Day 1 - Paris - Madrid

Crazy day. Woke up damn early in the morning to a shivering cold breeze coming into my room. Thinking that a hot shower will do me good, I went to Ellen's bathroom. She had warned yesterday that there's something wrong with the shower and that cold water might come on for a few seconds before reverting back to the hot water. Darn, I must be the first person to experience otherwise. The hot water came on for a few seconds, and it's freezing cold water for the rest of it. Perhaps Singapore should ban water heater and we can immediately see a reduction in water usage.

Anyhow, it is another mad rush to find where Blue Marble, our luggage storage place is with Ellen's parents. Peishi had her luggage missing and frankly, I was quite worried about her. But she arrived at the Blue Marble faster than we did despite the fact that she's much further away from Blue Marble, much thanks to the efficient (they had got to be @ 40 euros for a trip like that) taxi. The 3 of us are really indebted to our hosts. They spent like nearly 1 hour driving back and forth, asking around, kenna horn by other people and kissed their bumper to a small metal sticking out from nowhere, just to get us to Blue Marble. Whoever said that French are snobbish have obviously not met them before.

Our gracious hosts before we bid farewell outside Blue Marble.

A nice flight on Easyjet (albeit costing us quite a bit for budget airlines) brought us to Madrid. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when we're in Spain, we followed fellow Spainards and cheated on the metro system. They are still using turnstiles and all 4 of us can pass through the turnstiles when it remains half-rotated. Bah, before you cast that disapproving look of yours, please bear in mind we're all poor asians students trying to make ends meet. Besides, we did not do it often... Not when the station controller is around anyway... ;)

Our Madrid Home

Plaza Mayor & took a candid pic of Xiaolin as she poses for the camera.

Trip to Spain won't be complete without Tapas & Tortillas

One thing I'll never get sick of is their crystal clear deep blue sky.

It was quite about 5+ pm when we finally reached our hostel and the pic above was taken @ about 8+pm. New experience for me to still be in the sun @ 8pm.

Plaza Mayor at night. Should have more of such places in Singapore. Best place to jio char boh.

As we walked the streets of Madrid, we found this shop owned by some Chinese from Zhejiang. Friendly lady who taught us a few Spanish phrases. Rather refreshing to talk to someone in Mandarin and rather surprising, to know that there're so many Chinese in Madrid. Ah well, as the saying goes, 有太阳的地方，就有中国人.

Yes, the famed alfresco dining with a musician available at the snap of your fingers, and of "cost" (pun-intended), some euros. Romance costs... :(

Afternote: damn dulan.. can't get the Youtube thingy aligned.. go to the website for the full view of the video.. if you got solution, email me yar.. thanks...