We sit on the train together

We sit on the train together We nap, we read, we write We gaze out the window  In wonder and delight We sit on the train together We snack and, often, feast On pasta, panini, Marias For half the journey at least We lie and sprawl when we can As often we're quite hung And sometimes rush to chunked That's just what happens when you're young We takes snaps of each other When someone's falling asleep  Cos it's pretty goddam funny When they're falling off the seat We chat a lot, of course To each other and whoever I feel sorry for the stranger We're pretty intense altogether  And then we play makeup  When we're feeling unattractive  We have hours on this train We need to be proactive  We sit on the train together Three travelers, three Aussies, three mates Where will we go next, you say Well who knows what life creates

Day 60 part 2: wind

My train was delayed and so I got in a little later than expected- about 8.30 pm. I was aware that the reception for our hostel shut at 9 so I rushed out to catch the bus as the directions instructed. Uh oh the buses have finished for the night. I'm also aware that the hostel is a good 40 minutes or so from the station. It is very very cold and quite windy. I hurry back to the station and ask the lady for a map and how I can get to the hostel. She gives a map but says the hostel is very far it is out of the city. Great. So taxi it is. Outside there is a taxi rank. I wait for a little bit but there are no taxis coming. It is dead around here. I think maybe I'll have more luck in the city centre so I walk to the centre. The city is dead. No one is around because it is so cold and windy, and not a taxi in sight. I find McDonalds, defrost a bit and google map the hostel. It says an hour and a quarter walk. This is going to be fun. It is now 9pm. I walk. I see maybe 2 people along the way. Avignon is one of those cities surrounded by a wall. I walk outside the walls and then I have to go across the bridge. Oh my god the wind is quadruple the ferocity on the bridge. I cannot even walk without holding on to the rail and if I didn't have crush on my back grounding me I would be over the edge by now. It is absolutely ridiculous. The right side f my face is completely numb and wind blown. I can't feel my lips and my hands went a long time ago. Just when I think the bridge can't get any longer, I reach the end. But the street I want is not there. There aren't really any streets. When I walk a little further I realize why- here lies part two of the bridge. Oh my god jot again. Part two is just as long and blowy. And it is dark. This place has no street lights. I'm shitting myself just a little because I don't really know where I'm going, it's dark, freezing, deserted and I think the hostel will be shut by the time I get there. I panic a little and want mum. Finally the end of a bridge. I ask the closing pizza shop for directions and after a little more walking (why not?) I reach the hostel. It is dark. Reception us definitely locked. There are bars across it. I walk up some side steps and peer inside and bang on the door "hello Liz Hannah, anyone there". No answer. I walk around the other side of the hostel and find an open door to the building. Inside there are three levels each with about seven rooms. I bang on each door shouting "anyone here?". There is no answer. The place is deserted. I start to cry a bit. I don't know if the girls are asleep or of they came here then decided to change hostels because this one is fricken creepy or... I race around the rooms once more and then really start to psyche myself out. There's a painting sheet lying on the floor with reddy pink rains on it and for a moment I'm like "is it... What if it is..." I begin to think I'm going to have to camp out here in the corridor for the night and wait until morning to do anything about the situation. Then I decide I won't do that until I've explored the whole property from end to end. So outside again. I walk around to the back of the property. I see a door, open it and there sitting at the table is Hannah, Liz and a man. Oh my gosh I am so relieved I burst in to tears again. And relay my horrible night to them. They give me chocolate and tea and then we can laugh about it. Patrick (the man sitting with them) says he knows exactly what that bridge is like and tonight is uncharacteristically windy and cold so he can't imagine how it must have been...  In summer this hostel is very popular and is bustling with people but during the winter time the city is very quiet. Avignon translates to "the windy city". They got that right! And they are doing renovations at the moment so only the back part of the building is being used. I think apart from one other group, we were the only ones staying there.  So we sat and chatted with patrick who volunteers at the hostel. He is a very interesting fellow. He would be in his fifties I think and he used to be an artist. He has a condition where he is photosensitive so he invented lamps that did not affect him. He made them out of stone and has had many many exhibitions and newspaper articles written about him throughout Europe. He has traveled extensively but now is running out of money so he will start working at the hostel soon. He tells us about all the books he has read on medicinal herbs and flowers, diets that make you feel twenty years younger because they are suited to your blood type. He is wry intelligent and explains to us the importance of electromagnetic waves in relation to your body's health. We sit and chat and drink tea for hours.  The girls tell me later that he took them to a spring in the afternoon where they collected the water because apparent it is holy and fresh and very good for you.  After peeling ourselves away from his endless (but interesting) chat we retire to the bed chambers. 

Day 60: with Lauren and brad

Glorious sleep in. Shower without thongs, chocolate-free breakfast, chill out with lauren and then we all head in to the city when brad finishes training. It is a very cold day in Montpellier and the wind has a biting chill. We have lunch at their favorite restaurant and then browse the boutiques. It is too cold to stay out for long so we supermarket shop before heading home to watch some movies. Then Lauren cooks me up a good hearty steak and I cook a peach crumble. Before I know it I'm back at the train station to board the train to Avignon to meet the girls. 

Day 59: trains and chocolate

  So I'm up early to head off to France to see Lauren whilst the girls stay another night in Barcelona. After quickly downing some coco pops and Nutella toast I get to the station. The first train is 3 and a half hours. The scenery is gorgeous countryside and it looks sunny outside. Though I'm glad I'm cosy on the train because I know by now how deceiving the sun is and I know it's really freakin cold outside. I pass the time by reading a book I picked up from a book exchange at one of the hostels. I'm really into it, near the end and it's only taken me like 3 days to read.  I get to cebere- a beach town with surrounding mountains at the border of France and Spain- where I'm supposed to change trains. There's a strike. No trains today from cebere. Shit. There is a bus I have to catch and then another train but I'm going to get to Montpellier station 3 hours later than I told Lauren. And oh crap I didn't write down her phone number. I know I'll msg fe to get it. Reliable fe gets back to me straight away. I msg Lauren then and now I've run out of credit. I hope she gets it. About an hour passes and she hasn't replied. She would reply. I'm on the bus but I can't appreciate the beautiful drive through the mountains because I'm stressed. I call customer service from the phone to recharge it but for some reason my credit card will not work. Oh my god could anything else go wrong. I wonder what to do then u ask the guy sitting across from me -using hand signals- if I can use his phone. I finally get on to Lauren and can now relax and enjoy the ride. 10 hours after setting off this morning (+ 2 Nutella sandwiches + 10 choc biscuits- just remember my breakfast too) I arrive and meet Lauren.  The evening is lovely and relaxing. We chat, have a lovely home cooked homey mustard chicken and veggies + French wine and desert, and watch some TV. Then I fall asleep peacefully without having to worry about bed bugs...

Day 58: cirqu du soliel

Sleep in was vital as we didn't get home until 5 am. Therefore we missed breakfast. But not to worry kebabs are just next door.  Then we hit the Picasso exhibition because on Sundays all the museums are free. The exhibition displayed his very early work and also some of the later stuff. And the contrast is striking. At first he painted landscape and then lifelike portraits. But some 20 years later his style changed to that of the weird misshaped or distorted figures. The colours changed too to more bright and less subtle.  I left the girls at the museum and headed up to Montjuik. It is an area of hills and gardens. It took a good 45 minutes to make my way up through the gardens- stopping to capture snaps of the city views. At the top of the hill is a castle where I strolled around, witnessed a drug deal and snapped some more.  Later that night we headed to Cirque du soliel. Oh my gosh it was absolutely fantastic. The acrobatics, the acts, the strength, their bodies- spectacular all of it. I was sitting by myself because we couldn't get 3 seats together and the whole time I was either gasping, laughing or saying "oh my gosh" or "ahh what are you doing?" out loud- very loud. I couldn't help it. I also happened to have a very good seat and right at the beginning a clown did a flip in front of me, I was sprayed with water and a 2-person donkey sat in my lap. It was all super entertaining and I just want to see it again and again. 

Day 57: park Guell

  Today we went up to park Guell which is s park that gaudi created. If is on top of a hill and therefore has the best views of the city. Not only does it have views but also brilliantly decorated entrance gates, fountains and water features, the famous lizard mosaic sculpture, weird and wonderful seats, rotundas and pathways. Gaudi's house is also in the middle of the park which you can visit if you like. We strolled along, past a cello and keyboard band playing beautiful music from Amalie. Then we strolled up the hill a little further. On top of the hill there was another band playing. But their music was a little different. There were bongos, maracas, a guitar, a cello and a singer and they were more bohemian style with their hippy outfits and energetic dancing. They were very entertaining and we stood watching and enjoying immensely the music and dancing for about half an hour before purchasing their CD.  That night i cooked up some pasta and then we headed out to the biggest football stadium in Europe to witness Barcelona beat another team who are clearly not that important because I can't remember the name. It was 1 degrees and yep you could feel it. But it was fun. We yelled and stood up and oohed at all the appropriate moments (and some inappropriate too no doubt). When we got back it was about midnight so we got ready to boogie at one of barcelona's most popular nightclub- Razzmatazz. The nightclubs don't kick off until about 2 am anyway so perfect timing. The club had 5 rooms each playing different styles of music. My fav was the live band in robot masks playing Spanish electronic. 

Day 56: gaudi

  We conduct our own Gaudi walking tour. He has five famous buildings in Barcelona and each of them are fantastic. His style is very unique and quirky. He was always interested in nature and so took parts of nature and used the ideas in his artworks.  Our first stop was a fountain he created which was a pretty magnificent fountain- it was just huge and had a bridge to walk over it.  The second was his most famous piece- sigrada famiglia. It is a church but unlike any church I've ever seen. The theme is that of a jungle. Outside it has 16 towers with flower-style crosses on the top. Inside there are pillars resembling trees and the roof is like the tree tops spanning out above you. There are magnificent staircases and railings and windows that allow natural light to illuminate the building. The style is so quirky it doesn't even feel like a church- the stained glass windows make it way too colorful. And gaudi himself is buried in this church. We saw his tomb. The remarkable thing is the basilica is not finished. It has been in the making now since the 1800s and it isn't expected to finish until half way through the next century! The idea is to make it as similar to gaudi's original plans as possible. It would be good to see it when there's no scaffolding that's for sure. Our third stop was a house that he created. Again the nature-ideas bring this quirky style building. He's pretty fantastic.  And then an apartment block which was also wacky and amazing.  That night I cooked up some croquettes (fuoi gra flavour) and pizza with fresh produce from the market- one of the bases was a 5 cheeses pizza base!! Yep I went there. 

Day 54-55: Valencia and cheesecake

Getting to Valencia at 5 am is death. We fall asleep on the sofa at our hostel- its 10 times more comfortable than the train! After a few hours of semi descent shut eye we head in search of breakfast. And then out to explore Valencia. It apparently is the town of oranges and they are proud of it- the whole train station is decorated with them. It also has a park running through the centre of the town that used to be a canal. Now it is full of fountains, paths, joggers, cyclists and a few soccer grounds. Poor Hannah got a big from something- perhaps a food thing and she ended up back in bed by early afternoon whilst Liz and I went out for a romantic dinner. The next morning Hannah was really crook. We took her to the doctors but they couldn't see her because (from what we understood) she's not a European citizen. They told us to take her to the hospital. Instead liz and I tried our luck at a pharmacy and they were much more helpful. We gave han the drugs and put her to bed ( where ahe made besties with damiano- the italian traveller who has run out of money so he stays in bed reading and only gets up to hunt for food) while we explored a little more. At the biggest food market in town i found a cheese cake. It was enormous and it was from  a cheese stall so it was real cheese. And it had a slab of melted chocolate on top. It made me feel slightly sick but it was worth it. Then it was train time again- off to Barcelona.

Day 53: carving up Sierra Nevada

  So I'm up at 6.30 to get the bus to Sierra nevada. At the bus stop I see a girl who's carrying ski boots so I pounce and make her my friend so I an follow her where to go because I don't really know. She introduces me to the group she's with- french, german and spanish students. The bus ride was lovely. The mountains are so large and white and numerous. And there's a lake between them that looks stunning as the sun is coming up. We arrive by 9 am and it after hiring all the gear we hit the slopes. So you take a chairlift to get up to the initial part of the snow fields and at mt bullet this might take 10 mins max, here it takes 20. They are huge and there are mountains surrounding. And there are so so many chairlifts all over the mountains I get so excited and worry that I'm not going to have enough time to do them all. The day just keeps getting better, the sky gets bluer and the sun shines brighter. I start sensibly on the green runs- but bore of it after one ride down so then move onto the blue which are a good fun fast level for me and not a 'falling' level which maybe is not such a good thing as it may have caused a bit of cockyness... So naturally move on to red colour after a few decent runs. The red are definitely more challenging. I feel my legs burning after the first one and I stack it for the first time too. It's a good one- skis come off and I slide for at least a further 10m down the slope. I dread climbing back up to retrieve them so I lie in the snow sprawled for a minute. Then a lovely stranger stops and picks them up and brings them down to me. Thank you stranger.  The sun burns brighter and it starts to get hot. Except at the very top of the mountain. It's quite a bit cooler up here as it is the highest peak. And the view is incredible. You can actually see the sea and beyond that morocco! Yeah you can it is wonderful. From up here you can choose red runs or black runs. But they all have signs saying "very difficult for solo experts" hmm that's not me but oh well. I do some of the reds. There is one run that expands all the way around the edge of the mountain right down to the bottom. It is not very steep but it is narrow. It's a scenic route and it is beautiful. I cruise down it at a very leisurely pace admiring the surrounding mountains. It is truly awing. And then I go back for black runs. Wowza they are steep I definitely half fall down the first black one. But the next I do very wide turns and as much as it burns my quads I manage to stay upright for the length of it. The best part was at the end there is an uphill part. I see it coming so you don't really have a choice but to go really fast down the last bit of downhill so that you make it up the up hill (if that makes sense) oooh that was super dooper fun!  The lifts shut at 5 so now it's food time while we wait for the bus. We sit outside in the setting sun with jackets off it's so warm and order hot wine and bocadillas and chips. Most of the time the group is speaking Spanish so I sit back and absorb the atmosphere. But they each make an effort to converse in English and include me. I don't mind it's cool to hear. And occasionally the Germans speak German and the French French so everyone is not understanding at some stage. It's funny when they try and speak English then get confused and accidentally say a few words in Spanish.  The bus comes and we sit and fall asleep. Back at the hostel the girls are cooking burritos. I down five of them before we head off to catch a 10.15 train to Valencia... It gets in at 5am what a ridiculous long day... But awesome!

Day 52: ahlumbra

This place is fantastico. It takes us a good few hours to explore it. It is a moorish palace built in the 14th century for the last Muslim emirs (or Amirs). And then when the Christians reconquested, prince Charles V (Roman emperor) used it as his palace. After falling into disrepair for a while it was restored in the 19th century.  There are rooms and passages and courts with gardens and flowers decorated with Muslim art. And the gardens are glorious of course. There are two palaces, many gardens, the dungeons and an absolutely magnificent viewpoint where you can see the mountains with snow on one side and the sea on the other. We get back and chill for a bit then han and I go out for late night tapas to Carlos' (the hostel dude) recommended tapas bar.  It was so busy (good sign already). We stood around the bar with all the other locals (no mistaking it) and ordered a beer. You get the tapas for free when you order a drink and there not a bowl of chips. The tapas tender asked what we'd like but the menu wasn't in English so we said "you choose" and he came back with delicious herbed pork sandwiches.  The group of spaniards next to us taught us how to order a beer in Spanish so we ordered another round and this time got a plate of pork in a good sauce with some chips and bread. All in all a good and very cheap tapas experience. 

Day 51: ahh crap we're hung over again

But it's not too too bad so after 6 pieces of toast and a croissant we head toward a park of some sort walking nice and slowly. Then out along the pier where at the end lies ruins to a castle- who would have thought? Well Cadiz was protected by a wall as it was a very valuable piece of land. After meandering I was super hot again so I headed to the beach (just feet this time) whilst the others visited the cathedral. Personally I don't know if I can do any more cathedrals regardless of how spectacular they are. I can't even distinguish the Vatican anymore and that's saying something. Then another train ride to... Where is the winning city! "Granada"! We get there and 5 mins later -zzzzzz

Day 50: The treasure hunt

Mike the hostel dude put on a treasure hunt so of course we're going to enter- there's competition and treasure involved! He gives us a map, some questions and instructions and a competing team. (unfortunately the idea wasn't that popular among the hostel occupants). So we set off at a fast pace to find the sites and answers to the questions. Liz had epic map reading skills, Hannah was the eyes (as she was the only one with sunnies on this glarey day) and I with the mathematic skills- for the place where the treasure was hidden had to be mathematically solved. So naturally we smashed it and won some chocolate treasure. The highlight of the hunt was the garden you ended up in - Genovese garden. It had a lovely waterfall and was also strangely filled with dinosaur sculptures... Actually the thing I loved about it was that there were little garden beds laid out in rows and each had their own mini fountains going- they were really sweet.  The rest of the afternoon was spent at... The beach! Yeah we did. It was 15 degrees but felt like 30 the sun was glorious. Han and I stripped down (Han had bathers...) and swam in the pacific ocean. The water was freezing but that didn't stop us from ducking under and swimming for a bit before sun- baking to warm up again. It was the perfect way to spend a gorgeous afternoon.  Wait for it... What a pub crawl? Why not go for the third pub crawl in 1 week?? Ok done. This time we had crazy LA frat boys on the crawl- they were very entertaining. We ended up at an Ibiza-style night club until early hours of the morning. (Ibiza is the party town of Spain and we are hoping to get there...)

Day 49: the hangover

So yep we we're all hung over- Liz was by far the worst- throwing up every hour. The rest of us including our Texan mate were able to enjoy a fantastic view of Seville atop a piece of architecture known as the mushroom. It doesn't really look like a shroom but you take an elevator up and walk around the top admiring a panorama of the city. And then we enjoyed an epic lunch- more delicious pork. Our fellow Aussies mates were not to be seen all day- they were still in bed when we left for the train a about 4 pm so fair to say they were in worse shape than us. When we arrived at our next destination- Cadiz, we ate delicious tapas ( I ate pork tongue) and then had a very good sleep.

Day 48: Australia day!

So Seville you offer a free walking tour- we're on it. Seville is cool as pretty of course. Every city seems to be. It is the oldest city in Europe which is a pretty good effort considering what it's up against. But really it has the perfect location, right at the bottom of Spain- perfect for shipping. And shipping is what it was famous for. We saw the old ship yards that became a hospital when the shipping industry grew too big. The hospital was vey large and at the entrance gates to the city so that all the sailors coming in could be checked to see if they were bringing new diseases.  We also saw the amazingly gothic built cathedral with the contrasting moorish tower next to it. Reason being the Romans came and took over of course and when an earthquake ruined the moorish church, the Romans decided they'd build a massive cathedral. The tower was too sturdy and well built to be affected by the quake and it was the tallest tower in the Spain at that time so the Romans kept it as part of the cathedral. A little while after the cathedral was built the king decided to put a sculpture depicting the story of Jesus shouting at the people for trading in the church. This is because gypsies were numerous in Seville and being very hot they found the cathedral was a nice cool place to trade. So the sculpture was erected to remind the people this is wrong an not allowed. Instead a hall was built across the road for trade. After a deal the parties would hold hands and point toward the cathedral to promise it was an honest deal.  We saw the statue of the richest woman in Spain. She owns 40% of Spain and is more powerful than the royal family- queen Elizabeth bows to her! She is now 85 and has recently married a 45 year old man - ick! We saw a beautiful beautiful plaza espania with a moat surrounding where people were hiring boats. The plaza itself is built in three different styles- moorish, roman and something else. You can tell the different styles just by comparing the patterns in the roof. There are also pictures about Spain's history all around the plaza. The one our guide explained to us was of Christopher Columbus kissing the queens hand when he returned from his journey to south America bringing herbs and native south Americans. The story goes that perhaps he had something going with the queen for if you look into the picture he is shutting the king down and favoring the queen. Legend has it that the king was impotent so the queen was in search for someone. She was Christian and so only bathed twice a year so no one wanted to sleep with her. Then if you delve deeper it is proposed that Columbus was perhaps Jewish because he planned his trip so that he left the day before all the Jews had to leave the country if they did not convert to Christian... So who knows really... The plaza is also shaped in a semi circle facing west. This is to signify an embrace to south America to say sorry. The architect was the same guy who created the Eiffle tower too.  Our last stop was the Tobacco factory. It is now a university and it is a beautiful building. And it is huge- 9000 people worked in it and they were all female too!  Ahh so much writing- feel free to skim over... After the tour we went for lunch with the group for Moroccan pork. Then off to the alcazar palace. This was the palace of... It was brilliant. The design was again a mix of moorish, Christian and Islamic architecture. The most outstanding though was the gardens and they went on forever- not quite like Versailles forever but still long enough to be called forever. And there were orange trees everywhere! I decided it was necessary to steal a royal orange but I felt like I had disobeyed god after that... Eating the forbidden fruit... Oh there were also peacocks in the garden and I was somehow sexy enough to make one sprout his magnificent tail to us!  So being Australia day we of course had to celebrate and how better to celebrate than with a 12 euro liter of vodka? Well I know- how about add a pub crawl after that... And that is what they did. My fav part of the pub crawl was the salsa dance lessons at the beginning- probably because I was chosen to accompany the teacher- whom of course had all the moves. My second fav part was the second bar where there were a group of people on rollerblades??? My least fav part was the hangover the next morning...

Day 47: days in the sun

Another gorgeous day. I head out for breakfast with a new friend and enjoy the people watching game whilst the others head to the royal palace. There is no way I can be inside on a day like today! I stroll around the palace gardens. There is a Japanese style emerging with many little fountains and small bushes. I think for some reason that uncle joe would like this. I find another garden area and lie on a bench in the sun in front of a fountain. There are many many people about and every 30 minutes or so there is a parade in front of the palace with a band and soldiers and horses. But between the loud hoorahs, there are two musicians providing the perfect chill out tunes two benches down from me. So I lie there writing away listening and watching for over an hour until its time to meet the girls.  Eliza leaves us :( back to portugal but she says we are very welcome to come and stay with her in brazil. She says the Brazilian boys will go crazy for Hannah with her blonde hair and bun douw (big but).  We then head out for a googled 'best churros Madrid'. The hot choc sauce is a mug of melted dark choc. Omg my heaven... Usually but not when I'm feeling this hungover... It is quite sickening actually...  Then off to Seville. Our hostel is cool and full of Aussies and Americans of course. The hostel cooked us up some paella and sangria for dinner then it was cup of tea and bed for us. 

Day 46: Toledo

  Today we train to Toledo for the day- the old capital of Madrid. What an interesting place. There were three events i suppose to separate the eras in Toledo. First the community was Jewish so there is some evidence of Jewish buildings in the town. For example there are scratched out engravings where Jewish writings were written across the doors of houses. And some Jewish influenced architecture. But in the 15th century the Christians took over. And if you didn't convert to Christianity you were kicked out of Spain. So many families now are trying to trace back to see if they were actually Jewish decent. And some when they found they were tried to come back to Toledo to claim land. Some people find that they practice other Jewish traditions but are christian- indicating that they were forced to change somewhere down the line.  We met a man in a shop toward the end of the day who took us on a private tour- mainly because he wanted to set Eliza up with his son in Portugal... Anyway he worked for the council in Toledo. He was Jewish but his family had converted to Christian during the inquisition. He showed us the houses where Christians had scraped away the Jewish writing and the house of the richest Jew in Toledo at that time. He was so rich he had his own Rabi in his house! It was an absolutely ridiculous house.  Toledo was very pretty and there were gorgeous old ruins and castles all around the city even outside the city. But it was full of tourists. No one really lives there and there is only one school and university. Many of the houses are for sale and no one is buying them.  We visited the mosques and saw stunning views, ate Spanish omelettes in bocadillas (rolls),  almost got locked on the university and almost missed our train back to Madrid. All in all it was a wonderful interesting history -filled day.  That evening I sat drinking 3.50 euro vino with a bunch of American, welsh, French and British travelers. We shared stories and advice and then hit the town true Spain style- going out at 1 am getting home at 6.30. However I missed the part where you have a sleep in and only managed 2 hours sleep... 

Day 45: Tour and dine

Walking tour just for a change. Our guide is pretty funny. She's short and boisterous and worked at Disneyland for 6 months which may help explain her character as she had to wear a costume the whole time. So Madrid: the city has a lot of history but as I'm way behind in my writing I can't remember too much of it. The mist interesting part I found was the inquisition. During the 15th century I think when the Christians were killing off those who weren't Christian enough or who would not convert to Christianity. To show that you were a true Christian you weren't supposed to bathe more than twice a year- eww. Also during this time there weren't any toilets or a sewerage system so families would empty their buckets out of the window into the street! So all the men would wear long black coats so whenever someone yelled out that their buckets were coming down, pedestrians could throw their cloaks over to cover their entire body because if they got shit on them - well they couldn't shower could they?  Madrid became the capital of Spain only after the queen apparently requested the royal family move to a place less humid than Toledo (the old capital) because her hair was going out if control in the humidity of Toledo. What's history without it's stories...  However when everyone moved to Madrid there was not enough room or work for everyone. So the government introduced a type of tax for the madritians where they had to pay per number of rooms they had or they had to give a room for the newcomers to live in. This lead to 'malicious housing' where houses were built with windows at all different levels to obscure how many rooms and levels there actually were in the house so dwellers could avoid the tax.  After the tour Erica took us to a good local restaurant where we indulged in a bottle of wine, chorizo pasta, fish and calamari, endless amounts of crusty bread, pudding and espresso all for 9 euro. We sat chatting to Erica for hours enjoying the courses and the company of everyone on the walking tour.

Day 43: tapas, pinxos and pub crawl

Arriving in Madrid at lunchtime (spanish lunchtime-3pm) we head to a tapas bar and order delicious rounds of tapas sitting out in the sun in a little lane way people watching. Then we nap and then we wake up and go out for dinner. Ha ha yes eat sleep eat. This time we head to a bustling pinxos bar. People stand around the counter and order tapas on bread. There were so many to choose from and they were a very descent size. I couldn't go past the quail egg burger and the baby eels. There were hundreds of baby eels piled onto this piece of bread. I felt a little bad gobbling down the 3cm little suckers but soon got over it cos they were very tasty.  I should probs mention that we also died the ends I my hair pink but it was semi permanent and not as bright as I would have liked... Then it was Madrid pub crawl time- why? Because rule number 3 states that every Saturday night we have to go out so off we go... Good fun of course but Hannah's jacket was stolen which put a bit of a damper on the night.

Day 44 continued: flamenco

  That night we went to a flamenco show. It was in a tiny room with a small stage and small barrels to sit on. The whole experience was very intimate. We sat with our sangria and listened to a band of 2 guitar players and a singer. She had an amazing deep strong voice. They each stamped a foot and she clapped as well to keep the rhythm going. But the main form of keeping in time was watching each other, especially the 2 guitarists. They were looking intently at each other the entire time, reading the signals of what was to come. The dancer was absolutely beautiful. She would start tapping her feet to signal to the band that she will start dancing and this is when the singer would know to be quiet. Due to the informality of the show we were able to ask the performers questions. The dancer said often she improvises the moves - there is a lot of visual communication between dancer and musicians too. Of course the song was in Spanish but when we asked the story behind the music, she said there wasn't really one. It's about love and the town but there isn't really a flowing story. I found this a little disappointing at first but it's nice to be able to sing about different aspects of life without having to follow a story. 

Day 44: sun baking

At breakfast we meet a Brazilian woman- Eliza. We like her immediately. She is 27 and studying in portugal for a year. She takes us to the biggest market I've ever seen and it has everything! It takes us a few hours to peruse. For lunch we google the best paella in Madrid and begin the hike. It is a bit of a let down to be honest but they do it properly- with the big pan and the service is good. My fav part of the day comes next. The glorious park and it is so sunny outside that the park is doubly beautiful doubly busy and doubly perfect. I lie in the sun on the grass in front of a lovely lake where tourists are rowing boats and lovers are being lovers. It feels so warm in the sun that soon I'm in a singlet- in the middle of winter! I never thought this would happen in this trip and as I am such a summer bumpkin this excited me- so much so that I fell asleep... Half an hour later I wondered through the park at a very leisurely pace. Everyone was rollerblading or doing skateboard tricks or jogging and enjoying the gorgeous Sunday afternoon. I said I'd meet the girls at one of the museums so I found them there but could not get in the mood to look at paintings so I left them there and headed back again at a very leisurely pace.