Next day 19/12/09

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Hi everyone,

LAST DAY IN MADRID

Yesterday - our last day in Madrid we were in a shop similar to David Jones food area - and Tapas bar - and two older ladies in their long fur coats, lots of gorgeous gold jewelry, well groomed etc came and sat down almost next to us - and ordered a BEER each!!! One ended up with a moustache of froth - seemed so out of place with everything else.... others were ordering glasses of MUMM champagne etc...

We did a couple of bus tours around Madrid and had a great time and saw some magnificent places but Madrid was at its best with all the fantastic Christmas lights at night. Just loved it!!

PICKPOCKETS

We've been repeatedly warned about pickpockets in Madrid - we have finally seen one in action yesterday when we were sitting at the front window having tapas and lots of wine watching the walking traffic pass us by - one particular guy called J's attention as he went by and as he came back J noticed him throwing a black object in a nearby tree planter box - he criss crossed in front of us many times after this and we noticed his eyes were moving over the people to his side and in front of him - he eventually noticed us watching him and gave us a rude gesture as he departed from the scene - a couple of minutes later the article in the planter box was picked up and realised then that it was a wallet - the man who picked it up had a look at it, pocketed it and off he went. After another round of drinks the pickpocketer returned and disappeared into the crowd - we summarised the whole event as foreigners come to Madrid with capital - locals obtain product, extract capital and recycle package. Foreigner leaves Madrid with poor return and bad memories - locals retain capital. So is this a form of micro ecomonics for Madrid?

ARE WE ILLEGAL ALIENS?

When we arrived in Spain - Madrid, we went straight through the airport by following instructions on how to get through the airport - at no time did we go through immigration nor had our pass ports stamped!! Are we aliens here???? We tried to ask people at the airport but no one spoke enough English to help us through.... so if we don't get back anytime.... after 15th January... you could probably correctly assume that we have been horribly detained....

OTHER STUFF

I have added in the photo of Saint Anna Villa Maria for Mary's benefit.

Also note in an earlier photo the building of the El Toro - where the bullfighting is held.


BARCELONA

WE arrived here today and have already been to the Christmas markets - just around the corner, plus we are just over the road from the famous historical Gaudi church - it has been over 100 years in the making..... pity we had hoped it would be finished in time for our ceremony but it looks like we just have to wait ..... yet again. Anyway the Christmas markets are great and a lot different from ours - still trying to find out why they have witches and moss along with their decorations....

The Barcelona airport is all new and is all glass and chrome - looks fantastically modern and well signed there - can't get lost there!!

After the markets today we went across the road to an old Italian restaurant for lunch - John had a seafood Spag Bol and I had Escalopes of Veal in marsala and sultanas - yummy!! We had a bottle of white wine - Orvieta - too sweet - had to drink the whole bottle.... hard work and the food was just beautiful - so good that we decided to have dessert - had an apple pie which was like a crepe with hot cooked apple slices on top and ice cream and sugar.... we will be staying in this area after the cruise for about 10 days so know where we'll be going again!!!

We're just resting before heading out to do some more sightseeing tonight and see how the Christmas lights compare with Madrids. Tomorrow we board the Cruise - Norwegian Jade - which we noticed in the harbour as we were flying in.

SICK BAY

Poor old John has a head cold but says he is on the mend..... must be terrible being that old....😊 He is filling up on medication to make himself better - thinks the wine is helping....

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Comments

[anonymous]

Bet you are glad Madrid is gone and dusted! Good photo of the pick-pocket, too bad he's a professional at it! Enjoy! xx (PS Hope the head cold has disappeared John, and pps, Graham Hobbs does remember you!)

[dottipitt]

Last day in Madrid
Hope the sea air will fix John's cold very soon. Sure cure is Whisky, lime and soda,but can hear John say, "Worse than the cold" Your Madrid experience has been great, even to the witnessing pickpocket action, cheeky devils. Love those fur coats, would be nice in Adelaide winters , greenies permitting...not. Enjoy the luxuries on board ,oh and thanks for the cute Christmas card emailed to us. Have fun xxxx

[JohnLyn]

Sat 20th December
Off on our cruise today - yeah! Great little hotel here but the services are expensive called the Hotel Barcelona Catedral - we ordered a bucket of ice and it cost E5!! about $7.50 so ordered a cheese platter to make it worthwhile, they brought the cheese, no biscuits or knife ..... not sure what John would say about your cure but think anything that had a hope of working would be good!

[JohnLyn]

Sat 20th December
Thanks Eva - and good - I think, that Graham remembers John - he is feeling a little bit better - got some tablets from the Farmacia around the corner. Not sure how often I will be able to go on here on the ship - last year it was $55 for 24 hours using the internet and the phone $45 per minute!!! We'll be on the ship around middday today - we're 9 hours behind you. Catch you later - breakkie beckons xxx

[david]

where to stay
Can you reccommend a place to stay in Barcelona? Going on a cruise the end of May.

[JohnLyn]

ACcommodation
We stayed the night before our cruise at the Catedral but will be staying in a different one for 9 nights so will let you know about that one.

[JohnLyn]

Accommodation in Barcelona
There are many great hotels and if you want to stay in an apartment then check out www.come2bcn.es - it has some great little apartments all over the place here and would do that next time we come here - you can stay in most of them from 2 days to several months.