The morning started off a bit on the hectic side, as we woke up a bit later than we had planned due to some overzealous snoozing of some overambitious alarms. However, we were still fine during our subway ride over to the Atoche Renfe station.

Although we were still a good four hours out from Pamplona, the sanfermines atmosphere was in the air. A group of 20 men were dressed in full sanfermines attire: white pants, white t-shirts, with red bandanas around their necks. Once the train got rolling, they made their way to the food car, just behind my seat. After some happy chatting, they soon broke out into song after song, complete with musical accompaniment. The atmosphere continued once we arrived at Pamplona. The train station was packed with revelers, both coming and going. One half-clothed guy was trying to get his ticket out of a machine. Clearly drunk, he spent the entire time we were in line to buy our next train tickets in front of the machine, with his equally drunk friends coming by to help out. I'm not sure he ever figured it out.... This drunken confusion was just a taste of what was coming.

We decided to walk to our hotel, since we assumed busses would be crowded and gross, and since I had just discovered I was getting 3G on my phone and we didn't look THAT far from our destination on the map. It was slightly warm, but the walk wasn't bad.

The old town that forms the heart of Pamplona is pretty much like a typical older European city, complete with cobblestone streets and narrow alleys. Atypical, however, were the crowds of reverles, and constant stream of street cleaners that were barely able to keep up with the former group. Bands played all sorts of songs (including "When the saints go marching in") while we waited to get let into our hotel. After trekking up to our 5th floor (European 5th, so that's SIX flights of stairs) room we had reserved via Bullbalcony.com, we rested for a bit. The room is... well, a small room with two cots, and an Ikea chest. Again, Spartan, but clean. The same went for the shared bathrooms. Although, unlike Euromadrid, this place did not come with towels and was easily 3 times the price. I guess that's the price you pay for proximity (excellent location) to one of the world's most popular festivals.

After a brief rest, it was time to explore the city. We wandered around all the old parts of the city, all of which were filled with throngs of people, singing, dancing, but mostly, drinking. We stopped at the Plaza del Castillo for lunch, as it was a bit less crazy. Crowded, definitely, but with fewer unmanageabley drunk people.

Since we'd had no veggies so far, we ordered a tomato salad (which just ended up bineg a plate of sliced tomatoes in olive oil) and a conejo stew. Oh yeah, and of course, a pitcher of sangria. This is, of course, Spain.

The rabbit was pretty good, and the tomato, while simple, wasn't too bad either.

After sitting and slowly enjoying the rest of the sangria, our exploration continued. We went to the bullfighting arena that we'll be returning to tomorrow, and wandered out of the old part of the city. The streets were filled with performers, including one group that basically amounted to a hippie drum circle. Fun to listen to, though.



A walk through the rest of the city wore us out, and we indulged in our favorite Spanish tradition again - la siesta. Of course, all that sleeping just made us hungry, so we went back to the Plaza del Castillo, and sat at another outdoor cafe and had stew again. This time, it was ox tail stew, and Michelle, who was really hankering for veggies, got a veggie sandwich. Vegetarians beware: veggie sandwich comes with tuna.

Time for an early sleep tonight, tomorrow we run with the bulls! Ok, fine. Tomorrow, we watch other people run with the bulls! Sleeping early may not be easy, as the bands and hordes of drunks are still running around tonight, and 6 floors up, it's still pretty loud.