Madrid and beyond... oh and The Doff tragedy

Well, The Doff and I made to Madrid and awaited the girls to arrive... I hadn't booked any accomodation, again, yes again, but luckily for me (and i had been quite lucky) they had a bed for me... The hostel wasn't anything flashy but the location in the city was prime...

The city itself is wonderful, old school buildings with amazing (there's is that word again) achitechture...

I read somewhere in my travel book about a market they had every Sunday, so we all went down and checked it out... I have never seen a market so big with so much diversity of stuff... Everything you would expect to find, ie Jewellery, brick-a-brack plus well, actually maybe it was just big and i was just taken aback... The worst thing was though, no food stalls... i am going to go back there and sell kebabs, icecreams or anything really, i reckon i would make a killing. But anyway, it definitely worth a look, but eat before you go.

Most of the time was spent strolling through the city, just taking in the sites... Kelly's day trip was excellent and she was a terrific tour guide... Contiki i can pass on her details. We went all around Madrid to the famous park, and down to the main train station... Which looked like a giant aircraft hanger and which had, wait for it, turtles in all the ponds... i love turtles... i think i am going to get me one.

The photos will be up shortly from Madrid, which includes a very beautiful sunset... On our last night in Madrid, we picnicked in a park and watched the sunset and played music... Met up with some peeps who i had met on my travels and had a crazy evening... Applez i hope you have recovered.

I flew out early the next morning to Amsterdam which almost seemed impossible at the time i got home... but managed to get my stuff together, get in a cab and get to the airport... brilliant.

Came into a small problem when i boarded and checked in my bag for my book, and low and behold here was Doff Mans passport!!! I had told him not to put it in there cause i would forget. And yes i did... i quickly jumped up and ran to the airhostess and told her the situation. She assured me the passport would be left at Lost And Found and The Doff could come and get it that day... which was excellent because he flew out at 6pm to Croatia...

This is where things get a little pear shaped... i landed in Amsterdam with 12 hours to kill and headed straight to the internet cafe to inform The Doff of the predicament... he seemed to be well too aware...

Long story short... After several attempts of persuading security that he had to get to lost and found (which was past customs), The Doff decided to rush through... Not a wise move... So after being removed from the airport in hysterics, The Doff pleading his case with every person he met, eventually made it to the Aussie Embassy the next day (sleepless night at the airport) to sign up for a new passport... The Airline eventually found his passport and he booked a another flight and eventually made it to Croatia... Well Done Doff Man, i hope you have learnt a valuable lesson... never leave your stuff with Mills.

Ok back to Mills, and my huge day in Amsterdam... After dealing with the Doff i decided to go for a bit of a wander, the beer tour at the Heiniken Factory was top priority, so i hollered a bicycle taxi and he took me to where the action was...

I highly recommend the tour and i made some new American friends who were only too eager to keep the spirit of the tour going at one of the surrounding pubs... Heiniken brings people together... after that bar we headed to the famous cafes of Amsterdam... nuff said...

The bus ride was interesting and so was the flight...

I was headed to Oslo to meet up with Grunter... ok so the last email i had received said he was going to pick me up from the airport... after about 20mins of waiting and trying to call his phone, i decided this probably wasn't going to happen. Awwww... I was ok and spent the night at the airport because it was too late to find a hostel... Airports are a great place for free accomodation... and much safer and warmer than the street. Write that down.

I spent the next day at the internet Cafe updating the blog and trying to get a hold of Grunter... i was later to find out that his flight had come in late and then he went straight to the harbour to jump on a boat and sail away for a week... That would've been lovely. So that night i was sitting at a table by myself when i thought, "The hell with this sitting alone feeling sorry for myself, i'm gonna go meet some people!" So i did, i met some lovely ladies who filled me in on the hot spots of Oslo and then i followed my ears to the sounds of this terrific blues music.. The lead singer sounded like the lead singer from The Commitments... Brilliant...

Although it cost about 250kruna (30 bucksAUS) to get in, the music and the vibe were well worth it... oh and beers cost about 10AUS for a pint... not cheap there...

I also met my very first Music Therapist, i didn't even know there was such a position, but after listening to the work, i was very impressed...

Kept strolling and partied with some randoms i met on the street to finish off my night...

The Viking Museum was something i really wanted to see, so i did just that... once again photos to come... Quite interesting... A quick nap in the park recharged my batteries and i had a crazy thought of travelling down the eastern side of Europe to meet back up with the group in Athens...

Good idea... but once again, better to plan these things ahead. Flights throught the roof, so i rang the old man, explained what had happened and he booked me a flight back to London...

To be continued...

Oh and Norway was the most stunning people in the world... Even better than Perth girls...