Day 14: Tue 27 Sep Madrid

9-23 deg C, quite a chilly morning!

Whilst I had breakfast at the usual time of 7am, I did not venture out until just after midday, when it was warmer and I needed a walk and sustenance. I spent the morning re-arranging the bags for the flight, and started the MEPS Post Congress Report for the next Newsletter. 

As I was not yet too hungry, I decided to take a walk to the Parque de El Retiro, a very big park here in Madrid. It would have taken me tow days to walk the entire park, so because I had the start of a blister coming on, I decided to head to Maccas for lunch, after seeing a fraction of the park. Oh well, next time perhaps. I reckon you'd need at least three weeks at Madrid to do it justice. After the worms had been fed, it was back to the hotel for a snooze.

Post snooze, I did some more packing, MEPS stuff, photobooking and blogging. Leftover cold chicken salad for dinner with a couple of beers. 

UPDATE: Imagine my horror when I log into the QANTAS site to check on my flights, and this is what I see:

And then checking the BA page to see this:

says the flight will arrive at Heathrow 11 mins earlier than expected
But QANTAS still shows this:

I spent 15 mins on hold with QANTAS to be assured the flight from Madrid was leaving on time and arriving at London 11 mins early. I hope the man was correct

The park I visited courtesy of Google Maps

The north-west entrance to the park with the Puerta de Alcala behind it (it was undergoing renovations, so had a canvas façade around it

P. de Mexico

Not sure what all the animals were doing here, maybe fund raising



Even Kenny the Koala was 'ere

Fuente de los Galapagos (Galapagos Fountain)


Great Pond of El Retiro, with the Monument to Alfonso XII in background


Fuente de la Alcahofa (Artichoke Fountain)


Monument to Alfonso XII, from all four sides






My hotel at Madrid, my room is at the back




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