High Tech Petit Palace Embassy Madrid

... Roman Style" and “Creaking Prawns.” Today in Cordoba, “Clotted Blood with Onions.” For dessert, a scrumptious “Quark Cheesecake.” Philip reported that he was able to furnish some assistance to a local restaurant proprietress who had earnestly translated a dessert something like crème brulee as “Bacon of the Sky with Scum.” Gosh, I think I’ll ...

... well rested by the morning.
So breakfast was at 9am for departure at 9.30..we had more of a city drive, photo opportunies at monuments and some historical background. Then we headed off to Toledo the old capital of Spain, a short drive and slight nap and we were there..a grand old city with lots of moorish buildings. We caught a few escalators up to the top of the main town, then walked to the main square where we had lunch. Dan and I ordered paella to share, 25 ...

... little café. Whichever it was, we enjoyed our treat. I had the hot chocolate, which has more of a soupy consistency but very flavorful nonetheless. Finally, we made our way back on the bus where I enjoyed a nice hour nap (typical) on our way back to Madrid. On this night, the Játivadores (a named I coined for the 6 of us that live on Calle de Játiva) were scheduled to go out with the girls' host mom Maria since 3 of us helped construct a dresser for her ...

... a aceptarle nadie? Y si el sexo se había acabado, mejor ni hablar de la pareja. Eternamente solo. El VIH no se cura. Ya no encontraría a nadie. Afortunadamente, por aquellos entonces Andrés tenía un amante al que veía ocasionalmente, a quien había informado de su seropositividad. Era necesario que todos sus amantes del último año se hicieran la prueba. Entendió perfectamente que la mayoría se alejaran de él. Nuevamente, ¿qué hubiera hecho él en la misma situación? Para su sorpresa, su ...

... glass and conveyer belts. Found gate (with some difficulty!) and joined the queue,, which then deteriated in to a free for all. We did, however, manage to get on to the plane (after having a slight fright when refused entry on to the plane as we had incorrect boarding passes - Dad had given the guard the wrong ones (London to Madrid).

... It's got character. Much respect. Incidentally, Real beat Zaragoza, somewhat unconvincingly, 2-0. Our seats were average, the field partly obscured by 3 metal bars. But that didn't matter, because we were there. The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. One of the mecca's of football. My mecca of football. The perfect way to launch the football trip of the devil of death. A few more days to kill before the Italian League kicks off - Venice it up...

... my head is literally bobbing again with the effort of trying to stay awake. We quickly clear out of the restaurant and Tiago leads us back to the hotel with an itinerary for tomorrow to think about. We have free time to go out on the town, of which I really wish I was in a position to take advantage, but I am just too beat. I vow that this is the only night I'll let myself go to bed instead of exploring while in Europe...

... 8pm and 11pm - we were lucky! Afterwards we went for drinks at a Irish pub and an old-fashioned Tapas bar - Next day: Saturday was supposed to have less rain - but well NO!! We went around the city and checked out places: Later we decided to go to the Museo de la Reina Sofía to see some art and be in a dry place! Saturday is a free entrance - so good for us! In the evening we went out for dinner with our Spanish ...

... pig stems back to the fun old days of religious inquisition, where you were able to differentiate between and Christian and a Muslim by whether or not he chowed down pig. Then, presumably, someone got burnt at the stake, and they threw some ham on for good measure. Ham on! Back at the Mad Hostel, the beers were free flowing and the Aussie-Pom alliance was in full swing. After coming to the aid of 6 American girls who didn´t posess the motor ...

... about 3 or 4 Aussies, a french girl, and some funny guys from Kentucky.. it was a great night, but the sangria and beer was taking its toll by around midnight.. im still on some weird time zone and i went back to the hostel. Its a hard life this backpacking... i was going to go to Toledo today, a medieval town about an hour from Madrid, but i slept in till 9 and by the time id had breakfast and dressed etc, it was 11 and too late to go.. oh well, maybe tomorrow! Till next time, Adios!