My First McDonalds :)

So the day of departure has arrived. Our grand plans of visiting the Prado or El Rastro before leaving have gone out of the window. We’re tired and want to go home. It’s been a fun filled, but tiring five weeks.

After waiting six hours for our flight (!) we had to wait a further one and a half because of two passengers having to be thrown off the plane by the Spanish police!

Clure (Col’s sister) met us at the airport, but Colin drove us home. After being in the country for only 45 mins Colin got caught speeding!

After having my first McDonalds of the trip, I drove back to Kendal. I’ll unpack tomorrow Zzzzzz

Madrid

Awoke to a thud of fresh washing on my bed – God bless Mags :)

After grabbing breakfast and a surprisingly non-teary goodbye, we once more checked in for a trip on the AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) for our trip to Madrid…

Having sorted our accommodation from Mags’, we spent the rest of the day just bimbling around Madrid.

Off to Seville…

Another day, another early start and another train – to be honest, all this travelling is getting me down now :(

Unfortunately we couldn’t stop in Cuenca due to all the trains being full, so we are now heading to Seville…

We caught the REX from Valencia to Madrid, where we switched trains onto the AVE to Seville. Checking in to the AVE was like checking in for a plane. The AVE is supposed to travel at 300km/h – it didn’t feel that fast, probably because it was soooooo comfy :)

Mags met us at the station – it was 18:30 and 41°C – this is going to be a hot one! We finished the day with tapas and drinks.

Goodbyeeeee

Got up later than we planned, but we still managed to catch the 10:30 bus to La Tour de Carol (which for some strange reason cost twice as much as it did on the way in!?) The bus got us to the train with minutes to spare – so it was a rushed goodbye to Dave and Doug.

We arrived in Barcelona at 16:30 and booked into the YH on La Rambla. Did some domestic duties – washing, changed traveller’s cheques,…

Things only seemed to be getting going on La Rambla at 1am, but we were knackered so we headed to bed and to our surprise we were the first in our dorm!

Get me outta Italy!!

We are getting outta here! After a disappointing visit to Florence, Colin and I decided to go to Genova via Pisa.

The train arrived ten minutes late in Pisa, but that still left us 50 mins to see the tower and leave. We arrived back on the platform with five minutes to spare - the train had just left! Italy is beginning to piss me off. So now we have another two hours to kill in this pokey little tourist hole :(

Colin was so gutted - he gave in and went for a McDonalds. Meanwhile I went wandering around looking at all the tourist tack. I met Colin back at the station 45 mins before our train was supposed to leave, only to find that out train had been moved to 12:55 from 13:30. The same wasn't going to happen again, was it?

We ran to Binario 4 - like the board said - to find that the train had been sent to Binario 7 - BASTARDS!

Happy ending this time - we got out of Pisa :)

On our train journey to Genova, we saw the sea - it was such a beautiful shade of blue - maybe Italy isn't that bad after all...

For the first time on the whole trip, we found it difficult to find accomodation when we arrived in Genova! Or maybe we're just getting lazy :)

Colin and I rounded off the day by visiting the mafia for a seafood pizza and beers :)

And they're off...

Colin's family have said that I am really brave spending five weeks inter-railing around Europe with him - I hope he's not that bad...

Our inter-rail pass does not kick in for a few days so we caught a (qu)easyjet flight to Amsterdam.

Upon arriving in Amsterdam the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was a curious combination of marijuana and piss...

Anyway our first job was to find accommodation. First we tried the Flying Pig - no room, so choice number two was Hotel Beursstraat. It's moto: clean and simple and at €40 per night it'll do.

Our next mission was to find food and drink, but we accidentally (?) ended up in the red light district :)

It's all very tongue in cheek. I wandered around not really knowing where to look and occasionally giggling like a little school boy. There were women in shop windows and blokes queuing up as if they were in Tesco! I really didn't get it.