Melisa and I attempted to sleep in. But our first two roommates woke up at 6:30 am...and turned on all the lights and everything while they were getting ready. When they were done getting ready (literally HOURS later), the other two girls got up. I finally got out of bed at about 9:15, but I was not happy. We took our time eating breakfast, and then checked out of the hostel. We stored our stuff there for the day, rather than carrying it everywhere.
From there, we walked to el Palacio Real. On the way, we found a cute little marketplace. I somehow ended up buying another scarf--they're kind of irresistible, and I plan on giving most of them away anyway. We made it to el Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) around noon, and stood in line for a while. It was very sunny, and quite warm outside, so I didn't mind at all. Touring the palace was interesting. It was very pretty, and ornate. We saw a selection of rooms, all with massive chandeliers. Also, the chair designs all matched the walls, which was a little disconcerting. We got to see the armoury--although quite a bit of it it currently at the Prado for the Art of Power exhibit-- and the royal pharmacy.
Then we ate our pre-made sandwiches outside. Since it was about 2:30, we decided to make our way to the park--El Retiro. We got quite distracted along the way, stopping for snacks and souvenirs. But we did get to spend a few hours at the park, relaxing in the sun. We rented a little boat, for less than 5 euro! Melisa was amused by how excited I was--I spent 45 minutes rowing around the water. It was pretty great :)
We took the metro back to the hostel, where we picked up our stuff, and then took the metro again, to the airport. Since then, we've done a lot of waiting. Our plane left at 9:15, and landed in Bristol at about 10:30. We just sat in the airport--played some card games, etc.
Our first train (Bristol to Chepstow) is supposed to leave at 6:10 am. But we looked online, and there is an earlier train we'd like to get on, at 5:17 am. There are buses that run all day and night from the airport to the train station, so we took an early one (3:05am). We thought it would be open, since there are buses that run to the train station a few times every hour. It wasn't. It opens at 5 am, which barely gives us time to try to change our tickets. It does, however, give us an hour and a half outside, in the cold.
We're supposed to (or had planned to) go to Tintern Abbey tomorrow (today). But we're both really tired, and we're thinking about skipping that. There are a ton of earlier trains to Bangor, and we're going to try to get on one. We both just want to be back now, and I cannot wait to crawl into my bed.
Hopefully everything will work out. I'm not too concerned. We'll just deal with whatever happens, which is what we've been doing all along. It'll be over soon.
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