I still had to pick up my train tickets from this travel agent so I hurried up and found them. Now I was able to have a free day in Madrid.

My first impression of Madrid was horrible. I had heard so many great things about the people, the achitecture, and the overall vibe. To me it was nothing more then a Spanish version of London which was just a British version of New York City. Well no shit, I haven't left the business district and no matter what city you are in it will all look the same unless you get into the historic part. I made this mistake in London but this time it was going to be different.

I ran over to the map on the bus stop and tried to pinpoint which stop was my best bet at ending up right smack in the middle of the REAL Madrid.

I got off at Metro stop "Opera" and was immediatly met with a plaza with a statue in the center and shops along the side. Obviously, very typical of European cities. I wandered some more and noticed a hill with steps leading up.

One of my favorite parts of Prague was going to the top of Petrin Hill and relaxing in the park overlooking the city.

Bingo! I found it. This is Madrid's answer to that hill in Prague, for me. I climbed the steps to the top and was met wiht a perfect chance to experiance life as a Madriderer (or whatever you call people that live here.

I sat down underneath a shaded spot laid my pack behind my head and closed my eyes. This was just what I needed even if only for a few minutes. After dosing off I was woken by the sound of 2 American girls. Apparently one of them stepped in dog shit but still had a sense of humor about it. Being the handy traveler that I am I offered her some baby wipes from my pack. First thing out of he friend's mouth was "That is such a plus thing to carry along." Followed by, "Why do you have them?" And I just said, for occasions like these" After that we went through the obligatory questions. "Where are you from?", "why are you here?" They were both from Washington DC and New York and were studying abroad. After we exchanged a few words I turned back around and closed my eyes. This time I was able to fall asleep just long enough to catch myself snoring.

After the morning I had this park overlooking Madrid has become my haven. I only left once and that was to search for a new pen since the I some how lost the one I came with. I searched around for about 30 minutes with no luck and with each place I tried I was getting further and further fromthe park. I keep calling it the park because I haven't bothered to find out its name. It isn't important right now. What is important is that it somehow picked up my spirits.