Nh Nacional Hotel Madrid

24 September 2009

Flew Ryanair from Granada to Madrid, when i reached Madrid airport I called my couch surfing host Ramon. He told me his address and how to get there on the metro. SOoooooooooooo off I went, caught the metro to his station and set off on my adventure to find his apartment. rRamon mentioned that he had to go to the doctor so he may not be there till 9pm. So I ...

... to congregate at 10pm...there was wierd street performances happening, toilet paper displays over air vents, a man in a coffin on the phone..all sorts really! Some boot leg stuff being displayed on the side of the road with a sheet, that was easily picked up if need be. We headed back to the bus stop and found another group of us waiting for the bus back, so we all boarded and the bus driver seemed to just go And go fast. We bounced around corners, through red lights..it ...

... I would have been able to do it anyway.J .   So now you know why Madrid ended up being a relatively uneventful place for us.  It's known for it's vibrant night life but we opted for a more relaxing and quiet visit.  W e ofcourse hit he major sites and museums but we also did some more "normal" activities like going to out to different restaurants ...

... was in spanish without any helpful illustrations. Makes sense, right?Madrid is an easily-walkable city with numerous tourist attractions. The museum of modern art is free on Sunday and part of Saturday, so we were able to visit and take in the exhibitons. The art museum is also free on Sunday evenings, so we were able to view some masterpieces as well. Madrid has a large "flea" market on Sundays, but it is mostly vendors selling chinese-and-african made junk with a ...

... s version of a slushy. I actually ended up buying a second one for our walk. At 7:30 PM, we took the train back to Madrid. We ate at Gino´s again. I had a coupon from when we took the tourist bus. This time we both had pizza. Day 11 On Thursday, I took my dad to the town of San Lorenzo El Escorial. I had been to San Lorenzo El Escorial three times before our visit. Since I was familiar with the town, we took the bus. We picked up a bus (more of ...

... a photo exhibition of artisitic shots "from behind", by the most famous photographers... Somehow wenesday is a special day, and we were not allowed to enjoy the sensibility that such talented artists had certainly shown in photographing nice bums... Waiting for Ana to finish work, Clement showed me a place where houses were being destroyed, except for a few, or parts of them, on which you could read "someone ...

... I have a better idea...how bout don't. Or at least start blowing things up in a month, when I have bounced.
I went to Sevilla 2 weeks ago and Toledo this past weekend. They were very different from each other. Sevilla is in the south and the accent sounds a lot like the Carribean Hispanics. It was beautiful but SCORCHING and that made me cranky... I don't wanna talk about it. Toledo was slightly more awesome... I think my friend summed it up best when she goes "Oh man, THIS is ...

We woke up the next morning and ate a big breakfast at our hostel because it was free. The food was nothing special, but we really didn't want to spend our money on food so we filled up. To preface the rest of my trip to Madrid, I really just wanted to get away from home and relax. I spent a decent amount of time in Madrid when I came to Spain in 2004, and I have shopped and been to all of the monuments, palaces and museums, so I really didn't want to re-visit everything ...

... relieved, as I remembered an occasion or two where I'd learned first-hand that the world doesn't always revolve around those of us who refuse to plan. Luckily this pilgrimage was a go. On the bus Jimmy slept as I read and sang along to the cheesy music our bus was playing. Then for the last hour or so, amid random spurts of jumping up and down in my seat, Jimmy took me back to summer camp and other childhood days by patiently walking me through some an origami coin box and foxhound.

... maybe it's a little farther - I walked down until I hit number 45, then turned around and went back. Next I found number 25, and the Pakistan embassy, but number 30 seems not to exist. It's getting close to 12:30 by this time, so I stopped to ask for directions. I finally found a hotel at number 25 and the woman there spoke English - she said number 30 must be right across the street, and I walked past the same strip of buildings ...