S: Well. As luck would have it, we are sick. We both caught a cold somewhere in the last few days and today it came full force. We sound like 95 year old smokers with asthma. We slept in today, hoping our bodies would thank us by kicking the cold out. Unfortunately not that simple. We meandered over to our breakfast spot to eat, drink coffee and catch up on the blog that is 3 days behind. We had a table by a floor to ceiling window over looking this street, which was bustling with people and puppies. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning, but my cold was just too much so we went back to the hostel for a rest.

M: I am loving Madrid. So, so much. The people, the streets, the food, the sangria…I could go on forever. Because of this, I did not want to spend my last day here inside on the computer working on a job application due tomorrow. Sadly, reality is calling and our dreaded return home is fast approaching. I have been leaving my next plans at home as “future Meaghan’s problems” but this one was too good to pass up. I had Marshall’s “Making a Responsible Choice for my Future” song stuck in my head all afternoon. My brain muscles have really only been used to convert the cost of a bottle of wine from the local currency to Canadian dollars, so it was a rough go. As I struggled through the application and tried to remember how to make an intelligent sentence, Savanna took a much needed rest. I was only too happy when the time came to leave the computer and meet Po for a tour of the palace.

After meeting Po at Sol, we ran in to Ellie from our hostel so we all went together. At 4:00 pm, entrance to the palace is free for EU citizens but we had heard they don’t always check passports. We gave it a go and kept quiet when we were going in so as not to have our accents be a dead give-away, but they were checking everyone’s IDs and we were out of luck. We went in for the regular price and walked into breathtaking room after breathtaking room. As we were walking in the entrance Savanna commented that it was rather underwhelming, but our minds changed very quickly on that front. Each room was full of rich colours, velvet and embroidery covered walls, detailed frescoes and giant intricate chandeliers. And none of the rooms were the same – they all had a different theme and colour scheme. This palace was really something else, despite not looking like it from the outside.

S: The 3 of us set off towards a wok place Meaghan had seen earlier, shopping in a few unique local stores along the way. After dinner and a long conversation about travel, we decided to head to the train station to reserve our tickets for tomorrow. Side note: HOW have they not implemented seat reservation online yet. Come on.

WELL Meaghan and I goofed. We didn’t bring our Eurail passes with us, and couldn’t reserve our seats… it hasn’t always been necessary to have them in the past so I was surprised. But anyway we will be able to reserve them in the morning, so at that moment I just wanted to go home and crawl in bed.

M: Po made the astute observation that we might need to eat some fruits and vegetables to start feeling better…interesting…what are these vegetables she speaks of? Po bought a jug of orange juice and made Sav drink most of it. This was quite the feat considering she doesn’t exactly enjoy oranges (S: I hate them). I wouldn’t have been able to make her do it so way to go, Po!

S: I know we just reunited, but sadly *sniff* we are parting again. But THANK GOD only for a couple days. Meaghan is going down to southern Spain to visit her aunt. I am moving on to Barcelona with Po, where Meaghan will meet us on Sunday. I am going to sleep all day today and tomorrow and relax, which will hopefully cut this cold short and I will be healthy for when Meaghan comes up.

S&M