Day 29: Monday May 14 2007, Hotel Osuno in Madrid, Spain
2007 Noon position: 40 degrees 27.189' N latitude, 003 degrees 36.711' W longitude(Hotel Osanu, Madrid, Spain)
Bob: Although still in the grip of the intestinal bug, I had recovered enough to totter down to breakfast (better than shambling!) and enjoy the meal. I still couldn't face anything heavy like meat or cheese, which I would ordinarily enjoy, but I could eat Muesli, a roll with jam, and drink several glasses of orange juice and mineral water and that was a huge improvement. We checked out, retrieved the car, and drove to the airport to turn it in. I was still not up to par by any means, but we were fortunate at making some key choices correctly (e.g. the rental cars would be at Terminal 1 rather than the other terminals) and we got there without any detours. Our next task was to get back to Hotel Osanu where we had our reservations for the next two nights, which involved Monika calling the hotel, working her way up to the third person who finally spoke English, and having the hotel shuttle bus sent over. Meanwhile, I had found a luggage storage area directly across the road from the shuttle bus stop, so Plan B in case Monika had not been able to contact the hotel would have been to check our suitcases and take our carry-on items on the Madrid mass transit system to within walking distance of our hotel. We had purchased a 2-day tourist pass for Madrid before leaving the U.S. so the plan was feasible in principle, but I was still weak and was uncertain what my "walking distance" would have been, so I was glad the hotel sent their shuttle. In fact, while we waited for the shuttle I started shivering, so I was very happy when we were picked up and dropped off at the hotel's doorstep. Much to my relief, we could immediately check into our room and I could happily curl up in bed to rest and get warm while Monika went out and explored the neighborhood. She found a department store with a good selection of groceries and brought a nice selection back for lunch, after which she went out to explore some more and I returned to bed. An elementary school was directly across the street from us, and the quiet of our room at the end of a hall was regularly broken by the bustling and shrieking of children sent out for recess. As noises go, it was a rather pleasant one. I spent the afternoon and evening napping while Monika played computer games, and so to bed. |
Monika: Today we had to hand in the car and go to our final already reserved hotel. Bob felt a little better. The fever was gone, but the diarrhea kept on. But he did feel well enough to come down to breakfast and drive the car. So we packed up, checked out, and started out. For once everything went OK. We even hit a gas station on the way to leave the car nicely filled up. We didn't miss a turn and parked the car in the Hertz lot, handed in the key and were on our own. I had vouchers for 2 days of public transportation passes that I wanted to redeem. So Bob found a place to sit while I walked to the place to redeem them for two two-day tickets for unlimited public transportation use. Our plan had been, of course, to get to the hotel, drop off our luggage, and head downtown. Well, the taxi we planned to take sent us to the hotel shuttle bus stop. After 10 minutes one of the bus drivers told me that we had to call the hotel for the shuttle. Well, Bob waited with the luggage, while I did my favorite thing: trying to make myself understood in a foreign language on the telephone. After two non-English speakers, I finally got an English speaking guy who understood and assured me that the bus would be on its way soonest. Well, 15 minutes later, there indeed was the bus, that took us easily to our hotel . We booked our room and once there, Bob again collapsed on the bed. I opened the window and was greeted by shrieks of children having fun at recess. Across from our room was an elementary school. We enjoyed watching the kids play. I decided to go exploring. With map in hand and GPS I set off, hoping to find a supermarket to buy some food since Bob was in no shape to go anywhere and I had gotten rid of all our food. I saw a Mercado sign on a tall building and headed for it. First thing I saw were those golden arches, but I didn't think Bob would like that. But across the street was a department store cum supermarket where I indeed could buy the necessities: bread, cheese, bananas, water and wine. Thus loaded down, stopping at McDonalds seemed not wise, so I walked back to the hotel with the help of the GPS. I checked out a bus stop a block away, so if Bob started feeling better tomorrow, we knew where to go |
Monika:
After lunch, Bob was ready for a nap and I was ready for more exploration. Our hotel was in a residential area that was a triangle bounded by the two interstates going to the airport. Most of the houses seem to be small apartment buildings of condos. All were very well kept with lots of flowers. Two metro stations were across either of the interstates. I walked to the closer one, about 6 blocks away and there was a pedestrian bridge across the interstate to the station. So we could either take a bus to the station or walk. Hopefully Bob would have recovered by the next day. I did not have the GPS and of course tried a different way back. I knew I couldn't get completely lost, since there was just not enough territory before I would hit the other interstate. But what really got me back was the sound of those kids playing during the lunch recess. Sure enough following the sound got me back to our hotel.
| Prolog | Map of Cruise | Map of Spain | Epilog |
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