Date: 2008-02-27
To: Madrid
Miles today: 0.0

Made it safely to madrid. It is a great place, far less confined than italy, and much more modern. It has many large monuments and huge public open spaces including some massive parks, it very much reminds me of Melbourne. Therre are many long wide boulevards with a huge monuments at the end of them. It has a great atmosphere, and the people are far more relaxed and freindly. I still have this flu, getting over it that is for sure, but really lacking in evergy. Yesterday i spent much of the day wandering around a big park, it has been so long since I have enjoyed such a big open space, it is something we take for granted in Australia but over here in Europe it is not very common. It reminded me of how much I prefer the country. I love what i am seeing, but I am hopping from one large city to the next. I will soon head off to Barcelona, and then make my way towards Switzerland, think I might skip Paris, and instead look more at the country side and visit some smaller towns, just to get a different feel for the country.Really starting to look forward to the AT, it is less than a month away now and counting down the days. One problem with this part of the world is that English is very limited, so trying to buy something or even do simple things can be rather difficult, but it adds to the fun.A big difference between here and Italy is that Spain had its go at empire not that long ago. So much of its monuments and grande buildings are rather young. Unlike italy where most of them are in ruins, here they are standing proud and tall. Gives you an idea of how grand the ones during in the Roman times must have been. There is a real party atmosphere here, well that is what i have been told, as i am in my bed by 10pm at the very latest each night. They are also still creating new buildings, they will have some historic monuments but they are not freightened to throw up a modern piece of very interesting architecture in the same vicinity. Or they might place a large glass elevator on the side of an old historic building and place some new strage sculptor out the front. It really works and is a great mix between the old and the new. To me they are saying that our days of empire may be behind us, but we are still creating and designing and coming up with new ideas. In other parts of Europe there seems to be an approach where the apex of our culture was 500 years ago, so the town has been frozen in time and they are desperately trying to keep everything the way it once was. Here they are a bit more brave, and I think it is symptomatic of thier optimism that they have a great future ahead of them, that the best is still yet to come. The mentality of the people seems to be the most similar to what we have at home. Britain has a similar approach with some of its new out their type of architecture, and I really like it.In the park there was so many spaniels and many fo them were cocker spaniels. Reminded me of my old dog Brandy, full of so much energy, the tail would be wagging so fast that the whole rear end of the dog would be struggling to keep up. One of the monuments was right on the edge of a lake, and there was a huge lion spouting water out of its mouth, one of the cocker spaniels was standing right up on the lion putting its mouth over the stream of water. Brandy use to do the same thing every time my mother went out and hosed the garden, and she would end up getting soaked from all the splash back. The owners were having to restrain their dogs from charging into the lake and chasing the ducks. There was one lady walking her cocker spaniel on a lead, and he was pulling her in the direction he wanted to go, she was struggling to keep up, it was the exact same as my old dog. One owner was playing fetch with his dog another cocker spaniel, and the dog was refusing to return the plastic bottle, he was running amongst the crowd sitting by the lake proudly showing off his trophy whilst the owner was chasing after him. he would stop the owner would get close and then he would charge off again.Saw two mounted policeman, and thier horses were magnificent. THey always say that the quality os spanish horses is the best in the world, and I must say it is true. Exploring the city and finding this huge park was such a relaxing day, i was on my feet for another 8 hours, great exercise, and my trousers are starting to fall off me, must be getting fitter. Still i know the AT is giong to be one hell of a shock, but i am more prepared now than i was a month ago, and another month of training and sightseeing should see me ready to go.Went and washed my clothes this morning, and now i am locked out of my Hostel, because they lock it between 11 and 2pm each day for cleaning. I will have to carry around my washing for a few hours until i can go drop it off. It has been good to rest up for a few days, trying to get rid of this flu. The aches and pains and hot temperatures seem to have gone, so hopefully it will not be too long until i am back at full strength, and back charging around the streets again seeing as much as i can.