the birds had some Spanish food... some spanish bread!



And after this awesome day of running, exploring, doing laundry, eating, feeding birds, strolling through the park, and going to Museo Prado... we went to a Flamenco show. I'm thinking this has to rank on the one of the best dates ever!

After the really good Flamenco show, Rebekah said... "I could do that." :O)

Heck yes she can!

Some more pretty sites in Madrid!

Plaza Mayor!


Cathedral Almudena... right next to Palacio Real!


Palacio Real!
Palacio Real... from the front!


Neptune's fountain!


Some headless traditionally dressed Spaniards!

Our full day in Spain!

We woke up to do be surprisingly NOT lazy! I know... what is going on, eh? I guess, for me, it is probably the realization that I have a marathon to run in November. Anyhow, this lack of laziness resulted in a run through Parque Retiro! And what a beautiful park it is! I (Steven) was here back in 2004 with Nick and Brian so it was fun to see some familiar sites and our run even led us to some new spots!















P.S.
We returned later to the park to take these photos... we aren't talented enough to run and take photos at the same time. :O)