Please be aware that I am writing this on my iPhone and any spelling errors are as a result of the the platform being used not necessarily of the operator.
Today was another early day as we were up by 7 am. I had been awake on and off for about half an hour but hadn't made it out of bed. We got all our stuff together, and went down for breakfast. When we finished we asked the desk clerk to call us a cab and he made some comment about being able to walk there and I replied that we didn't want to lug our very heavy bags! Really, I didn't ask your permission and I also didn't ask you to pay for it!!
The taxi arrived and he drove us to the station, when we were getting out he made some comment to his friends about the fact we had took a taxi. Then they all started laughing which ticked me off. Seriously people need to worry about themselves and not get into other people's business. I am well aware that we had a 5 minute walk but we were both lugging heavy suitcases and backpacks as well as our walking sticks! And to get from the hotel to the train station with all our stuff would have taken us 30 minutes and we could have been injured. My Camino was over and I wasn't ready to start a new one just yet.
We arrived way early and waited in the cold. It was so cold that I had to put my cardigan and rain jacket on because I was freezing. Then they announced the track and we took the elevator down and walked under the tracks. There was a ticket agent checking tickets just before the stairs to go back upstairs, so we showed our tickets and took the elevator up to platform 4. Within a few minutes the train arrived and we were fortunately standing right near where we needed to get in.
But there was nobody in sight to give us a hand and it took me a few minutes to position myself to get my bags and myself on board. Then I had to get my bag up in the overhead compartment and it took both of us to get it up there. Finally I got myself settled and Carleana's bag could not go in the overhead compartment so it was on the floor between the two of us.
It was a long hot ride and there was no benefit to being in first class because it's not as if we got anything special. Our seats were roomier. I spent the time catching up in my journal, napping, listening to music and we played cards for a while; Carleana kept beating me at crazy 8s. Then she fell asleep and I dozed off.
We finally arrived in Madrid on time and we made our way to the entrance. I went over to information and found out where to find the taxis. The taxi driver that pulled up had a big dent on the passenger side which didn't inspire a lot of confidence. It also took a few minutes to get him to realize where we wanted to go and he had to gps it. I had serious doubts about whether we were going to get to our hotel. Then he tells me that he won't be able to get us right to our hotel and we will have to walk. Anyway just as he had stopped and was asking whether we wanted him to drive us to Gran Via, I looked up and saw our hotel.
We got out and Carleana hears is someone screaming Preciados. This guy tries to take her bag and she was flipping out. I explained that he was taking our bags to our hotel as we settled with the taxi. We checked in and went up to our room, then a bit later the bellboy brought our bags up to the room and even put then on the luggage rack and opened the safe and showed us how to use it.
Then we took an hour or so to get settled and unpacked for the next couple of days. I went through the booklet and map we got at the front desk. Then we sat down and came up with a game plan for the next two days. We are going to the area around the El Retiro park and see which two museums we will go to tomorrow and then the other two the next day. We are also going to finish up our shopping.
We decided to go for a walk and we headed towards Plaza del Callao and then down Calle Carmen towards Puerta del Sol. Along the way we did some shopping and I found a pair of comfy flats. I also found a shopping bag with my name on it, and I got a few ideas of things for my boys. We wandered around for a couple of hours because when we got back to the hotel it was after 7:30.
We had dinner at the hotel. I had the goose pate which was really good. Then I had a salad with tuna and boiled eggs. I ordered a glass of dry white wine with my meal and a bottle of mineral water. Then for dessert I had the creme caramel and it came with peach and strawberry slices, whipping cream and walnuts. They also brought a baileys. All and all I had a pretty good meal for 26€.
We went for a walk up to Plaza del Callao because we had seen a Starbucks and thought we would have some of the comforts of home. We also went into the Cortes Ingles to get a few essentials at the super mercado. Then we walked back to our hotel and got settled in for the night.
I wrote up a few notes for my journal and then worked on this blog. I did my daily zentangle and went to bed knowing that I could sleep in to at least 9 am.
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