It was surreal. We were finally here; a totally different continent, a new country with new experiences to be had. Which makes it a bit ironic that the brown dirt and sparse plants of the Madrid
countryside reminded us of Australia.
We didn't sleep much on the flight, and Collie in particular really needed a snooze. A few hassles with airport transfers and we finally get dropped off at our hotel right in the middle of Gran Vía - the place that never sleeps.
John and I were keen to do a bit of exploring. So while Collie slept, we took a walk. The sights were spectacular and the place was bustling with activity. We checked out the architecture, made
our way through the side streets with their cerveceria and paneria before plonking ourselves down at the outdoor restaurante just outside our hotel.
The beer was a good introduction to Spain, made even better by the out of this world olives that came with our order. We were only here for drinks but soon enough we were flipping through the food menu ( 'carta', as corrected by the lady taking our order ). I can think of many things worse than sitting under the shade trees watching people go about their business, enjoying some vino with our grilled octopus and garlic mushrooms. Good thing John managed to get Collie to join us before they were all gone.
called it a night soon after.
John and I ended up with vino, flipping through the same carta at the same restaurante from this afternoon. Grilled prawns and jamon (ham) iberico (plus more olives!). And that's when Peter
arrived..
Col: Melbourne to Dubai was uneventful (cramped as it always is in economy) and long. A380 was an impressive aircraft. A shortstop in Dubai and then onto a 777 to Madrid. From Dubai we flew across
Saudi to the Suez canal and then over Cairo and Alexandria past Cyprus over Ibiza and then across Spain to Madrid. An interesting development was the catching of a train to collect our luggage at
the airport and also the total lack of interest in our arrival from the Immigration more interested in his animated discussion about other events with his colleague. Consequently the trip through
immigration was very swift indeed.
As usual I had trouble sleeping in transit and 30 hours on the go was tough. Consequently my first thoughts on arrival in Madrid were to hit the sack. So put my head down for a short snooze and was
only roused when JR knocked some hours later. Went and joined JR and Eric at the taverna downstairs and had a wine and some of the tapas the boys had ordered. We went for a stroll through downtown Madrid for an hour or two whilst waiting for Pete to arrive. Looked for some possible eating places and had a beer at a little pub across the road and then I called it quits. I woke briefly when Pete (roomie) arrived to disturb my peaceful slumber opened the door for him and went back to sleep.
Peter: Does any of our readers know what happens in the last five minutes of Jdango. Ever had that experience when you have almost finished a movie and you start the descent. 5 PA messages in
different languages stopped the movie and then for some unknown reason the Entertainment System rebooted. Not to be deterred and with great dexterity I reentered into the movie - did you know you
cant fast forward during the starting commercials - who gives a damn about the Genesis Car, Chivas Regal and like. Great I'm now in I fast forward. I overshoot the end of the movie. I have to
reenter the movie. COMMERCIALS AGAIN. Oh well I say I watch it on the next sector. New plane. Is it on the menu - NOOOOOOOOOO !
Flying via KL and Dubai gives you a great juxaposition of the lush green plantations of Malaysia and the sandy harsh deserts of Dubai. It also adds to my definition of whats long and hard, The
flight was mostly uneventful however, had a moment of excitement when i opened a metal lidded container of yogurt - its like the orange juice you used to get on Australian flights - it exploded
over me and across 10B 10C 11A-C !!!!.
John: Well as it turned out we were seated in various parts of the aircraft so any concerns about Eric's dietary habits were unfounded. Mind you all this travel seems to have massively upset my
digestive system so had we been together I think I would have challenged Eric for the medal. As Eric says it was magic in the square and the waiter and patron coped well with our attempts to speak
spanish- the word beer and associated gestures seem to be universal - el menu on the other hand is not acceptable for menu - but we have worked out how to ask for the bill - so all is well. Felt
like channelling Al - we had a french cycling team on the 777 - and the gent next to me was quite uncommunicative when he wasn't asleep and not at all pleasd with me disturbing him to go to the
loo - we need Al along to add that special degree of intensity to all matters french.
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