Blogs from Madrid, District of Madrid, Spain, Europe - page 6

Mad mad mad Madrid never quite expected it to be like this. I expected bustle, life rush and people but never expected to be ripped off. Work up late after the noise of the night before. It did however go quiet later as the weekenders packed up and left for home. Tents were taken down and a strange quietness descended on Camping International. In fact, it is fair to say it was lovely with a good supermercado that sold fresh milk , ice lollies and lovely hot croissants. Excellent sanitaires , a good bar and restaurant but note to myself never ever come on a Friday nor a Saturday . It is hell. We had decided not to bother with Madrid but as we had time to spare we made the decision that the train station ... read more

hola todas! after my parents dropped me off at the airport (3 hours early aka 1.5 hours earlier than i needed to be), a six hour flight, a surprisingly simplistic customs stamp, and a short shuttle ride to the dorm i have finally arrived in La Universidad Complutense en Madrid! i just finished getting settled into my dorm with my suburb lightweight packing all put away, and am currently deciding if travel blogging is for me. i have a full few days of orientation ahead of me and then my first actual exciting event on saturday: a Real fútbol game! will (possibly) keep y'all posted, Ricky... read more

We sleep in and have a domestic morning washing clothes and paying bills. We discover that our flight to Corsica leaves quite early tomorrow morning, and that we'll need to order a taxi for 5am. We try to book a taxi on line. The first site we try won't recognise our address, and the second one says that all the available taxis are fully booked at 5am tomorrow morning. I think what this really means is that most taxi drivers in Madrid will be in bed asleep at 5am tomorrow morning. The third site says that we need to download an app to use it, but we can't get the app to download. Thankfully the fourth site seems to work. I hope that the taxi turns up. It would be a long swim to Corsica. We ... read more

We have some time to kill before our guided tour of the Prado Museum this afternoon. Issy says that she wants to visit the Botanical Gardens, which are very close to the Prado, so we wander slowly through the streets in that general direction. A man approaches Issy and insists that she takes a small sheet of paper that he offers her. Issy says that we should always take things that people offer us, otherwise they'll think that we're rude. She tries to read what's on the piece of paper, but it's all in Spanish. I tell her that I think it's offering her the services of a man from Africa to help her with her love troubles. I wonder why the man was so insistent that she take it. I hope he doesn't know something ... read more

Issy gets up before me, which is a bit unusual. I've started to notice that this only happens on mornings when we're leaving somewhere, and she then makes sure that she packs and locks her suitcase before I do. I think she's working on the theory that if she forgets to pack something it will then have to go in my case. This is a very cunning ploy; she always seems to forget to pack something. I also seem to have inherited the large plastic bag with all our dirty clothes in it. Admittedly they're nearly all mine, but my suitcase is now starting to bulge at the seams. The Toledo station still looks like a church. All the windows are stained glass, and it has the same sort of tower as every other church in ... read more