Just to start out of sync straight away I have seen two protest marches since I have been in San Sebastian. The first was a silent march that I think was commemerating the deaths that have occurred due to the Basque conflict (think ETA terrorist group and you will understand) and the second they were chanting something but since my Spanish is non-existent I have no idea what it involved. Makes me want to learn the language but since I only have less than a week to go I will struggle on regardless.

Upon arrival in San Sebastian it was 7am (and I didn´t get a snorer by the way) and I knew I couldn´t drop my bag off until at least 9am so I had to sit around in the dark waiting because there was nothing open since it was a public holiday here. After dumping my bag I asked the pension I was staying at what time could I get into the room since I was feeling particularly tired and was told 11am. I promptly wandered around and found a place for brekkie and after nearly falling asleep at the table gave up and found an internet cafe to pass the time until 11. Once I got in the room I was soooo cold it took me forever to warm up and I didn´t get much sleep anyway. Finally got off my butt and wandered around the town for about three hours (it isn´t that big and I was strolling around not power walking). Ended up going out for some pinxtas (Basque equivalent to tapas and very yummy) with a girl I was sharing the room with.

Back on track yesterday I found my favourite place in Spain so far. It is the Guggenheim art gallery in Bilbao. The architecture of the building has to be seen to be fully understood and the art in the building is again very different to the usual that you get through Europe. The Guggenhiem Bilbao doesn´t have much by way of permanent exhibits so this one had a retrospective on American art over the last three hundred years on two of the floors while the remaining floor displayed local artists. I loved it all and would recommend anyone go and see it just for the architecture alone. To give you an idea on how much I loved it I spent about four hours wandering around (my usual is a maximum of 2.5 hours) and still feel I could have gone back and seen it all again. Now its definitely on my list that I go and visit the other Guggenheim museums but the kicker is that I found that there was one in Berlin and for some reason I didn´t get there. Since Berlin is my favourite city in Europe (so far) it could be an incentive to go back.

Today has been somewhat of a bludge day. I took my time getting ready to check out since I knew I wasn´t getting a shower tonight (am on the overnight train to Barcelona) and I knew from looking out the window that the weather was awful. Finally checked out about ten minutes before the deadline and wandered down to the tourist information office to ask them for suggestions on what to do today. I had already missed the bus to take me to Pamplona (as in running of the bulls) and the next one wasn´t for another 2.5 hours so they suggested Hondarribia instead. I took myself there and wandered around for about three hours and found it to be a lovely little village. I even sat down and watched the surfers ride this tiny little break that took them into a break wall for a good while. That shows dedication that even I would not give to a sport.

Since the village wasn´t big I headed back to San Sebastian and after wandering a bit more found a movie theater. I crossed my fingers and after lining up found out that they were all dubbed in Spanish - was hoping for at least one Spanish sub-titled movie to while away the time since I don´t have to be at the pension to pick up my bag until 9pm. Found a bar after this and had some pinxtas for a late lunch along with a few glasses of red wine. Which brings me to here now updating my blog. I figured I still have another few hours to go so may as well do this and check out a few more new things on my email, facebook, youtube, news sites and so on before I go and have another couple of red wines before going to the train station. Its raining outside so I am not in any hurry to go anywhere.

Hope all is good with everyone.

Toni
xxoo

The next day I decided to go to Toledo for the day. I got to the train station in plenty of time but in true Spanish style the lines were huge. I figured that there should be automatic ticket dispensers so after asking the American couple behind me to save my place I went over to the machines. Surprisingly enough there wasn´t another language option but I still took a guess and managed to figure it out - by this time the American couple had also joined me and we bought three tickets in one go. The kicker here though was that we now only had five minutes to get to the train. We got to the gate in time but they wouldn´t let us on so we had to wait for another two hours to get on the next train and had had to pay extra to get our tickets reissued to us for that train - was feeling cheezed off about that.

I put the time to good use and organised my overnight couchette train ticket to San Sebastian - took about an hour waiting in the ticket office before my number was called but I thought I may as well. When I finally did get to Toledo I met up with a Kiwi girl and Canadian guy doing the same thing as me i.e. backpacking and doing a day trip from Madrid to Toledo. We ended up sticking together for the day and between us agreed we probably wouldn´t have seen as much just by ourselves.

Because I wasn´t sure what time I was going to come home I hadn´t booked a return ticket when I went to buy one I found that the train was already booked out so I wandered to the bus station and jumped on the bus back to Madrid - took a bit longer but it was fine.

When I got back I decided to get off the metro one stop further and check out Gran Via a bit. I grabbed some Maccas there as well as I was feeling a bit peckish by then (it was about 8.30pm) and after wandering around the Gran Via for a bit took the street that connects the Gran Via with Puerta del Sol which is where I am. Although not far the kicker here is that I had never been down this street and didn´t realise that it is known for prostitutes and at that time of night they were out in force. There was plenty of people around so it wasn´t that I didn´t feel safe - just thrown because I wasn´t expecting it.

Next day was Tuesday and I went to the Thyssen art galley. Out of the big three in Madrid this one was definitely my favourite. I wandered around for a good while and as a mark of knowing if I liked the place or not I bought a lot of postcards (I have been collecting and plan to frame a few good ones when I get home). I didn´t feel up to much more so again just wandered around and explored and finally went back to the hostel and curled up on the couch and read my book for awhile. Eventually I made a move though as I was due to meet the people from Toledo for dinner at 6 and after some v. ordinary paella we went to the movies and saw Lions for Lambs - not a bad flick and it was a good night out.

As an idea on how run down I was and am feeling I laid in bed for ages yesterday (Wednesday) before finally getting up. When I did all I managed to do was go visit the Palicio Real (Royal Palace) which I found to be not that good and then went and got something to eat and found a park to sit in for awhile and read a bit then thought bugger it and went back to the hostel and surfed the web and did stuff all. This again carried on for the rest of the night.

Today though was different - I had to get up early anyway because I had to get my gear out of the room since I am not staying at the hostel tonight (am taking the overnight train to San Sebastian) and since I was up decided I better go and buy my ticket from San Sebastian to Barcelona (its a extra long weekend here in Madrid so I wanted to be sure I could get to Barcelona). Thankfully this time I only had to wait about 15 minutes. After that i went to the big public park here and walked around for awhile then eventually picked out a possie and read the last 40 or so pages of my book. From there I wandered a bit more and got some food then picked another possie and wrote some postcards. After posting them I wandered up Gran Via again and checked out the few shops that are open on a public holiday then came back here to the hostel to have a shower and get ready to go to the train tonight. Fingers crossed I don´t get a snorer in my room.

Toni
xxoo

Today ha

Remember how I was saying that art is supposed to invoke some sort of emotion well today I copped boredom. I went to Museo del Prado which is supposedly one of the worlds best art galleries. I dutifully lined up for about 45-60 minutes before being allowed into its hallowed halls on the proviso that on Sunday its free to get in but I still managed to get charged €6. Despite my questions all the rude lady on the ticket desk could say was €6. In the end I just handed over the money since I had lined up and I wasn´t about to waste anymore time. By this time I REALLY needed to find a loo since it was cold outside and I had been drinking my water but of course I had to firstly get my bag scanned then checked then I had to go through a metal detector. A group of Russian exchange students were in the way on the bag scanner as they were discussing what they were allowed to take into the museum with the cloak room staff so in the end I pushed through (I really was desparate) and argued with the cloak room that my bag should not go in the shopping trolley with the Russian bags. After quickly getting through the metal dectector (thank god) I raced over to the sign saying toilets this way and overshot the mark and had to double back to find them again. I always do this when I need to find something quickly.

After the loo I went to the information desk to get a map of the place and started to wander. I honestly thought something would grab my attention throughout the two or so hours I was there but frankly all I felt was boredom and felt I had to go to all the rooms because there was obviously something I had missed. I even spent some serious time checking out the Goya paintings which Lonely Planet had gone on about and it still did nothing for me. I have chalked this one up to ´I have done it´ and the only emotion I got out the art work of it was boredom. Over the last year I have seen so many paintings of the nativity scene, Jesus on the cross, Saint this and that and Spainish noblewoman circa 1840 I don´t think I can take it anymore!! I must be a philistine but so be it.

Anyway now that I have got that out of my system I will mention dinner last night. In my last post I said I was going to go for a wander and get some dinner. I didn´t end up wandering very far because the hostel I am staying in is right in the middle of the city and they turned the Christmas lights on last night so most of Madrid came into town on the Saturday night to check out the lights. I gave up and went into a restaurant close to the hostel on the recommendation from the staff that all I need do is order a beer in any of the restaurants on the hostels street and I would get some free tapas as part of the deal. I went in and asked for a beer and tapas. The woman was chewing gum and had an attitude but handed over the beer no worries. After ten minutes I asked if I could get some tapas and was told that they didn´t do tapas. I told the owner that I had asked for this when I ordered the beer and nothing was said then. He gave me the menu and said just order something so I picked out prawns in garlic sauce but the price was €7 so I thought it would be a decent size. When they bought it out there was about 10-12 prawns and huge chunk of bread. I assumed that they had given me a tapas size since they were v.v.v. small prawns and even then they weren´t that good but I was hungry so I ate them. When I went to pay I handed over some money and expected a lot back but they had charged me the €7 for the meal. I had had enough by this stage and told the manager that their service was poor and the food was disgusting. He looked a bit miffed but by this stage I didn´t care and chances are they will think I am a rude American tourist.

This morning after phaffing about I took off to see the El Rastro markets. I knew that they were big and somewhat of a flea market done every Sunday in Madrid. I needed a new jacket because its getting too cold just for my fleece. Along the way I was asked directions since I was checking out my map and it turned out to be an Aussie couple. We checked out the markets together - I bought my jacket and a few small pressies then we went our opposite ways. It was quite funny actually when wandering around the market because the shop owners kept telling me that I needed to be careful of pickpockets. I only ever have about €30 in my wallet at anytime and the rest is in my money belt which is well and truly tucked away. It was nice that they were concerned though.

After this I headed off to the Museo del Prado into my boredom phase of the day. I couldn´t face anything else after this as the boredom had sucked the puff out of me and headed back to the hostel which is only about ten minutes walk away and ended up spending the afternoon talking to another Aussie girl and an English guy who are staying at the hostel. That my lovely readers has been my day. Action packed with highs and lows, tears and laughs and an overall desperate need to find a toilet! Who knows what tomorrow may bring - stay tuned.

Toni
xxoo

Had a real bludge day in the end yesterday. I hung around the hostel until about 11 chatting with people then finally went out and wandered around the shops, bought a few things and then sat in the sun and had lunch at a cafe (three courses for €9 - hard to beat). After lunch I couldn´t be bothered anymore and went back to the hostel for a siesta. I went up to the roof and laid on the deck chair in the sun for a few hours then, when it started to get cool, went downstairs to the room and laid in bed and read for awhile. Finally got up and had a shower and went downstairs and hung out in the kitchen and had a chat with whoever was there. Dinner was put on by the hostel for €5 a head and was yummy so had my share and then went to bed for an early night since i had to get up early this morning to catch the bus (by early I mean 7.30 but in Spain that is early - especially when you usually don´t eat dinner until around 9pm).

Got to the bus station fine and went to get my ticket to Madrid for the 9am bus but found that it was full already so had to hang around for another hour before I could jump on the 10am bus. This is the first time I have ever had allocated seats on a bus and the people were a bit cranky with me until I figured out what was my allocated seat. The trip itself was boring and I quickly found the hostel (big shock for me since I seem to be doing the opposite of late) and because I had actually pre read my Lonely Planet before arriving I knew one of the museums was free after 2.30pm on a Saturday so I dumped my bag and went down the road to check it out.

I usually like all art - it may be weird, quirky or silly but I usually like it all in some way but this museum (Centro de Arte Reina Sofia - focuses on modern art) had a temporary exhibition featuring the artist Paula Rego. Some of her art was absolutely repulsive and I found it hard to stomach.

As for the rest of the museum it was all good. Had a lot of Picasso and Dali which is to be expected since they are Spanish. Have now come back to the hostel and am debating if I want to go out for dinner and a bit of a walk around to see the city centre. Not sure I can be bothered with the latter.

Boring blog I know but since I am not doing anything now I thought I best share.

Toni