Spain Trip Day Three − 19 September, 2007

(The following are transcripts of the Moleskine I kept on our trip to Spain)

12:20am
-Bidet doesn't work POS
-met up with Antony from Madsegs hes cool
-segways are pretty easy to use, it takes a short amount of time to get used to but no problem
-we toured all over and saw a lot
-stopped in a few gorgeous churches
-Antony told us about a chocolate delicacy the spanish love called "Chocolat Conjuros" (sp) its basically thick hot chocolate and churros? churritsos? finger like sweets-we got to try out his Segway which is the oldest segway in the EU it was a class 3 so it had a top speed of 24 kmph
-he set us up with pictures and info for the rest of our stay in madrid
-we encountered some gypsy women while on the tour attempting to swindle the segways away
-then we saw the sunset back at Temple de Bod and toured it
-then we walked up to the metropolis, cibeles and made the long trek to Las Ventas, it was worth it
-on the way back we were hungry so we stopped in VIPS our spanish was a disaster but the waitress was patient and we got it sorted out
-came home showered and going to bed

12:15pm
-woke up, had a nice buffet breakfast at Best Western
-walked down to Palacio Real, closed because of a huge special event
-tried to get a picture with palace guards but before I could stumble through "Quiesara un foto, por favor" he said no, no picture
-went to the cathedral Real again looked around
-kept walking to Basilica de San Fransisco el Grande
-"If there is a god he lives in this house"
-sat in garden, then went inside after practicing some spanish on the guard "no fotografia a la interior?" I say. he says "fotografia, ci, sin flash" so we take our cameras in and have multiple Architectural orgasms, service was in so we were quiet, old woman overheating ambulance came
-bought postcards on the way out guy didn't sell stamps even though he said he did
-back streets to plaza mayor practiced spanish getting sprites (Ginger Ale doesn't exist as Greg found out)
-walked to puerta del sol looked around
-pictures with bear and tree
-found petit palace, not the one we are staying in, ours is around the corner
-went to ours after finding Gran Via again (Chocolate con churros)

11:10pm
-checked in at around 3pm because our room wasn't ready yet (people were apparently living there for awhile)
-came up to our room and realized how small it was
-I had a shower and realized out "high tech" shower sucks and blows water halfway across the bathroom floor
-went downstairs and asked receptionist where we could mail something and where we ccould get on the "Madrid Vision" tour buses we kept seeing
-for the mail she said to find "el corte ingles" and its in there and then for the tour bus there is a stall in puerta del sol
-we go to "el corte ingles" and go searching for a sign, nothing, Greg goes and asks a woman in the travel agency she doesn't speak english, we go out and down the street to "el corte ingles libraria" (the book store) she doesn't speak any english either, Greg asks in spanish "Donde esta correro?" she points to the building we came from and says "abajo"
-back into the store we have no idea what abajo is look for the sign and see its on -1
-in spain the main floor is 0 below is -1 up one is 1
-we go in and down a floor still don't see it
-Greg asks another lady, she says "Abajo" and points behind her, she speaks no english
-we walk behind her and see nothing
-walk around for a bit
-ask another lady she points down and says "Abajo" she speaks no english but the down pointing is enough to clue us in
-we go down the escalator, around a corner, and we are in the parking garage
-then we see it "Officario Postal"
-walk in, get in line, when its our turn Greg starts to say "Quiesara enviar una postal"
-before he can finish enviar she takes the postcard rips it from our hands, weighs it and says "OK" and waves us off, then we attempted to go up the down escalator and then we made out way out
-upon reflection you would think a store with ingles in the title would have at elast one english speaking person in it, not the case here
-then we went for tickets to the tour bus, I achieved getting these by pointing at the sign, saying "Quiesara una billete, una dia, por favor" which he replied "dos personnes" "ci" "gracias", I asked if he spoke english he said a little and then I asked where we get on, he replied too quickly and garbled to catch but he pointed and thats all we needed
-went to the bus got on bus got our headsets and tickets and went upstairs
-rode the bus around until we got to parque retiro a second time, got out, tried to find Greg a bathroom, no luck until we went into a cafe in the park where a woman said "for customers only" in spanish, I think, Greg bought Agua
-while Greg used the washroom I looked at sandwiches, we were hungry, Greg came out and the woman said "No bocadilla" so we got no food and left, went to cristal palace and saw it full of wood
-came back to a different cafe and asked the woman "habla usted ingles" got a "no solo espanol" so I said sandwich and she said "oh yes here" and we picked sandwiches and Greg got a E5 cheese sandwich
-walked around parque retiro saw statues and a boat in the pond
-got back to the round about and got on "Ruta 2" and rode it around until well after dark
-got off at plaza de Colon Greg dropped camera down bus stairs, bus girl did a dance and took off her sweater for us
-walked around plaza de colon and then went to "fresc co" a cool little buffet thing
-the lady walked us through how it works
-she then apologized for not speaking english in english so I apologized for not speaking spanish in spanish
-came to hotel, went on facebook, came upstairs and wrote this