Madrid, 14th June

14th June '99. Monday 2359hrs, Hostel Mondragon, Madrid. Still hatless.
We got out of the HI hostel for 10ish and got to the station to catch any non IC, AVE or Talgo 200 trains to Madrid.
There weren’t any.
I had an extended (for 'extended' read frustrating and bloody-minded) conversation with a ticket man who didn't seem to be able to grasp that our Interrails weren't valid for the AVE and Talgo. Then I thought, after repeatedly pointing to the bit on our tickets, and also the thing on his computer screen that he denied was correct, I thought, 'what the hell, if he wants to let us on, let's go on', so we paid the 1500 peseta supplement and boarded the fastest train in Europe. An hour and forty-five minutes later, we were in Madrid.

We've been on the internet and had food (only a McDonald's) and tried to find a cinema without dubbed films without success. We're still not 100%, so any activity that doesn't entail us walking round is right up our street at the moment.

Tomorrow we're going to buy our second Interrail, and go to the Prado museum. It feels good to know that we're going to be here for a while, using up all the time gained in our almost non-stop rush from Imlil in the Atlas mountains. Five days travelling in a row (while ill) is too many!