The Purple Penguin

So to bed. Only to wake up at 5am to thunder. Our hotel was really nifty, all space themed, and the blinds were operated from a switch by the bed (but just not quite close enough to open and close from bed). So I had to sit up and open them to watch the lightening and rain. And Joe said ‘it’s 5am!’ Which I guessed meant ‘close the stupid blinds and go back to sleep.’ <sigh>

Up at about 8ish, tidied up and consolidated our stuff between our bags and were ready to go by 9ish. So headed out to get some photos. Ok, headed out to get photos of the dragon by the hotel. Which is a really nifty slide! Got those photos and of the park (Flickr at some point) and then back to the room to get ready to head for the train.

So to get to the platform for the train you have to go through security. So the bags get scanned, but people don’t. We’d seen this and decided to go in early as there was a cafe there to have a coffee. Then tickets scanned, like at an airport, to get down to the platform. When the train came in it was pretty full and all those people had to get out – except some moron had put a baby buggy – one of those very large ones – right smack in front of the door blocking it completely and people dithered about what to do. Finally someone just grabbed it and put it outside the door. After a while people got tired of trying to get around it and moved it further way from the train. Finally the trained emptied and we all piled on. Very nice train, very comfortable.

The journey was just over 2 hours non-stop, we were about 13 minutes early into Madrid. The journey was interesting, a woman came through the train handing out headsets and Great Expectations was played on the TVs in the carriage. I mainly watched the scenery – dry and mountainous and then green. Lots of farms. Then into the station, which is huge, so large they have the moving sidewalks to get from the train area to the front- the whole experience was like being on an aeroplane, only at ground level!

Actually found the hotel with no problems. Small room but clean and purple touches. Interesting place very near the museums. As we hadn’t had much to eat we decided to head out to find food. Saw a cafe but it was packed so carried on. I saw a tapas wine bar across the road and we decided to give it a try. Turns out it was an excellent choice – a chef’s interpretation of various interesting tapas. We got seated and chef apologised that he only spoke a little English, no problem. Then he gave his recommendation and we decided to go for that – a mixed sample of seasonal tapas for two people. The presentation was lovely (photos on Flickr – I promise!) and the chef went through each one. Then we ate. And ate. And were stuffed. So back in the room for a rest before braving Madrid a bit later.

Left the hotel and headed for coordinates given as the meeting spot. Even with the coordinates, three groups of us managed to wait in totally separate places, until Koyan appeared with a few people which coalesced everyone into a group of 13 (representing several different countries).  Luckily one of these was somewhat local (even if he does live abroad). So we dully followed the local to a tapas bar, down a small side alley off La Rambla.

Went into what looked like a fairly empty little restaurant, where we followed the waiter into a expanding space – it felt like we kept turning corners to find even more restaurant – and eventually a small room which we had to ourselves (another party came in later, but we had finished and were getting to leave by that point). The room was full of old bull fighting memorabilia, including a large bull head on the wall. Of course, being a bit of leftover IT geeks, the first thing we asked for was the wifi password (K – I think I was the only one not with a phone/device!) The place obviously catered for large groups as the menu had a per person group selection, which included a set of dishes and a litre of drink between 2 people (so a litre of beer or wine or sangria or water or soft drink – just guess what the IT people went for. No not beer, sangria). So large pitchers of sangria on the table. And following that a large plate of bread with tomato. Then a few other tapas and we started eating. Then a few more tapas. And a few more. And more. Then a couple more. Until we were playing plate tetris just to find space on the table. And the tetris music just kept speeding up. In the end we were just combining tapas onto the same plates to make space. At some later point, the tapas were gone, the sangria jugs were empty, and the plates had disappeared.

Then someone said ‘ice cream!’ and hands went up. But one person said ‘no wait! There’s a really good ice cream place back on La Rambla. We should go there.’ So the bill arrived and was settled – everyone over paid slightly so it was decided that this was ice cream money and off we headed on the ice cream hunt.

So we were lead to the little ice cream parlour, and this one was little (and empty when we got there, not so much after). We all looked at the ice cream until it was figured out that you queue in the centre to order and pay, then queue at one of the coolers to choose your flavour, and this group of 13 had not only filled the space but mucked up the system. So we got ourselves sorted, more or less, with one of us to order and pay and rest to queue up to chose our flavour. So hands up for cups? and hands up for cones? And then do it again because some of us didn’t pay attention the first time. And there was an extra cup – a man on the end of our group had joined in. So sure say we – join in! And he introduced himself, German on holiday, and we said ‘oh we don’t have a German in the party, perfect!’ And that’s how there were 15 for ice cream. Which was very good indeed (ice cream and company).

So we ate the ice cream, then started fading away as people called it a night. So headed down La Rambla losing people all the way until it was just the two of us. Went past our metro stop so backed up and found it (with loads of people heading out for a Port Vell night run) and headed for the hotel.