Oasis Madrid Albufera

... picnic, and 4 of the people had dropped out of coming to dinner, which was a little disappointing. We ended up having a verifiable feast at Debbie's apartment just the 4 of us, and I tried to get excited for the services. When we got to the synagogue, we met up with another guy from Duke, Max. I ended up getting separated from Debbie and Jenessa and Michelle, and while Max and I went downstairs to the Ashkenazi service, the other girls went up to the Sephardi service ...

... in line for about 25 minutes to get a ticket. The entire museum was old paintings, and pretty much all of them were either religious paintings or paintings of noble-type people. What I learned was that I donīt like old paintings. But I do like air conditioning!

Did I mention itīs very hot in Madrid? It wasnīt too bad this morning because there were clouds a lot. But itīs been brutal this afternoon. The line at the Prado was half in ...

... is about 80 kms outside Madrid. Most of the buildings there are over 500 years old and we saw an aquaduct which was built about 2,000 years ago and is still standing (even though it is not used any more). Tonight is our last night on tour - it will be a sad night as we have made some great friends on this trip - 2 couples in particular who are from Sydney and Ulladulla and we intend to keep in touch with them after our return to Australia. Tomorrow we ...

... s worth of hotel costs by sleeping on the bus. Plus, roundtrip bus fare to and from Madrid was only 32 euros, quite a bargain if you ask me (especially when you compare it to the AVE train, which is about 150 euros roundtrip). When we arrived at 6 am, we took the metro to the hostel, located on Fuencarril, about 5 minutes north of the Gran Via. Riding the metro was completely refreshing, for Sevilla hardly has a public transportation system - no real metro ...

... time seeing the sights that weīve missed. We did manage to get to the Prado museum and liked the works of El Greco the best. Unfortunately we werenīt able to get into the Palacio Real as the king and prime minister were in residence, but we did see them both as part of a royal military parade at the palace. Weīre now just getting ready for our long-haul trip to Santiago.

... the hotel where you will stay during the first days in Russia. In our case, we booked the rooms in www.sherstone.ru . They are really good English-spoken people and they made all the documentation. In case, you are not going to book in advance an hotel, some webs can obtain for you the invitation, for instance: www.expresstorussia.com or http://www.viajararusia.com/ 2- Passport 3- 1 photo 4- Visa application form 5 ...

... one I prefer. Or even better, maybe you are lucky enough to be able to dedicate this month to hammock swaying on a beach in..., lets say Honduras, where I happened to be last year around this time, madre mia..., those were the days... Hit the road Jack..., aaahh there it is again, the call of the universal sink plug... I am in the office at the moment, currently listening to Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits while writing these sweet honey dripping lines. My ...

... lonely planet, "a lesson in what can happen if you give your interior decorators a free hand." The throne room was very impressive as was the porcelain room and the room the King would use solely for having lunch- see pics We also saw the Royal pharmacy and armory on display at the palace - see pics That night we went out with Claire for beer and tapas. Very filling and very yummy. Spanish olives rock and are decidedly different and better than the ones in New Zealand. We ...

... to be a very large crime and finding tickets might be pretty close to impossible, especially when you donīt speak the language. When at a sold-out sporting event in Europe look for gentleman with plaid shirts carrying newspapers they might know how you can get tickets. But we were not fortunate enough to find out the art of this underworld. In a few hours we are taking the night train for Paris.