Hungover

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Hello my lovelies.

 

Ok, theme park. Well, that was definately FUN. A bummer that I didn´t have anyone to walk around with and gush over how cool the rides were, or compare wetness with, but I nevertheless had a good time. I revisted the Iguazu Falls (in Argentina & Brasil) with a miniboat in a river thing with a huuuge drop, i was in an aztec cyclone machine thing that spins around, got shot up in the air on a ride that shoots up into the air on a tower thingee, and thrown about on a couple of roller coasters. But none of those created the list of ailments that i wrote about earlier (tho they should have). There was an amazing stage type show about a mutiny on a pirate ship and lots of flips, swordfights, humour, people getting thrown in the water, pyrotechnics etc etc which was really cool. Then they decided to use the ´cannons´ on the ship and this set of valves or something under the lake where the ship was, and i was sitting right near the front! i got soaked to the bone, and it was really funny (an audience of 300 watching), until after the show and then i stank!! I pulled my neck while trying to avoid getting dunked with water from a waterfall on a safari type ride, there are 8 seats in a circle, and one person gets the brunt of the waterfall - which was me! and no, i didn´t quite avoid it, so got wet and a sore neck together!! The bruises and sore pecs.. well... on a mega trampoline jumping up and down and trying to do flips etc with the aid of a harness and bungy cords. And after one of the many rollercoaster rides i was naturally feeling a little dizzy, and grabbed onto a plant to steady myselft, yup - a cactus! All in all a great day.

 

The day after, i climbed another tower in sevilla, walked around some more.

 

Saturday I took a high speed train to córdoba, which so far, has been my second favourite city. córdoba is heavily influenced by the arabs who controlled the city for a while back in the middle ages, and it definately shows in the beautiful architecture and tiny cobbled streets. infact, some road signs are in arabic as well as spanish!!! the mosque in córdoba is priceless, it was really really nice, and you´ll see why once i post photos up!! (cant at the moment due to dumb hostel computers).

 

the next day i was meant to take a train back to valencia, but it was full so i HAD to take a bus. but it was much much better than last time, due to better seats and it was day time so i wasn´t sleepy!!! passed hours and hours of olive bush scenery which was quite pretty.

 

yesterday was surprisingly an awesome day. joined in a conversation about cadavers, and ended up going with this bunch of 6 ozzies to the beach where we found some more ozzies and a kiwi (!!) and we all played touch rugby on the beach. it was really really cool! (our side won hehe but only coz a speedy italian joined our team!). beautiful day (even tho it rained in the morning). then we cooked a huuuuge feast, a HUUGE one, and drank a sangria and red wine mix until the roof terrace closed at our hostel. i didn´t make it into town tho - too drunk for my own good! crashed in bed and when i woke up this morning... uuuugh.

 

so i´m resting a while, saving up my energy for tomorrow - the ultimate highlight of my trip - the tomato festival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all accomodation within a 100km radius is booked out, there will be hundreds of people sleeping on the streets/partying all night, and the atmosphere is just going to be cracker!

 

go the tomatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Theme Park Mayhem

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Fountains
Originally uploaded by janine13.

I´m running out of time for this post, but I will say that the day left me with bruised inner thighs/groin, a pulled neck muscle, sore feet, gauges in my hand from a cactus, sore pecs, and stinking like murky lake water. But it didn´t matter because I had a VERY cool time.

Plus, at this european theme park, i didn´t have to look for glasses!

http://www.sevillainformacion.org/cultura/islamagica/amazonia.html Were two of the rides, very very fun.

More to come later of course.

Far Far Away

Publicado por Janine |1 comentarios

Ahhh, The Mediterranean
Originally uploaded by janine13.

Ah. What a hectic past few days.
Apart from Monday, Monday I panicked a lot because I didn´t have any accomodation for that night. I could have easily booked another night at the same hostel, but I´d already been there one week! I wanted somewhere new, somewhere fresh. So, on a whim, I went online and booked a youth hostel in Sevilla. Now, I knew Sevilla was somewhere south of Valencia, but I had no idea that it was a friggen 10 hour bus trip (near the border of Portugal). 10 hours..... I did an overnight bus, and it was the WORST night of my life. 2 hours sleep max, the most uncomfortable seats ever to try to sleep on, and, well, it just sucked. NOT doing that on the return trip. Slept from 8am until 6pm on Tuesday, shocking because the whole idea of the night bus is that you save the day ahead of you instead of travelling. Dumb dumb dumb.

So now here I am in Sevilla! I have pictures up of me here already, and I can tell you, its just as hot as Rome. Very hot.

So I have walked around quite a bit today, and Sevilla is really pretty, huuuuge cathedrals, fortresses, towers, a lovely river, and lots of palm trees!!!!!! My hostel is nice, not the most social place though unfortunately.

Well, things to do, things to see and all that... I´m going to a theme park tomorrow, time for some REAL fun!!!!

Chilled

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Seems like a long time since I did a post, and yet I have essentially done nothing. Walked around town (shopping area), went to Gandía (a costal town 1 hour by train south of Valencia) to try to find accomodation on friday (no luck), read Angels and Demons yesterday (yes, the entire day/evening sunbathing on the roof terrace) then drank more sangria in the plaza with Sven, and today i went to the beach again with Sven (Belgium guy). I was meant to leave here on friday, but because everywhere I want to go is booked (they are unbookable youth hostels), i´m stuck in the Hôme hostel. As you can see though its not a bad hostel, plus Sven is also too lazy to find another place to stay so we´re stuck here together haha!

The beach today was aweeeeesome. Infact i´m still really salty, so probably should shower. Nice body surfable waves. Quite funny tho, Sven was like "wow those waves are big", and i was like "wow those waves are small". Go NZ waves!!!

Argh, I´m sick of hearing Shakira on the radio alllll the time.

So I´m a lot browner, a lot more relaxed, and a lot more dehydrated actually. Water time. Good to hear Hamilton had a sunny day - one sunny day!

Adiós!

New Best Friend

Publicado por Janine |1 comentarios

Yowza!
Originally uploaded by janine13.

So I left off when I was alone, smelly, and tired.
Now I´m just tired.

Tuesday I had no idea what to do at all. I walked out of the hostel preparing to wander into the main street, when i noticed some people ahead of me with a beach umbrella. Jee, i wonder where they were going! So i followed them at a distance (because i had no idea how to get to the beach) and winded through many streets, then got on a tram.

Beach time! My first thoughts were that the beach was just one big ashtray, but turns out that that is only at the beginning of the boardwalks to the ocean. Overcast day, but still nice to walk (and walk, and walk, and walk, like i did for over an hour walking up the coast to a series of high rise buildings that looked 20mins away). T´was fun tho, walking in the sand with the water lapping at my feet. (No swimming tho, didn´t take togs).
An interesting sight you can see at the beach: A 50 year old fat man with his family... in a g string. And no Renelle, i did NOT take a photo, therefore do NOT ask for one (yeah, thanks for the email aye).

Caught a bus back at the end of the day and just chilled out in the dvd room (Pulp Fiction playing). Started chatting to Vicky, from Oz, and Sven from Belgium joined us. We ended up going out for a bite to eat, and then Anna and Natalie from Poland joined us and we sat in a large plaza until 3am drinking with my new best friend Don Simon.

Who is Don Simon? Only the cheapest and most delicious Sangria. What is sangria? A unique Spanish drink which basically consists of red wine, port, and fruit juices. Don Simon, the cheap stuff, is at the moment on special, 1.5l for 1€. Thats $1.90 NZ for 1.5l of 7% alcohol. Brilliant stuff. Cheaper than Coke even. Amazing stuff.

On Wednesday (yesterday), Anna, Natalie, Sven and his friend Dean from Canada (who lives in Valencia) and I went to a different beach to the one i wandered on the other day, and although overcast again, we had a blast. Burrying Natalie, swimming in the ocean (wave beach, tho the waves appeared pitiful compared to NZ waves), eating icecreams, playing ´spot the prostitue´ on the bus (seriously, its near a working girls area) and just chilling out.

We went back to the hostel, cooked us a lovely dinner, then headed over to Deans apartment where we soaked up some more sangria until 4am, then went looking for a night club. Well, 4am on a Wednesday, the only one open was a gay bar. And wow, yes it definately was a gay (99% men) bar. So instead of the guys looking after the girls in a bar, we looked after Sven and Dean! Seriously, it was a blast, lots of techno/house, and we danced the night away...

It had to end sometime tho - my eyes were burning from the smoke, and my legs turning to jelly! Crawled into bed (after a shower (washed my hair twice and it still didn´t smell smokefree)) at 6;30, the dawn just breaking.

And here I am now. Sore head. Don´t know what to do today (haven´t taken in many sights yet, just the beaches).
I guess I´d better go and decide!
Adiós!

The Conqueror

Publicado por Janine |1 comentarios

The Conqueror
Originally uploaded by janine13.

I have conquerored Cuenca!
Ok, so I left off ... Saturday I think. Had finally found an internet cafe if I recall. Well, that day was the BEST day I´ve had so far on my trip. Everything went AWESOMELY.

I wanted to call this post Hidden Paths, because Saturday was a day of exploring hidden routes that I happened to come upon. It was amazing.

Took a bus up to the top of the city where this photo, and some others on my photo page were taken, and snapped away very happily. I noticed a zigzagging path going down, so I took it, and came upon an arch and a deserted house. Nice, but came back up. On my way back up the zigzag path, I noticed a slight cracked opening in the rocks... followed it, and came upon the most beautiful (and yes, equally dangerous) ledge in the rocks. I stooped over and made my way very carefully along it, and wow, I , am just lost for words. It was so so stunning. Just me, silence (apart from the occasional toot from the tourist train), and the view. And it was perfect weather.

Eventually I made my way back up the rocks to go to my hostal, but I didn´t make it. On the way back down I noticed a path angling down to the opposite gorge, and decided to see where it went. (see my photos) Well, 1/2 an hours walk later, feeling very very happy I´d taken that path, I decided to return. But being me, not the conventional way. I decided to do some scrambling, and some scambling I sure did. Even a bit of rockclimbing New Zealand style - in jandals! The path back would have taken me back over scenery I´d already seen, so i thought why not, I´ll go straight up!!!

Made my way up, and walked for 1/4 of an hour along a road until i got to exactly the same path I´d started on. Feeling very very thirsty but definately satisfied, I made my way back to my hostal, but on the way I thought I´d get a drink, a nice refreshing coke or something. Walked to the Plaza Mayor (the main plaza) and there are about 10-15 different places I could choose.

I noticed one door, just a door, that lead downstairs, and I thought well, I´ve had luck with paths leading down, so I went down to be greeted by a marvellous bar.... and the All Blacks playing South Africa!! Here, in Spain, on tv, of all places!!! (rugby isn´t well known here) So I watched the rugby with a beer in hand, and talked to a NZ supporter who didn´t speak english, who was from Madrid. So I relearnt the rules of rugby in Spanish and we both got on fine. He even bought me a drink when it looked like NZ was finished. Sigh, and so they were.

Went back to my hostal finally, dropped off my bag, had a shower, and went back out again, by this time it was late in the evening. Had a brilliant dinner (getting some good food here, and not feeling sick at all anymore), and wandered down to the city below.

What I won´t forget (well, how could I forget my day anyway) is chundling along the streets of old Cuenca in the tourist train at midnight to get back to my hostal. Priceless. (actually, it did have a price, however i used the ticket from the day before and sneaked on the train....). And also, when I say train, its not a proper train, its a car and carriges that are dressed up as a train. Just so that clears up any confusion :)

So that was my day. Friggggen magnificent.

Sunday, went to a swimming pool, was nice to take in some sun and jump in a pool after! I also went back to my ledge again at sunset, (see photo page) which was just as good as before. In fact, the place is so solitary, that my crumbs were still there from my lunchtime picnic.

And yesterday, a national public holiday, I made my way to where I am now. Valencia, home of the Americas Cup in 2007.

Problems: Its a holiday, EVERYTHING is shut. I stepped in dog poo (the smell haunted me all the way on the long walk to my hostel). The directions i printed off the web were wrong. The lockers here aren´t big enough. My memory card on my camera was full, so no pics yet. (trying to upload some now). The area the hostel is in seemed dodgy (but now that people have awoken, things look much better).

So yeah, had a quiet night last night (Watched 8 straight Friends episodes (there is a dvd player here)), and now just emptying my camera for the day that awaits me!!!

Farewell!!!

Finally Found an Internet Cafe

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Hello! I am alive! Its been quite difficult to find an internt cafe in Cuenca, and this one won´t allow me to upload any photos either. Not to worry, I shall upload photos in Valencia, my next stop.

 

But still carrying on with my previous stop in Toledo.

Droplets? Nah, turned into a downpour. The people of Toledo looked pretty happy about it, however the tourists surely did not!!!

Had a long conversation with the pools life guard, Ricardo - in Spanish yay! Occasionally we had to draw pictures, (his english nearly non-existant, and well, my spanish...) his drawing of a squirrel (i´m pretty sure thats what it was) was pretty funny. Actually what was funnier, is that Ricardo doesn´t know how to swim. NB: Look at his job description again. Hmm, so it turns out he´s there to throw in the rubber ring. *awesome*.

 

So I had to change my room again, however the view from this room completely took the cake. Bloody brilliant. I could see the whole of Toledo, it was breathtaking. The only bad thing about this room was that something in the bathroom kept clicking, and this click was EXACTLY the same click as my heater made at home. So there I´d be, lying in bed, sweating like there´s no tomorrow (yeah, it was hot, the castle doesn´t have air conditioning), and I´d hear a click telling me that my heater has turned on. Therefore it took me a while to sleep because i kept panicing i´d roast (plus I read HP3 until the wee hours of the morning....).

 

Had to get up at 5:30am to catch my bus into Cuenca, missed breakfast, slept on bus, arrived in Cuenca, had NO idea where to go. I remember quite vividly after I found my hostel in Toledo thinking, wow, i´m NEVER doing that again, not knowing where to go. But there i found myself in the same predicament. Poos. Its alright tho, I asked someone this time, and just under an hour´s walk later (UPHILL - and you´ll see why its uphill when i post the photos) I arrived in my little sanctuary that is Posada de San José. This is my splash out time, where I´m staying in a hostal, not a hostel. A hostal is like a hotel, exept its more homely - if you visit the website you´ll see what I mean. www.posadasanjose.com. Brilliant place. Only one problem. I got locked in my room.

 

This is an old place, but it seems the locks are older. And i thought I´d locked myself in. I had my key with me, its just that the locking mechanism had jammed or something. 15 mins later of fiddling, i pulled out my trusty pocket knife (thanks cam) and started to unscrew part of the lock. problem, it had been plastered into the wall. screwed the screws back in. crap. what do i do now? unscrew the hinges? that wouldn´t look too good... plus i hadn´t paid for the room yet. if only i had a mobile, i could call reception! i was too chicken to knock on the door and ask for help from someone who might walk by (only 3 or 4 in the past half hour). crap. sat on my bed. looked at the window which is unpassable due to the bars on it. crapus maximus. had another fiddle with the lock, desperately. panic setting in, its been about 40 mins now.... HOORAH! dumb stupid locks. got it finally. spent another 10 minutes making sure i knew how to lock and unlock the door before i closed it again (to close the door you need to lock it), and fell asleep. ah, blissfull sleep. not feeling so well you see (little food, little sleep) - very sore stomach.

 

Made myself get up, and went to a proper restaurant and had a proper meal for once. lamb chops and potato. SO GOOD. (so good in fact that i went back to the restaurant last night and had another of thier dishes)

 

Yesterday I did the rounds of the old part of Cuenca. Now I haven´t said much about Cuenca really yet. Cuenca is home to Casas Colgadas, which means hanging houses. Now these aren´t houses that are suspended from something, its more overhang than hang. These houses and monestaries etc were build in the 1300´s, and overhang the huge gorge here. Seriuosly, huge gorge. I´ve got one photo that looks like the grand canyon, except its green. lots of greenery and beautiful scenery. Actually my posada´s website should show you what the hostel I´m staying at looks like, overhanging the gorge. This place is sooo beautiful. I love this place more than Toledo and Madrid combined. Its stunning, I´m really gutted that I can´t show you my photos, i took some beauties.

 

A lot more walking than Toledo, thats for sure, at least its not as hot tho, mostly hanging around 30º. Took the Fet Express yesterday, the local tourist train that chunders through the city tooting its horn and blowing its whistle, very very cool. Spent a lot of time looking for an internet cafe, but to no avail. Oh well. At least I´ve found one.

 

Well, I think I´ve written far too much, yet haven´t said half of what I wanted to say.

Till next time then!!!

Droplets

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Well Willoughby, your forecast looks almost correct, a few droplets today so far. And its kinda chilly (mid 20´s i think). This region (Castilla-La Mancha) is in the middle of a dire drought, and you could see the locals and shopkeepers looking up to the sky hoping desperately for it to rain properly.

Well, I am immensly tired. And my knees are almost shot to pieces. Maybe a combination of not feeling 100%, and all the walking I´ve been doing, especially seeing as Toledo is on a hill and the streets weave up and down. The tiredness though is completely my fault... I read HP2 (La Cámara Secreta) until 3.30am..... I´ve read that book more than 5 times in English, yet I still couldn´t put it down. And you know whats worse? Today I went out and bought HP3 (el Prisionero de Azkaban). Speaking of buying Harry Potter, this will give you an idea of the prices here... in NZ, HP is about $12-$15 depending on where you shop (for the first 3 books), yet here in Spain, HP 1,2&3 are 15€. Thats $26 NZ. To be fair though, it is in hardback (there aren´t soft covers in the Spanish version, but there are in the Latin American version), you pay for translation, and it has a cover that isn´t on the UK or US versions. I like the Spanish covers much more.

Speaking famous people, I talked to Orlando Bloom today.

Ok, not really. But I did talk to Legolas. Er, a cardboard cut out. You see Toledo is the centre of crafts and artesian objects, namely swords, knives, shields, even entire suits of armour. And so there are LOTS of displays in every tourist and craft shop. And I found one dedicated to LOTR!

Well. I leave for Cuenca tomorrow, going via bus. At 7am! nooooo! at least i know where to walk this time....

I changed rooms again today. Sigh. Unpacking and packing isn´t fun. Ok, time for lunch, read, then siesta!

Sunset Over Toledo

Publicado por Janine |3 comentarios

Sunset Over Toledo
Originally uploaded by janine13.

Well this is a photo from last night, leave a comment if you want me to email you the time series i took of this sunset. It´s really nice :-)

This was taken on a rocky outcrop underneath the castle where I´m staying, San Servando.

Today I took the Zocotren, which is a tourist train that goes the full 360º around Toledo, and it was really really fun. I did this with my two German friends, Tina and .. crap i´ve forgotten. We met in Cats hostel in Madrid and I helped them get into the castle here :-) So i was their tour guide for part of the day, it was really fun. Tina speaks realllly good english and spanish so that helped because ich spreche nicht Deutsch.

So that was nice and dandy, went back to the hostel, had a leisurely swim, and then a solid siesta. I´m getting quite attatched to an afternoon nap. I would have kept on sleeping, but this is another odd rule, the computer room is only open from 5-7 on weekdays.

So after this I´m going to eat something, then go straight back to bed. Still feel a little off.

Goodnight!

Arrival Day Continued...

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Pretty As A Painting
Originally uploaded by janine13.

(see post below)
PART2: So then I check in and my room is in a wing of the castle, and its all to myself even though there are two beds. And its an ensuite! Its not castley inside, but very nice none the less (by not castley i mean no brick walls).

Ok, so here are some odd things about this place:
1) You´re not allowed in your room AT ALL between 11am and 2.30pm
2) The swimming pool is closed between 2pm and 5pm - the hottest time of the day!
3) I was in one room that night, and now tonight I´m in a completely different room (still by myself). It has a bigger window at least!
4) You have to take all your luggage out of your room between 11am and 230pm and store them in lockers that are soooo tiny. So my stuff was spread out among 3 lockers... (I had to unpack a lot of my carefully packed hiking pack :( )
5) Everytime you leave the building you have to drop off your key, and basically anyone can walk in and ask for your key.
6) Can´t remember much more, but its a little odd. Oh well, its a castle! Who cares!!

So as explained in my earlier post, its a little bit of a walk to the main part of town, as you can see from the photo on this post, the big squareish building (alcázar) is near the main plaza, Plaza de Zocodover. Its a really nice plaza, and a beautiful city. As you can see from my photo page, i also had a walk around at night time, very pretty with all the lights showing the castles and monuments etc.

More about this picture - does the background look like its the back drop to a fairytale movie or what! It looks like a painting, its completely fantastic! That was taken this morning as the sun hit the old quarter on the hill. Very pretty. And I´ve just come back from my day in town and i saw the sun set behind the city. very very nice as the pollution diffused the red light nicely.

Oh yeah, and you know how i said yesterday was really hot? It just HAD to be the hottest day of the year so far for the provence of Toledo - 42 degrees. And thats not from something inaccurate Willoughby, thats from the local national whatever meteorological service. It was all in the papers and everything because it nearly beat the provincial all time record of 42.4 degrees. Crazy huh - and i survived!

Today i did some more walking around, saw an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci´s machines (and no, he has nothing to do with Toledo).

By the way, this is Don Quixote-ville. The 2nd most translated book in history (apparantly, second only to the bible) written by Cervantes was written about Don Quixote and his travells through Castilla-La Mancha which is the region here. I´m sure you guys have heard about it... or seen pictures of this area with windmills and such?

Yay for O-Week (tshirts)! I was standing in a cafe and two people tapp on my shoulder and ask "are you from waikato?", " why yes i am" i reply. They break out in a grin. wihoo! kiwis! so i sat down and had dinner with them. one from whatawhata (outside of hamilton) and the other from wellington. nice people, they are driving around spain. they too are feeling the pinch of the euro! (EXPENSIVEEEEEE)

2 bus loads of people from Tunisia just arrived. They make a lot of noise! I hope not too much because my joints are aching all over, and its not fatigue sore, i think its flu sore. I have a bad headache also... hmmm, maybe its time for bed.

Well, I hope I´ve updated everyone enough, enjoy yourselves!

I Live In A Castle!

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

I Live In A Castle!
Originally uploaded by janine13.

Yay! I get to write stuff!!!

Well, my 2nd to last day in Madrid was uneventfull really. Went to el Parque de Buen Retiro, the one i like, and wandered around there some more. Sat down on a park bench, and a guy comes up to me and claims he´s seen me walk around the park. Whenever he turned a corner, there i was. I´ve read about this tactic before (gain the persons confidence and then mug them or something), so was wary, but we actually talked for about an hour (in english). As soon as i said i was from nz, his face lit up. he loves dunedin. anyway, we parted, and i went back to my hostel.

i wanted to go out on my last night, but i needed to get up early on sunday to catch my train to Toledo, so i walked around the block for a bit. And guess who came up to me again... yup, the guy. I was immediately freaked because i thought oh shit he actually did follow me. (from the park to my hostel is 1/2 hours walk which is why i thought it suspicious). he invited me to a street party (there were flyers up all around for it) with some of his friends, but i politely declined. he was a nice guy, but it was a bit wierd.

anyway, had a good nights sleep, caught my train, and arrived at the station. now, there were maps for sale at highly inflated prices, so i thought "nah, i´ll just walk around and will find it easily, i mean, how hard is it to not see a castle at the top of a hill".
Well, this is Toledo, the old capital of Spain, and there are castles and monuments and mosques and synagogs aplenty. So naturally i went to the top of the wrong hill. with my pack. my very very heavy pack. and this was in the heat of the day, yes it was very very hot. my goodness i felt like jelly. my legs, my shoulders, oh man.

1.5 hours later, i arrived at my destination. and looking down at the scenery, if i had bought a map, it would have taken me 20 mins to walk. jeez, even if i´d asked the person selling the maps. or, even if i´d looked at the map pretending to buy it. oh man. the joy of hindsight.

anyway, i arrived, and was told i couldn´t check in for another hour. no problem, POOL TIME!!!!! wow, the feeling was unbelievable. soooo goood. better than ice cold coke.

and so yes, i now live in an 11th century castle, and its great. fantasic. fantástico.

Sidenote RE: Photos.

Publicado por Janine |2 comentarios

I guess this comment goes mainly to the person who commented on it, but if anyone else has any qualms feel free to email me.

The comment was "all your photos have you in them". Well, please notice the title of my blog --------> JANINE in Spain. Yes, thats right, ME. If you want photos of Spain, then sure, you can email me because I´ve got HEAPPPPS of photos that I haven´t put on my photo page due to storage restrictions.

Oh yeah, guys & girls, everyone, please comment on my photos/blogs! If you like them just tell me! Push the comment button... If I don´t get an email from you, at least just say hi this way???

The Palace and The Ring

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

The Royal Palace!!
Originally uploaded by janine13.

Hello all!

Yesterday I went to the very elegant and surprisingly big Royal Palace gardens, which were amazingly superb. Escaping the heat was mostly easy, this garden was more of a forest. Also there weren´t many people there, so it was like a hidden and forbidden forest. I loved it to pieces. More than El Parque de Buen Retiro, the other park i went to recently. This forest also had beautiful views of the Royal Palace (as shown). Here´s a link to my other photo of me outside the palace. **LINK!**

Now, as i remember i said i was going to go to a flamenco show... sadly i didn´t. i found out that hostel guests are discounted mon, tues and weds, and yes, it was a thursday when i wanted to go. And when i say discounted, i mean half price. No I´m not paying the full price of $50nz!!! There will be many more on the rest of my journey I´m sure.

Instead I sat around talking to people, a quite enjoyable night. There are so many people from so many different walks of life. Its amazing. Have only met one kiwi so far tho...

And today, well, today was pretty cool. Had a tour of Las Ventas (see my photo page!) which is the most prestigious and amazing bull fighting ring in the world. There is a bull fight that I may have gone to on Sunday, but i´m on my way to Toledo then so I can´t. And yes, I know the way they kill the bulls is quite barbaric, but its an experience all the same.

Our guide spoke in Spanish and then in English, and I am very proud that I understood her in Spanish more than I did in English!!

Then I walked around some more, bought the second Harry Potter book in Spanish (La càmara secreta - and for those who don´t read HP, that means The Chamber of Secrets, not the secret camera). So for the past few hours I´ve been reading that, just chilling out in the meeting room (lovely and air conditioned). Unfortunately to save space in my luggage, I had to leave my mega super grande Spanish/English dictionary at home and I bought a mini pocket one instead. YEah, not so good aye. Of the 20 or 30 words I didn´t understand in the first few chapters, my dictionary only had 3 or 4 of them. Gutted. Having read this book many times before, I know exactly what is happening, but it´d be nice to know exactly what it is saying!!

Well. I hope you enjoy my new photos, it took me quite a while to find an internet place where i can upload my photos. My hostel computers don´t let me!!! Dumb!!!

Bye! Will post again tomorrow hopefully :-)

@ A Laundromat

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Yay! Had a gelato today. Not as big as the ones in Italy, and yet still the same price... oh well. Tasted goooood.

Well. Lots of walking around today, and taking the metro I guess. Actually I laughed when i saw one of the signs in the station today. it said "flights to Germany from 19€ (about NZ35) == we are not kidding - we are german" ok. well, i thought it was funny.

More important things you should know:
1) The coca cola in Italy tastes watered down (and yes, i drank it from a can and a bottle)
2) Thankfully the coca cola in Spain tastes like it does back home
3) Note that i say coca cola because if you ask for a coke, noone knows what you are talking about
4) My necklace left a non-tan patch on my chest (from my burns yesterday)
5) My washing is nearly done
6) Today was one of the hottest i have had in Madrid, about late thirties.
7) I am hoping to go to a Flamenco show tonight

So yeah. Because i am at this dumb laundromat-internet station i cannot upload photos. so none today. tomorrow there will be some i promise.

Byebye!!!

Proof I´m In Spain

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

Proof I´m In Spain
Originally uploaded by janine13.

Well, after a disasterous day yesterday, today was much more pleasant.

Ok, so yesterday... I slept from 12am that night until about 12noon the next day. (and yes, this is the night after I´ve arrived in Madrid, and you´ll note i had a long nap that afternoon). Got up, walked around my neigbourhood for a bit, got a massive headache, so went back to the hostel. Promptly fell asleep at 7pm, and then I woke up this morning at 9am. So yeah. Lots of sleeping going on. I think it was something I ate (or didn´t eat - my meal times are a bit sporadic).

Anyway, glad to feel better today. Did some shopping, and as you can see by my newly posted photos, did the typical tourist open bus ride around the city. VERY sunny. Therefore naturally i am VERY burnt. Just my arms, back and front tho (Maybe my face, I haven´t looked in the mirror. Its hot tho).

And yeah. Got off that, walked around a very very beautiful and expansive park in the middle (almost) of Madrid. Its thier much better version of Grand Central Park in New York. Made my way back to the hostel, then now to the internet cafe. After an hour or so of looking for one.

Oh yeah, yesterday I lost Lidl. But today I found it again! (My mini supermarket.) See in Rome when I got ´lost´ it was ok because all roads lead to Rome (heh). Ok what i meant to say is that most of the city/my neighbourhood was in grid format. Whereas here, the streets are anything but, and there are lots of hills. So today I´ve discovered soooo many plazas and backstreets etc. It is seriously a maze here. But a very pretty maze. After all, its all about the journey rather than the destination isn´t it?

Hope your are all doing well,
Besos (kisses)

p.s. I have a very pretty hostel, it is a culturally protected place thingee that was built in the 18th/19th centuary. I can´t remember, its very Spanish tho. Link to Cats Hostel

10 Things You Don´t Really Need To Know, But I´m Telling You Anyway

Publicado por Janine |0 comentarios

1) My local supermarket in Rome was Pam.
2) My local supermarket in Madrid is Lidl.
3) I have a jandal, watch and ring tan.
4) When I´ve asked people if they can tell where I´m from, 100% so far have said Australia. Even a Kiwi said it. He felt so shamed and I pretended to throtle him. What made it funnier was that I was wearing my bone carving AND a tshirt with a Kiwi bird on it.
5) There was a baby screaming on my flight.
6) Things are cheaper here in Spain.
7) Tuna in Spanish is Atun.
8) I heard Hevia in the metro station in Rome. (That one´s for Greg)
9) You cannot smoke inside in Italy, but you can in Spain (starts coughing).
10) From what I´ve seen of Madrid so far, its quite nice. (I went to my hostel and lay down on the bed to test it, and I woke up a few hours later!)

Adiós amigos!
(No photos yet of Spain, but hopefully in the next few days.)
(And finally my blog lives up to its name! Janine IS in Spain!!)