3103 London to Madrid

Inside the building shown below


Ex Telecommunications building now bought by the Mayor and refitted as a public space. Amazing place


Strangely pruned trees in a huge park in Madrid.

Set the alarm for 5 am at least I thought I did. Anyway, as often happens, we kept waking during the night checking the time so got up without the alarm which I then discovered was set for 5 pm (another lesson learned). The taxi was early, so we just got out the night door of the hotel when he turned up. We were loading the bags into the boot when I suddenly realised I'd left my handbag in the room. Poops!! said I. Fortunately the taxi driver knew what to do unlike us who've rarely stayed in a hotel. I rang a well hidden bell and one of the Polish women came down looking like death warmed up. I apologised profusely and she said it was okay but her face told a different story.
The airport was a 45 minute drive on a fast road most of the way. Once there we had plenty of time to work out where to go. At the security check, Steve was pulled aside and a few dodgy items were taken out of his backpack: a roll of duct tape?? a container of sugar and a bottle of vegemite (gift from Steve's mum). The rotters decided that the vegemite had to be left behind. They didn't seem concerned about the prospect of Steve gagging anyone with the duct tape which we had to buy to repair a backpack BTW.
Arrived in Madrid about lunch time and caught the Metro which is the second largest underground system in Europe behind London. We had to change twice to get to Gran Via which was a close walk to the hostel I had booked in. We quickly got organised and went exploring. The sun was bright, the buildings are grand and glowed in the sun. It was just great walking around but time got away and we ended up wearing out our legs again, walking for 7 hours all told. We have the map of central Madrid imprinted on our brains. It was still light at 9 pm but in the morning the sun was quite late peeping over the buildings (I wonder if Spain adjusts clocks 2 hours for daylight saving).
On our way back to the room, Steve bought a pint of Heinekin beer in a bar called the Drunken Duck and they gave him some tapas to eat with the beer. This is a nice touch I remembered from my last visit but I wondered if modern times and cut backs might have caused the practice to die out. We stayed in Hostal America at a cost of EUR 48 for a room with ensuite.