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Madriding
Yes. First time updating in Spain. I´m so used to putting ¨France¨in the location line! Oh well.
So. I´m having a splendid time. Meeting tons and tons of people, and exploring the country. San Sebastian is amazing and I definitely didn´t spend enough time there. It seemed to be the place where travellers took breaks, and there I went starting off my trip there! Oh well. It was nice to relax and spend time at the beach ... Although I didn´t go in the ocean. But I looked across it and knew that my dear Continent was right out across the little ¨lake!¨
I went to Bilbao and went in the Guggenheim. Definitely an interesting place with random art and a whole big exhibit on Russian art throughout history. We (Angela, from Quebec, but an English part of Quebec) got a little sick of all the Russian stuff though! Bilbao itself is a really nice city, with beautiful parks and lots of artistic statues.
I got to Madrid yesterday (May 28) around 3:30pm and got to my hostel with no problems. I then explored the area a bit ... The hostel is on Gran Via, which basically means BIG ROAD. It looks a lot like the Times Square of Madrid! It´s busy all right. My ear plugs were needed last night. As well, Madrid (or all of Spain) seems to be having a heatwave and the temperature is well above 30. But I hear it´s nice at home too, so I don´t feel too bad!
Today, I went to the Reina Sofia Museum, which houses Picasso´s Guernica, which just so happens to be my favourite painting ever, and the reason I came to Madrid at all. But guess what? The rooms were closed!! I got over it and got an audio guide and listened to the commentary while looking at a small picture of it in the book. I´m sure it wasn´t the same, but it was out of my control that the rooms were closed 😞 After that, I went to the Parque del Retiro, which is a huge huge park in the middle of Madrid. I spent about 2 hours just sitting around, relaxing, writing in my little book and contemplating my time so far. Good fun. I´ve realized just how much of a homebody/lazy person I really am when I´m on my own and not ´forced´to hard-core travel! But in my opinion, as long as I get to see what I want to see, that´s all that matters!
On the 31st, I´m off to Valencia, Spain for one night. Then I catch an 11am train to Barcelona where I may or may not get a night train to Milan. If not ... looks like I´m getting a hostel in Barcelona for the night! I´ve got all my hostels up to Rome booked, which means all I have left to get are the Naples area (I think I may go for Salerno - any suggestions or thoughts on places near Naples that are within an hour of the city so I can get there in due time before a 9:30am train to Brindisi?) and one night in Greece. Angela sat and gave me tons of tips on the ferry to Greece - where to catch it, where to go to get to the train station in Patras, and places to stay in Athens. She even drew me two maps of Brindisi and Patras! Super great girl! Travellers are so nice!
So after I´m done here, I´m going to go back and make some dinner, but I´ve still got half an hour. Sorry to say that I won´t have any pictures ... But I very well may post them when I get back in a month and one day ... It´s true. One month I´ll probably be sitting in a Paris restaurant having my last meal ... Mom, this one´s for you ... I´ve decided to go to the pizza restaurant in Montparnasse that we went to! I think a nice pizza or pasta dish will end off my time in Europe quite well since that´s basically what I ate 75%!o(MISSING)f the time.
Adios!
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Mom
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Picasso's Guernica & Pizza
I had to look up the painting as I totally forgot what it looked like....strange! but then that's Picasso. Yummy pizza! Ahhh, such memories......Can you eat a piece for me?