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
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
posted by Toni Black at 4:52 PM
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