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.
No comments:
Post a Comment