Moncloa Garden Hotel Madrid

Flying home to Good old England 22/12/08 11.30am Madrid Airport awaiting our 13.15 flight to Heathrow. Well here we are after nearly 365 days, 21 different countries, god knows how many buses, planes trains, automobiles and transport of pretty much any shape or form and the wonderful 10 hour Iberia wooden class flight from Rio. In 5 hours we will be home at the end of our dream world trip ...

... too – like many Spanish churches it is richly decorated, with beautiful stained glass windows, and in this case an elevated high altar. Outside there is a statue of Il Papa – John Paul II, with his arms outstretched greeting the people of Madrid. The cathedral is very ornate and deeply spiritual, with areas reserved for prayer, as well as parts that are available to tourists, who usually respect it as a place of ...

I didnīt sleep too well on the train last night. I slept like a log for a few hours but then woke up at 3:30 am and didnīt go back to sleep for about a couple of hours. The train just rocks too much. It wasnīt at all like the gentle rocking motion of a subway that makes you really sleepy. But I did get some more sleep and felt rested enough by the time we got off the train at 8 am.

One of my train mates (Maria) was very kind and gave me ...

... the nurse tells me to lift up my dress. Ugh. haha I expose my hip and he starts like slapping me, it was weird. I look away because I don't want to see the shot and he literally stabs me in the back, it was awful. The shot did make me feel a lot better though. I had to wait again and this time Dan and Steph leave to go to a Madrid soccer game (yes I was jealous). So now it's just Cara and I and we do not speak Spanish at all. Luckily when I finally got called again it was with my ...

... open to experience (not only the weed, haha). Just things like socializing with people and stepping out of my comfort zone. I've become good friends with people with whom I would have never thought I was "compatible." Moreover, all the craziness back home has really been a blessing in disguise. Looking back at how I handled (or didn't handle) the difficult situations has helped me change, if ...

This week started off slowly with a sick day. Claudia stayed home from school on Monday with a cold. The other girls were showing symptoms as well, but Claudia was hacking up some nasty stuff. I am quite surprised that things didn't get worse though considering their hygiene: they don't wash their hands. Not after going to the bathroom, not after playing in the dirt, not after sneezing green snot onto their hands.... The germophobe in me freaks out a ...

... home is around 3-4 on the weekdays, 7-8 on the weekends (my roomate came home this morning at 0630 after leaving early from the bar). When in Rome do as the Romans do; when in Spain do as the spaniards do...Thus SIESTA. Now to 330-400 pm, it is time for the siesta (for obvious reasons), afternoon NAP TIME. In Madrid, Espaņa it is customary to sleep in the afteroon, taking a siesta, or nap for about 3-4 hours.

... It was just a different feel but I definitely liked that mix. At this point in the trip I am pretty used to seeing old stuff that you study about in history books so it didn't phase me that much, it was just cool to see. To get around in Barcelona we took taxis, metros, busses and trains. They were never on time but still worked out pretty good. After the hostel this was probably the most expensive thing. Though we pretty much walked everywhere some places were just too far ...

... improve heavily on. Being a tourist in your own city that is, something I believe most people are pretty poor at. But it can be pretty fun, so you should try it out one day! So this public holiday Monday I bring my camera and head for the famous Prado Museum. Being a Monday, the Prado is of course closed, so I head over to the botanical garden instead. In my early twenties I never ever thought I would pay money to go look at some green plants ...

... to put in a pirated (extra ****** copy) DVD of Madagascar. No one seated near me wanted to see it, but we didn't push the issue. The volume had one setting - LOUDEST. Even with my iPod cranked, it was still too loud. The olive trees were good because they put me in a very calm mood and I didn't complain about the lack of consideration - I waited to do it here J. Why complain? I don't like piracy, I thought it was ...