When we left Barcelona at 8am, we had no idea that it was going to be the longest bus trip ever! We had our usual little stops, also dropped off and picked up people at Valencia. I sorted of wished i had time to stop there as I have always wanted to see Ibiza. Because we were delayed by so many things, we didn't reach Madrid till 8pm that night. And it was hot, 34 deg! Our guide told us it was going to be 40 deg tomorrow, which made all our faces drop to the ground. Espically when we got up to the hostel and realised no air con, no fan and smoking allowed every where! That night Spain was in the Euro Cup final, which caused complete chaos. I retreated to my room for an early night, which I have no idea how I did with the amount of car horns, and fire crackers going off.
The next day I went down to eat my crappy breakfast and checked my emails, which always puts me in a good mood when i get some from back home. But then I found that Spain was in sale season, so I picked up a few things I have had my eye on. That was along the Gran Via, then I caught the metro to Espagna to check out all their sky scrappers, which were nothing compared with Tokyo. Then I visited Madrid's only monuments the Palacio Real and Ameria Real which looked just like some big buildings. I walked through the Plaza Mayor which is the oldest landmark, and back up to the hostel through the main part of town Sol. Once I sat down and put my feet up, I realised that the gallery I wanted to see was going to be closed tomorrow so I caught another metro to the Reina Sofia. Which was 41 deg! But once in the gallery it was worth that amount of sweat, as it has been the best gallery so far. It had Picasso's Guernica, which was enormous. It also had works by Miro and Dali, but my favourite was by an artist who I hadn't heard of, Juan Gris. So it was good to end the day on a good note, except having to avoid all the hookers outside my hostel.
The following day, after my shitty breakfast, I arranged to met Loz and Matt at 1pm who had just got in from Barcelona. Before that I made a few calls home to loved ones, which put a very big smile on my face. We went back to their hostel and booked all our remaining accomodation for Portugal and when i get back to Paris. After a lazy afternoon we cooked an awesome dinner with lots of chicken and vegies. Which was followed up by laying on the couch and watching You, me and Dupree.
