Portugal - Lisboa - Leaving Madrid

Another late night, so another late morning. We got cleaned up, packed, and checked out at noon, and went on a mission to find a new cafe. The Jamaica Cafe was not quite what we had in mind, so we continued on past the Plaza Mayor to the Ital Cafe, our favorite place we discovered during our first few days in Madrid. We noticed a definite buzz about the place, and Vee speculated that there was going to be some kind of film-making going on. After sipping our coffees for a bit, it turned out that Vee was exactly right, and we had a front row seat to all the action right there in the little plaza outside the cafe. The weather was absolutely perfect, as it has been the majority of the time we've been here, and so we were sitting outside to enjoy it. We ended up spending most of the rest of the day there, and got to see an entire set put together, filming, and set teardown. It must have been some kind of cheezy tv commercial being shot. There was no dialogue and they kept shooting the same two scenes repeatedly. The directors appeared to be American, the support staff Argentinian and the actors and extras Spanish. It was alot of fun people-watching and the sun was keeping us nice and warm, so we had no reason to leave anytime soon. Our hotel had allowed us to keep our main packs with them, and our train to Lisbon was not leaving until 10:45pm, so we had all day to do whatever we wanted. I wrote some poetry, and Vee did some sketching. Once the filming stop, and the set was torn down, we walked to the Plaza Mayor and wandered around there for a while, then went to a SuperCor and got some bread, cheese, beer, sketching paper, pen, and a magazine. Then we went to the little shop where we bought our electric adapter and bought a little beer bottle opener that was also a refrigerator magnet in the shape of the Plaza Mayor. We went back to the Plaza Mayor and found a great sitting area where we ate our bread and cheese. A couple of dogs came over to beg for some bread, and wouldn't let us alone, so we left and went to the Plaza Santa Ana and hung out there some more. We tried to find areas in the city center where we hadn't yet been, but after looking at the map, we realized that we have already been just about everywhere. At the Plaza Santa Ana, there is some playground equipment where a bunch of little kids were playing with the Moms and Dads watching and laughing close by. There was also a pack of dogs having a good ole time in chasing each other around the plaza while there owners congregated in a little group chat. The Plaza Santa Ana was a bit dirty and there was a bunch of construction nearby, so it we didn't stay long, and headed back to the hotel where they have a beautiful lounge with comfortable furniture and Internet.

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We eventually made our way to the Metro, taking the #1 towards Chamartin Station and huffing it the last few blocks since construction has the last leg of the metro line shut down. We had some time to kill as we were a bit early, so we shared a coffee and pastry, bought a bottled water, and boarded the TrenHotel. We mistakenly walked into the wrong train car, and it smelled a bit funny, but then someone told us where we were supposed to be, and that car was just fine. The seats were nice and wide, with 2 on one side, and 1 on the other. I read Time magazine, and listened to Noam Chomsky lectures on my MP3 player, while Vee attempted to sleep. I guess around 2 or 3, I finally decided to try and sleep, but it was difficult. It wasn't much longer before the sun started coming up, and after the train guys, now portuguese instead of spanish, checked our tickets again, the train finally pulled into Lisboa. It was a somewhat rustic train station, with pigeons walking and laying around inside. A few people tried to solicit us to stay at their particular hotels, but already having reservations and Italian Residence, we declined. We bought a map, which may or may not have been sold to us at the posted price (5.5 EUR seems expensive to me for a map), and found out exactly which train station we were in from one of the hotel solicitor people, then went walking towards the Restauradores area of the city. We were both hungry, and groggy from a lack of sleep, and stopped in a little cafeteria for some breakfast of coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, and pastries. I sure could go for a big fat cheezy Western omelette with home fries!! We paid up, strapped the packs back on, and started walking in the general direction of the hotel, hoping that we might be able to get in early, clean up, drop off our packs and create a plan of attack. It was quite a trek, taking about 2 hours, and almost all uphill. We didn't realize how far it would be, but we were pretty proud of ourselves for doing it. We are growing confident that we are really going to enjoy Lisbon. Once at the hotel, we picked up a few touristy materials describing things to do, and it looks like there is a TON of things we'll be getting into. Tonight, hopefully a fado bar. For now, we just need a rest, and showers.