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.