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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Granada to Kapital & onwards to Londres

So after 9 1/2 months of sleeping in crappy rooms, hammocks, 5 star hotels and on buses & planes, I have finally made it to Big Ben! But here's what I got up to on the way here from Barcelona.....

I hit Granada after spending 13 hours on a bus (as mentioned in last blog) and made it Oasis just in time for some Tapas and a decent night out. The plan for Wednesday was to get up and check out the Alhambra, the last Arabic Walled City within Western Europe. but that sort of fell through before I even went to bed. I hung out with the dudes from the hostel instead, drinking some tea in the Moorish areas of town and grabbing a falafel whilst updating last blog entry before entering into a table tenis tornament with an intense American dude and a Australian Girl, followed by all you could eat Cous Cous & all you could drink Sangria!

I hit up the bar next, entering into a raging Jenga game, where loser buys drinks with a couple of Danes with whom I soon left with to go and check out some open mik flamenco, before hitting up another tapas bar to join thehostel crew and onto, once again Granada 10, where Ryan, I and many others danced the night away! A group of about 10 of us were supposedly meeting in the lobby at 8 to head up to Alhambra to score tickets (they only let in a certain number of people a day and it's either real early, or not at all), but even after I set many alarms, and the intense american guy named Peter didn't wake me, I once again miss the Alhambra 2 days running. Ryan also missed out so we spent the day hanging out, heading to the Mirador to try and make ourselves feel better!

That night I caught up with Gill & Emma, the sisters from Barcelona, with whom I had a few drinks, grabbed some Tapas (as it's free in Granada with every beer - works for me) before heading down Morroco Lane for some Sheesha and more bites, where Emma bumped into one of her friends for school. I headed home earlyish, determined to actually make it up the hill in time to get tickets to the second most visited site in Europe. Somehow, I managed to wake up before the alarm, making it to my first free breakfast since arriving in Barcelona before charging the hill and checking out the many gardens and palaces that make up Alhambra.

I spent another challenging afternoon around the tabble tennis court, before hitting up all you can eat Paella & all you can drink Sangria, before making y final rounds around the bars of Granada, purposely missing out Granada 10. The next day being Saturday, it was time to make tracks for Madrid. I found a travelling Kiwi companion so I headed to the bus station with her, her bus was full so feeling slightly hung over and tired from the previous weeks events, I headed to the cafe whilst I waited out 2 hours over pizza and a can coke for my 5 hour bus ride to Madrid.

On the way there, sick of the frequent travel, I made up my mind that I would not be taking part in any sort of Portugal this time round, I would ring to see if my flight could be changed to get me to London on the same day of leaving Madrid, even though I would still have to go through Lisbon, the area I wanted to go in Portugal was another day of travelling to get there and a day of travelling to get back just for 2 days of getting drunk and lying on a beach. I figure I can always return and do that next year, so I decided to mission it to London instead. When I finally arrived at the bus station, I realised I had no address for the hostel I was supposed to be staying in, the only answer was to catch a taxi. Too bad none of the taxi drivers had ever heard of the place, so after a few phone calls and some heavy traffic I finally arrived, buggered however, I simply showered, strolled through the happening Saturday night streets and took the opportunity to have an early night in.

Sunday: Priority number 1 - change flights. However easy this may sound, the spanish like to enjoy their Sundays off and Iberia being as unhelpful as they are, although open would only change my Iberia portion of my ticket, although every other one world partner is ahppy to chage everything. I tried to ring BA to change my Lisbon to Heathrow ticket, but the pomes decided to take the advantage of Spanish culture and take the day off, the only answer was to head out to the airport for some face to face changing action. After a couple of hours of mucking about, I eventually was able to change my flights to fly through Lisbon and onto Heathrow for Tuesday, meaning another night in Madrid, not so bad, another day to check out the sites! The idea was to surprise Lilla, but me being as hopeless at surprises as she is, rang her on my way out of the airport.

I spent the afternoon checking out the parks and museums of Madrid, before heading back to the hostel to meet up with Ryan, my old amigo from Granada. He and I headed out for some dinner of chinese, before meeting back up with a gang from the hostel, drinking a bottle of scotch on the streets before heading out for a very messy and confusing night on the town. We got lost on the way home several times, but eventually got there after taking a taxi for about 3 blocks! The next day was very quiet, taking in a movie, before hitting up El Museo de Jamon - The Ham Museum for dinner with a big group from the hostel. A few quiet drinks arounda patio bar before heading back to the hostel for some music and packing before my big adventure of much waiting and in air sleeping, heading to London.

An early start to the day, with ATM's working meant that I only had enough Euros for the taxi ride to the airport shuttle, as opposed to the whole planned way. A qucik jump to Lisbon, checking out and checking back in again with lots of hours to spare, but no friendly ATM's so no money for food, found a quiet chair and had a snooze. Next flight I learnt about English Politics and the up and coming Prime Ministerial election from my elderly Scottsh next door neighbours before landing in Heathrow and realising that somewhere along the way they had lost one of my bags, meaning that I am a few photos short, including the Ham Museum & Madrid, because my camera cord is in that bag (Sorry Ryan).

I headed out to Lil's place, which I eentually found, before I grabbed a shower and met up with Lil before heading to the Real Estate Agent to sign some forms and check out our new pad in Parsons Green, a 3 Bedroom, 2 Bathrrom, 3 storey Maisonette, very pretty and in a great area, home for a dinner party with Lil's housemates and some more chasing of the missing bag. Still with no bag, and no shoes apart from the old flip flops I had on the plane, I hit Oxford St yesterday looking for some for my final interview with Mr Farmacia last night, I wasn't sure whether a suit and havianas were gonna cut it! Found some bargain half business shoes, half cowboy boots before suiting up to meet with Sanjay over a beer. Seems as if I will be starting work on Monday, this guy is so keen he wants me to move up to GM within 3-6 months, sounds good to me!

Anywho, I am going to send out a groupie this arvo with all contact details on board so those who wish to get in touch may, I am expecting a postcard Helen & Dave!

But I will fill you in on how the gloomy days start to take effect on me as according to all other aussies I know, they start to make you depressed and miserable. The place seems very cool so far, will just have to wait and see.....

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