Hasta luego Madrid

by anna

Thankfully we are going back, so we didn't have to really say goodbye, as it was sad enough packing up our apartment and leaving our life in Madrid as semi-residents. We really loved the few months we spent there, and our last few weeks were no exception as I finished classes, we had a visit from Dave and Aurelie, friends from L.E.K., and said hasta luego to the team at the gym and our local cafe bar.

In this entry we have included some photos of our apartment, local market where we shopped for fruit and veg and meat, the gym we attended almost everyday for a month, and of me with Carlos, our friendly camarero from ecuador in our local bar "Olympia" where we used to go regularly for cafe and tortilla or bocadillo calamares. Also, the entry, common room and classroom at Don Quijote, my school for 13 weeks. These are some of the images of our everyday life here that we have loved so much.

It wouldn't be a couple of weeks in Madrid without some vistors too. This time, it was Dave and Aurelie who came over from Paris for the weekend. They stayed at a funky hotel nearby and after our Madrid tour, taking in the key sights and flavours in the crazy August heat, we spent a day relaxing by the pool, looking out over the rooftops of Madrid with a couple of bottles of rosado. It was really too hot to do anything else, and a very classy way to spend the day.

While Dave and Aurelie were here, Laura, a family friend from Ballina way called through town, so she jumped aboard the Madrid tour, joining us for dinner at Bazaar, a fantastic, great value, modern restaurant in Chueca.

Finally, we got amongst the city's summer activities going to an outdoor ballet with Rocio. The setting was just awesome in the Conde Duque courtyard where they had erected a massive amount of scaffolding to create theatre seating with soft lighting. The ballet was a mix of classical, spanish themed and american 1950s. Great, light hearted stuff.

A highlight of leaving, worth remembering and that I can only wish we'd had a camera to capture, was the trip to the post office to send a box of books and no longer wanted items home. The box was large and heavy, and David and I were noticeably struggling carrying it down Gran Via between us. We were saved by a knight in shining armour disguised as a street sweeper who offered to put our box on her cart between the two garbage bins and wheel it to the post office for us. It was hilarious and we got some very strange looks but it was most appreciated and we gave her 5 euros for a copa for her efforts!

We are now heading to India in November to visit David's brother and attend a wedding, which required us to alter our itinary somewhat. Here is the new plan for the next seven months:

September (Europe)
 • Aug 22nd - Sept 2 Portugal and Galicia
 • 3rd-18th Barcelona and the Costa Brava
 • 19th-22nd Switzerland visiting Miguel and Sue
 • 25th-29th Paris with Leon and Caro

October (Spain)
Early - around Barcelona
Late - Madrid then somewhere in the country with Anna's parents

November (London / Middle East / India)
Oct 29th - 3rd Nov London
4th-7th Bahrain visiting Alex and Dan
8th-30th India

December (Americas)
1st-8th New York
9th-30th Peru (Inca Trail and Macchu Pichu) and Ecuador (Amazon Basin for Christmas)
31st New York

January (Americas)
1st-12th New York
12th-20th Mexico

January - March(South America)
Jan 20th - March 28th Based in Buenos Aires

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