A partly sunny day, cool by our Florida standards but cheerful for a travel day with such a later midday departure we have the luxury of a lie in and lateish breakfast. We got our selves sorted out after the usual Parador buffet. Jane wants to view the cathedral and we have the time so Paul drove close into the old part and dropped Jane for an hour’s walkabout before he returned.
I strolled through
the old town towards the Cathedral making sure I knew where I was going as I
had to return the same way and , really, my sense of direction is terrible! Entry
to the cathedral was €5 with the audio thingy. I don’t mind paying these
ancient places take a lot of upkeep! The preamble on the audio was long and
involved comparing Romanesque building and Baroque building and the
introduction of arches to enable them to build a soaring building with lighter
materials to prevent collapse from excess weight and allow them to introduce
windows and light to the structure. Good
stuff, it also touched on serfs and their miserable lives. Leon was a town of
only 5000 inhabitants when they started building and it only took 50 years! Of
course it has been modified and repaired and added to in the 900 years since its
inception but it must have been a wonder to behold! It was freezing in there! I
had only taken a light cardigan and was lamenting the jacket I had left in the
car. I love exploring these ancient buildings and to marvel at the skill of the
builders. Anyone read the Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet? Deals with this
time period and the building of churches and the lives of these people of the
Middle ages, a really good read, the also made a TV series about it which was
excellent. Train coming in to Alicante now so I must pause. More musings later.
One hour later Paul returned and retrieved
Jane from her adventures. They drove to a bar near the Parador they had visited
the day before and Jane order York ham & cheese bocadillas to go along with
potato chips. Next they found the Avis car return slot and dropped the car
without any problems. On to the train, Leon is a smallish station with insuffient waiting areas with too few seats
for the populace waiting to enter the two available platforms. The sandwiches
were good but on the dry side without any mayonnaise or mustard the two beers
on the train were 5.20 euros. Not to worry we arrived in Madrid with the same
partly sunny skies but just a tad warmer at 24C. Up to the station so we can
obtain the local train tickets to transfer down the line to Atocha and that
much closer to our hotel as well. The exit out of the train station was hot,
disorganized as both travelers had to tap a kidney and found that the potties
had been converted to make a profit; entrance costs a body 60 cents.!!!!
A short 4 block tax
ride and we were at the AC Carlton on the Paseo de Delicas only 10 numbers from
the tios apartment. The modern room was very spacious, well appointed, even had
a full sized stand alone shower stall and full length door. We settled in and unpacked for the short stay and
then ventured out into the streets. Later that evening Guillermo Jerez/Alexis
and the girls, Alison & Emily (6 and 4 years old) arrived for a drink and
to venture around the corner to an Asturais Bar / Resturante for our evening
meal. Starters consisted of Asturais Blue Goat Cheese, bread and mixed salad. A
platter of chursco meat was the main course. Of course the table was filled
with news about the families since the year 2013 when last we visited Madrid. A
late night for the girls who were good as gold for being up so late with the
grown ups. We called it a night went into the hotel to crash.
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