I took a sundae home for dessert. I was soaking wet by the time I got back to the room, but my sundae survived and it was delicious.
December 7, 2003
The day looked like it might not rain which was good. We wanted to do some walking around Madrid.
First we picked up slices of quiche and went to the train station. We weren't taking the train or anything but it was a place where we could get something to drink and sit down and eat our quiche.
From the train station we went to the Prado. The Prado is an art museum. It is free on Sundays, but only open from 10-2. There was a long line outside. We were told that the line was about 1 1/2 hours long. Luckily we found out that the line was for a special exhibition of Manet, not to be confused with Monet. Since we wanted to go to the main place we got out of the lone and went around the corner. This was great because there wasn't a line.
We got audio sets because the art really wouldn't mean anything to me. The building itself began construction in 1785. It is not very impressive. It is very large with many rooms. It is very easy to get lost. It houses art starting from the 1100's with the Spanish painters, such as Velazqueg and Hoya. It also has French, Flemish, Dutch, German, and Italian art. The audio set picks out about 100 or so pieces of work from about 7,000. I tried to find all the pieces, but missed a few. The museum got really crowded because it was a free day and then it closed at 2:00. By that time I was worn out. If a person was really into art, they could probably spend months there and still not see it all.
When we left, the sun was out. We walked to a park nearby called Parque del Retiro. This is a very nice park. It has a large pond and people were out in row boats. Ther are vendors, performers, and also a group of Disney characters waiting to have their picture taken for some money.
After strolling through the park we went looking for a bookstore. We had read all of our books and needed more to read. We still had the afternoon so we went to another movie. We saw :Mystic River". It takes place in Boston. Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins were init. It was a rather depressing movie.
When we got out of the movies the streets were filled with people. It must be because it was the first decent night out and to see all of the lights. Laurie and I went back to the room. I read, Laurie did her notes. She is much better about writing her notes. I'd rather read.
We went out about 8:15 to find something to eat. We found a good kebab place and we took it home to eat.
December 8, 2003
We checked out of our room and got the 8:48 train to Cecerdilla. We couldn't get into our room yet so we left our bags and went to a place where they have hiking maps. It was a good walk. We also wanted to do a walk that was listed as a group walk, but we couldn't find the group so we ended up doing our own hike. It was a good hike and as we got up in elevation there was quite a bit of snow. It was slippery in spots. I wish I had brought my poles.
We walked about 15 kilometes. By the time we finished it started sprinkling.
We got into our rooms. I had a hot chocolate to warm my insides. I then went to my room and watched TV. There was a movie on, "The Scarlett Letter" with Demi Moore, but in Spanish. I still watched it.
I was very lazy the rest of the time. I stayed in bed reading and watching TV. It felt good though.
December 9, 2003
Woke up to a cold rainy day. Laurie and I had planned to do a long hike. Since it was so lousy we decided to stay in bed later and then take a train to Los Cotos about 11:35. I took a walk before the train came just to get some exercise and fresh air.
We caught the train and we met a woman on the train from Australia. She was going to go skiing. It was snowing in Los Cotos. Laurie and I decided to catch the train back and that left 20 minutes later. We got off in Puerta de Navacerrada. There was a walk that would take us back to Cercedilla.
When we got off in Puerta de Navacerrada it was windy and it was sleeting. We saw a sign for Camino de Schmid on the road so we started walking on the road. We weren't quite sure where the trail was. It was so bad we decided to turn around. We stopped in a cafe to see if the woman could give us some information. We would have to wait for about 2 hours for the next train. The waiting room at the train station was nice and warm so I didn't mind staying.
We actually took the train back to Los Cotos and waited there for 20 minutes until it left for Cercedilla. We saw Ann, the woman that went to go skiing. She said it was all closed up.
We got the train back to Cercedilla and not I am sitting at the bar drinking Cola Cao (hot chocolate), writing notes. I finished the book I have so I have to keep myself occupied somehow.
December 10, 2003
I was somewhat disappointed today because I woke up to a beautiful clear day. I was disappointed because we were leaving Cercedilla to go back to Madrid. It was such a beautiful day to hike. I could see the mountains covered with snow.
We got the 9:35 train to Madrid and arrived about 11:00. We went back to the same hostel. The woman had stored our stuff there while we were gone for the two days.
We found a cheap laundromat to do our wash. So we did wash before we did anything. We then walked back to the Parque del Retiro. There were a couple of buildings that we wanted to check out.
