The annual "Sheep Parade," maintaining pastoral routes through the city of Madrid, Spain, took place today and I was proud to have seen it.

I jumped out of bed this Sunday morning (late), threw on my clothes, and skipped off to the metro station to Príncipe Pío, 4 stops away on L6, and got to the "Puente del Rey" Bridge, crossing the Manzanares River, at about 10:10am.

There were a few people at first, but was filling fast with mainly Spaniards and their small children. You could hear a number of languages, including American English. I was happy to have arrived early as the flock of sheep and MANY goats started crossing the bridge from the Casa de Campo side towards the city at 10:25. About 5 minutes later, it was all over and they went on their merry way.

After crossing the bridge, they turned right towards the Segovia Bridge going parallel to the river, went uphill at the Cuesta de la Vega between the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace, continued on along the Calle Mayor through the Puerta del Sol, to Cibeles, and then up the Castellana as far as the Plaza de Colón - and back again to the Casa de Campo.

This was the FIRST TIME I had seen the event and was happy to be one of many onlookers, not too far from my house. In past years, since moving here in 2006, I'd either not been informed in time, it was raining, I had slept late, or just didn't feel like going. But today I broke the spell and all the pieces fell into place. It was a bit cloudy and not too cold and the alarm was set. It's true that I had stayed up LATE the night before, watching university American football games until almost 2am and this tested me. But I did it and I'm happy I had the experience.