On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing i met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...
Okay, so Saturday morning we headed off to breakfast at Parrot Cay at 8:15 a.m. No one seemed to be in any hurry, so we didn't get off the ship until about 9:30 a.m. Found our luggage really easy, cuz there were only about 100 pieces left in the terminal.
Headed with the porter to the taxi line (about 100 people long). Taxis were pulling in pretty fast, but loading up was taking time. It was while we were in this line that Robert wondered where his wallet was. hm.....I remembered saying last night "Don't put anything in the desk drawer, it is all cleaned out, sit everything on top of the desk). So, off he went back to the Magic to head up to our stateroom. It was about that time Jamie remembered she had put stuff in the drawer (guess they had forgotten all our luggage was gone by 6 p.m. the night before), so she yelled to her dad to check the top left hand drawer for her clothes.
So about 15 minutes later Robert showed up with a laundry bag full of stuff that he and Jamie left behind. Amazing........................
Took a taxi to the car rental place next to the Barcelona Airport. On Delta's recommendation from an email I had received I booked with Sixt Rental Car so I could get 6 times the amount of skymiles since they are a new partner. Picked up a VW luxury car and got directions to get to Madrid which is about 300 miles away.
Off we went. The traffic heading out of Barcelona was packed. Guess everyone was headed out of the city for the weekend. Once we got past the toll booths about 1 hour later, the ride picked up. That is where my theme song of the day comes in. I can describe our journey in two words.....MOJAVE DESERT! If you have ever driven in the Mojave Desert in California, you will know exactly what I mean. There was NOTHING to see, nothing to do and I can't imagine anyone living out in the desert in the heat. There were a few small villages, but besides that NOTHING. The classic song A Horse With No Name by America kept going through my head.
We were driving quickly as our Segway tour was scheduled for 4 p.m. and we had gotten a late start. Got to our designated meeting spot at about 4:04 p.m. and I dropped Robert and Jamie off and had them go ask our guide where I could park. Luckily, it was so hot in Madrid, that everyone had left the city or was inside during the heat of the day. The parking garage was right below Plaza Espana and I had no problem finding a parking spot.
Our segway tour was great. Got a great overview of the city in 3 hours. They have some beautiful fountains and buildings. They have one of the largest palaces in the world. I think our guide said they had over 1,800 bedrooms in the place. Can you imagine? We took our picture in front of the oldest restaurant in the world (even has a Guiness Book of World Records plaque in the window). The restaurant was from the 1700's and is still open to this date and he said they serve excellent food, but you have to have reservations.
Then we stopped for sodas and tapas in the most happening square in Madrid. It was very hot as we sat out on the plaza underneath umbrellas for shade.
After our tour, we got a CD of all the pictures he had taken of our group during the tour. We then headed to our hotel, The Tryp Washington which I found via the Delta website. Drove around the block twice to find the parking garage they told us about. It took me about 10 minutes to park the car is a space so tiny I could barely get the car in to. Another car the same size pulled out and it was the only spot, so I knew I could get it in. Just took awhile.
Headed up to our room and then left our luggage and walked up and down Gran Via where all the action was going on. It was about 9:30 p.m. Headed to TGI Friday's for dinner (Jamie's choice). She wanted KFC and I said definitely no! So we settled for TGI's since we had plenty of Italian and Spanish dishes the last couple of weeks.
By then it was 11 p.m., so we headed up to our room as we have an 11:15 a.m. flight in the morning out of Madrid. We are going to leave at 7:45, as we have a rental car to return and need to get all our luggage checked in. I know we are overweight on the luggage issue.
Okay, another vacation day has slipped away!
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