29th June

Our last day in Madrid.  Eric and Sandy head to the very opulent Royal Palace while I go to Atocha Renfe Station to buy the train tickets for tomorrow’s trip to San Sebastian and we plan to meet up later in Plaza Mayor.  We had agreed to travel on the 1pm train but the only seats available are on the 8am one so it will be an early start in the morning.  I caught the metro to Plaza de Colon and then walked down the centre of Paseo de Recoletos, a wide boulevard with a central walkway where there is a great public art display, cafes and shady Plane trees, to Plaza de Cibeles.  I know this busy intersection, it’s the 5 lane roundabout Eric had to negotiate a few days ago.   From here I tried to contact Eric to say I was on my way to Pza Mayor but discovered my phone had died.  What are the chances I’ll be able to bump into him in this city of more than 6 million people?  Not good.  So to console myself I explored the shops between Puerta del Sol and Pza Mayor, then headed home to recharge the phone.  I found Eric had arrived just 10 mins before me, so in fact there was a chance we could have bumped into each other, each taking photos of the beautiful facades, artists and living statues who perform  in the square, but it didn’t happen.  We ventured out in the local neighbourhood for lunch then Eric got a haircut.  He certainly got good value for money; I’ve never seen it so short, even in the RAAF days.  Then we spent the afternoon watching Tomic play Djokovic in the Wimbledon QFs.  He did well.

In the evening we all went back to Peurta del Sol to see Carmen performed as a Flanenco ballet.  When we booked we thought we were going to another straight flamenco show but this turned out to be the complete Carmen story performance.  It was not what we expected but none the less very passionate and professional. After dinner in the area we made our way home and packed for an early start tomorrow.