Urban Madrid

... time and dropped off our bags easily - gotta love BA's online check in process (pre-announcement to charge for this btw).

I'll be honest - I am glad to be leaving Madrid. It's a beautiful city despite the construction but I will not miss it's lack of vegetables, late eating and smoking in public areas. I'd definitely come back to Spain but I'd like to explore more rural Spain or the coast.

I ...

... it was
not a very exciting day and I was happy when it came to an end.
Don't get me wrong. I loved Madrid. Friendly people, fantastic
food, beautiful parks......but after traveling on my own for a bit I
think I'm just looking forward to meeting up with my friends in
Barcelona. The closer I get to Tuesday, the more antsy I seem to
get.

... the whole city is special. Everywhere we went there was always something going on. Madrid is alive and always kickin´ and I recommend visiting this special city to anyone that is considering a trip to Europe. Tomorrow we have an early flight at 7:25am to Edinburgh, Scotland. That means that we will be having an early bed time. That´s fine because we´ve definitely lived it up in the most lively city in Europe.

... was fine except for a shoddy landing. Contiki starts tomorrow in Madrid, so this was our last real chance to relax. Tow getting mugged by a 3 year old The train from the airport to the hotel was a nuisance and a half. It took us 20 minutes to walk from our baggage collection point to the airport train, and another hour to reach the hotel. On the train, a little boy, about 3 years old, was saying stuff in Spanish to Tow, and he was wondering ...

... the afternoon in the Reina Sofia, which is a great museum home to Picasso's Guernica. To keep warm I am now wearing almost all my wardrobe at once. I haven't done laundry for the whole trip (apart from essentials, i.e, underwear), so I've lost count of the number of times I've worn everything. I've also been showering as little as possible, because in Morocco the showers were generally awful and in Spain it's too cold. I feel filthy.

... but to me it looked like a "cautionary" statue.... something created to warn people not to follow in his ways... After the parque, we hopped on the Metro to the Templo de Debud, an Egyptian temple gifted to the people of Spain for their help with excavating ruins near Cairo. The park surrounding the temple was wodnerful.... I can´t even describe the sense of tranquility. I´m not sure which pharoah the temple ...

When I started this blog back in August 2004 I was 34, today I turned 37 and realize how time is practically flying business class. I intend to continue blogging here on Travelpod, although I must say that I don't have the same inspiration as on the road. At least not at the moment. I guess it may have something to do with the amount of adventure while being out backpacking as opposed to life in a cubicle... Hopefully it will come back one day soon, both ...

... a flu with a bit of fever and a bad cough. I felt absolutely ****, and went back to bed instead of joining the happy crowd outside. A few hours later I woke up again, this time with a rumbling stomach. The fridge was pretty much empty (my roommates are in a small village just outside Valencia, down by the Medeterrian Sea, and I didn't join them because I'm sick, aaargh!!!), so I put on my jeans and Colombian t-shirt before I wandered ...

... odd middle eastern freak. lol, but it was ok, until i spilled y hot tea on the scottish guy sitting next to me, he wasnt to happy. so we landed there, transfered over to our other flight, and landed in barcelona. we took a train and then subway over to the city and finally managed to settle in after a few wrong turns. wow, love it already. we are now ...