My Trip To Spain & Portugal (Part II)

Well, people, my sincere apologies if I have been lagging in publishing my posts since Christmas night, but I was recovering from jet-lag which I suffered from as a result of the long flight from Spain back to home. It's ok, there's nothing wrong with suffering from jet-lag as a result of a long holiday, it usually happens for first-time long-distance travellers. Jet lag is defined as a condition where some suffers from extreme tiredness and disorientation, but is nonetheless able to sleep as a result of being unable to cope with the time-frame after returning from a particular country to which they travelled to far away. Reason being for my condition with jet-lag is due to the large time difference between Singapore and Spain, Spain being 7 hours behind Singapore time. Additionally, I've also been lagging in this post for too long already, so I thought now's the time I publish it.

Anyway, allow me to elaborate on part II of my trip to Spain & Portugal.

Day 7(Dec 18, 2008): Today, we left my great-uncle and great-aunt's Portugal home in Lagos to head off for our next destination, the Spanish capital of Madrid, located further north of Barcelona. Firstly, my great-uncle drove us across the Spanish-Portuguese border back to a Spanish town(can't remember the name), from where we found us a bus terminal and a bus ride to take on the way. Hitching a bus ride, we travelled on a one and a half hour bus trip from the bus terminal to Seville and reached a train station to have a train take us to Madrid. From the train station, we bought our tickets and hitched a train ride to Madrid. It was quite a long distance, clocking at approximately two and a half hours. Nonetheless, a movie called "What Happens in Vegas" was played in the train to keep us a little occupied throughout the trip. Though the movie was quite hilarious, it wasn't really my type of movie. Anyway, once we reached the Madrid train station, we took a taxi to our rental apartment in Gran Via, a city just right smack in the middle of Madrid. Once we reached our rental apartment, we took a small rest, following which my father and I took an Underground Metro train to Plaza Mayor, where we searched for the tourist information centre, in search of more info about the city we are staying in for the next two days. We didn't have the time to go to the wax museum for today due to time constraints.

Day 8(Dec 19, 2008): Today family and I went to another art museum in Madrid called Prado museum, if memory serves. We visited the art museum and yet, it was another really amazing spectacle right before my eyes. A lot of works of art in this museum are delighting to the public eye

Day 9(Dec 20, 2008): Today was the most wonderful and exciting day of my stay in Madrid. My family and I took a train to travel to Warner Brothers Madrid, somewhere on the outskirts of Madrid. This theme park is similar to the Warner Brothers theme park I went to in Brisbane back in 2004. I initially expected it to be a long train ride to there, but it turns out, I reached there at scarcely about 10.45am or so. After purchasing tickets to enter the theme park, we went to take an initial walk around until the rides were mostly open. The first ride my father and I went on was this Lex Luthor ride, it was a ride which really kind of blew my mind sky high. The thrill of being thrusted up, down and upside down on the ride really staggered and scared me, but was nonetheless, the ride was still quite a fun one. Next ride we went on was the Superman ride, and guess what? This ride gave me a scare like no other compared to the rides I have riden on back in Brisbane. The starting part of the ride nearly felt like as if I was going to simply fall off the roller-coaster and plummet to my death, LOL! Nonetheless, the ride was exceptionally super-fun and it would be something I would not forget about my Spain trip. The next thrilling ride was a Batman ride, which I had a sense of deja vu upon experiencing; it was strikingly similar to the "Lethal Weapon" ride which I rode on back in the Brisbane Warner Brothers theme park, instead of appearing like a typical roller-coaster cart, instead we dangle from the seat, sorry, I do not know how to describe it in words. But anyway, as we progressed for the day, the next ride we took was a Batman simulation ride, which is exactly the same one I rode in back in Brisbane, where Batman fights three villains, Joker, Catwoman and Mr. Freeze, who are all part of the same scheme, stuff like that, except the main difference is that the ride's language is all in Spanish. Following that, I went on the ride with my younger bro for a second time, all thanks to his fascination with the ride. Following that, we went to have lunch, and then when on some of the kiddy-kiddy rides, just to keep my younger bro and mum occupied, LOL. Anyway after that, to close up for the day, my sis, dad and I went for a second round on the Superman ride, 'cause it was still so fun! LOL! After that, we headed back to the train station, where we took the train, and then headed back to our apartment.

Day 10(Dec 21, 2008): Today was honestly, nothing much of a day. We did a little bit of last-minute stuff packing and headed off to the train station to hitch a train ride back to Barcelona at about 10.45am at reached there at about say, 1 or 2 plus and then we checked in to our old apartment where we stayed in some days ago. After that, we went out for a while and then just did some walking around for the day.

Day 11(Dec 22, 2008): Today, it was another cultural day, where we went to visit the Gaudi museum nearby. Another public spectacle, this does not focus anything on art. Instead, the main topic of this museum is some of the wonderful facades of the insides of the building as well as the roof of the building. Man, it was just amazing to see such beautiful facades to catch my eye. I even took some photos of the facades at the museum for both remembrance and probably, inspiration for school work. Even mum helped me take some pics for inspiration. LOL, seems like she became aware of my school work. After having lunch following the visit, we just went around shopping since there are no more interesting museums. & oh yes, in the midst of that, dad and I took a taxi and went to Nou Camp, the homeground of Barcelona F.C.. Dad and I went into the stadium, which started off with us watching a 3-D film about the history of Barcelona F.C., and then we went around exploring the museum, seeing the various achievements made by Barcelona F.C. in the past years, their history, their various past and present players, stuff like that. Anyway after that, we went to the shop nearby and went to look around the shop, browsing through the various soccer merchandise such as t-shirts, caps and all other soccer-related stuff. After our Camp Nou visit, we simply headed back to our apartment.

Day 12(Dec 23, 2008): Today, we headed off to another art museum called the Picasso museum in the morning. This amazing Renaissance genius has appealed to me the most, as I saw boards of his biography among some of his most recognisable artworks. Anyway, following the visit, my mum and sis went on an all-shopping spree, purchasiing souvenirs, clothes, bags and all those typical kind of stuff. Well, as for me and my bro, we just stayed in the apartment for the whole afternoon, while my dad just went out to walk around the malls. I had to tolerate with my younger bro's watching of Disney channel on TV, though he actually doesn't understand, 'cause every channel on TV is in Spanish, LOL. But anyway, good thing was, at night, he(my bro), dad and I went to a nearby shopping centre to purchase for me some clothes which I could use. Other than that, that ends for the day.

Day 13(Dec 24, 2008): Today, we woke up at about 6 plus and then did some last minute packing and cleaning up, following which we took a taxi and headed for the Barcelona airport, checked in, waited until the boarding gate opened and then headed of for home sweet home. Of course it wasn't a direct flight, an hour and a half later, we "pit-stopped" at the Milan airport, and after about an hour, we continued on our flight to home. I was kind of bored on the flight, just watching movies on the TV screen at the back of passenger seats and stuff, and the most troubling thing is, I could hardly sleep; I slept for about only 2 hours throughout the whole flight. That's probably why I received jet lag as a result of the flight, I don't know. Anyway, we reached Changi Airport at about 7 plus, S'pore time. Then, as usual, we got our bags, took a taxi home, and then finally, home sweet home! :)

Overall, my trip to Spain and Portugal has been an unforgettable and exceptionally exciting experience, despite the main negative effect of my trip which was none other than the jet lag. Now I am going to get right back to prepare for my e-Learning school work next week. Seems like the rains and thunderstorms of stress are going to engulf me in flames again, damn. All I had to do for the week was simply the MMP1 sketchbook and Zoho entries as well as my CMSK3 report draft and APA test practice. It seems that my work, I realised, wasn't that stressful this week, LOL. Anyway this will end the post for now. Cheers.