Today marks my last day in Madrid and I wanted to see as much of it as I could. There is a chance that I may be back if I get a flight from here to Dubai next month, but just in case I thought I’d spend as much time as I could walking around. Oh, I really don’t have much of a choice though because I checked out of my hotel about 10 this morning and my bus leaves for Lisbon at 11 tonight, which means that I’m pretty much homeless. Except that I’m writing this from the lounge of my (former) hotel. I really needed a place to just sit and I was worried that the staff wouldn’t let me if I asked, so I snuck past them and have been sitting here now for about 20 minutes. I can’t imagine that they’d kick me out, but for now I’m keeping a low profile.

I started at 10 and according to my gps I’ve walked about 10 miles. The first 6 hours were pretty good, but the last two have been difficult. I wonder what the last 5 are going to be like. I figure I’ll be spending a majority of those hours in the bus station leaning against my backpack, so it won’t be that bad. I wonder if my spot that I had when I arrived five days ago will be free. On the health side, and at the risk of jinxing myself, everything seems to be fine today. No aches or pains, no coughing, runny nose, and best of all I haven’t had any symptoms of food poisoning. I didn’t eat anything until about a half hour ago, so I may be taking back what I said in a little while.

Madrid is really a pretty city, it really is. While I walked around today I was constantly surprised on how clean, how organized, how livable it seemed. I realize that one day doesn’t make for an objective viewpoint, but I really felt comfortable today and that doesn’t happen that often in bigger cities. I never did feel that way in London or Berlin, so Madrid has something going for it. Could it be the weather? It’s been just perfect today, around 80 or so.

One of the places that I saw today was called something like, Parque de Retiro. It was a huge park, lined with trees, dozens of fountains, street performers, and it also had a large manmade lake complete with people rowing boats around. There were couples rowing along at a slow pace and there were families having some fun, it reminded me something straight from a Monét painting.

For as much walking as I did today, I didn’t really take that many photos. I did take a couple dozen, but most were of alleys, statues, and of course, buildings. I’ll probably have a hard time finding anything to put on the blog.

I decided to head to the bus station. I figured since I’d been there twice before that I could walk it if I had enough time, so I left at about 7 for the two-mile walk. I really thought I knew where it was, if anyone were to have asked me, I felt confident I could have given general directions to the station. Unfortunately though, I was completely off on the directions, 180 degrees off. I walked for about 40 miniutes with both my backpacks and at a pretty good pace until I started to feel like I had made a wrong turn. I asked for directions from some firemen, and then from a taxi driver and both told me that I was going in the wrong direction. Ugg! I hate when I do that. So after about an hour I gave in and hired a taxi to take me there. I kept thinking that I was right and all the people giving me directions were wrong, but in the end I was completely turned around and ended up paying more for the taxi than if I had hired it from the hostel and saving me an hour of walking with 25kg strapped to my back. ☺

There really isn’t that much to tell about the bus trip, but there was something that I think happened, but I don’t know for sure. I think I caught someone trying to pick my pocket. This is what happened, I had been waiting in line with a bunch of people trying to get on the bus, that in itself is a long story, which I’ll skip it for your benefit. So, anyway, I’m standing there waiting and I feel something tap my butt, right side, so I move a little. It’s usually pretty common in most countries that people will push or touch you trying to either get you to move or to close a gap between them and you, so the fact that someone touched my butt didn’t really draw my attention. Not much later it happened again, and this time I looked back to see a woman staring past me, she is holding a square item about chest to stomach high, the item similar in size and look to an old record album. I moved a little, and not long after it happened again, I turned and glared at her, she wouldn’t look at me and seemed so engrossed by what was going on with the driver that I dismissed it yet again. It only took me about twenty seconds later though to realize that I was being touched in the same place as my wallet, so I reached back for it, and it was at the top of my pocket, about a quarter to a third out. I put it in my front pocket. I still wasn’t convinced of what I suspected, but I turned and looked at the woman again, but this time I kept staring, she refused to even glance at me. For about a minute I stared at her thinking if I should accuse her, get the police, or do nothing. Remember that I had no proof, and I wasn’t ready to assume this person was the worst of society. I turned back and finally got onto the bus, it was then when I had time to think about it that I was convinced she was trying to steal my wallet. What did it was the package she had been holding on to, both the size and the position made it a perfect item to shield her hands. She also never looked at me, which is strange. I wish I had gotten the police to at least check to see if she had a ticket. For about an hour or so I kept going over what I would have had to do if she had been successful. Fortunately, I’ve got my important things spread out in three different areas, so no one-theft would completely wipe me out, but even still it’s kind of scary to think about the loss of all the things in my wallet and the dent it would have made on the vacation.