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.