Week 4 of my Spain trip. In 2005.

Day 22 - My trip diary notes that Diana apparently did not return at all during the previous night. It also mentions the possibility that she could have gone away for the weekend. I spent the day puttering around the condo. I headed in to Madrid in the evening with the intention of catching a Flamenco show. Though the place recommended by the guide book was in a busy-ish area of town, I could not find the actual address. Plus the street that it was supposedly on wasn't so much a street as a mostly-deserted alley. At night. In a foreign country. So I admit I only walked up and down where the address should have been about twice. Having given up, I walked around Madrid, hit a Starbucks to hear a few words of English, and finally caught one of the last busses back to Las Rozas.

Day 23 - Started the inevitable shopping for gifts for the people back home. I also discovered that writing post cards while dining alone made me feel less conspicuous. This was a Monday, so after wandering Madrid a little, I headed back to the condo in time for the English lessons or whatever small amount of work in that area that Borja would allow. However, neither Borja nor Diana were there so I did a bit of shopping and made dinner. I also started musing about whether I should contact anyone about Diana's continuing absence.

Day 24 - Finally got to El Prado. Really enjoyed the bulk of my day there. There's something about seeing the real actual paintings and artwork you read about (in high school most likely) that is just cool. An art student was copying "Las Meninas" when I went past and another was trying to copy something by Hieronymous Boch ('El Bosco' in Spain) and while I've never really had artistic talent, I sort of envied them.

Lunch was the vegetarian restaurant and my notes say that the food was really good even though I had no idea what, exactly, I was eating. Post-lunch I took a quick side-trip to the Principe Pio mall but didn't have much time because I had to hurry back to the condo for English lessons at 5:30. Which never materialized. Again.

Day 25 - The alarm went off before 8 a.m. Ugh. But I did manage to take the bus into Madrid, the Metro to another bus station (Estacion Sur) and catch the 10 a.m. bus to Toledo.

I did some wandering down streets just because they looked interesting. I did actually pay the entrance fee to see the Catedral. While paying to enter a church still seems wrong to me, it was impressive. Lots of nooks and crannies instead of one large unified apse. It was beautiful inside and very, very ornate. Parts were set up almost like a museum with paintings and old vestments on display.

At one time there were 12 mosques in Toledo. Only one is still standing. It was very very small, but worth the admission all the same because it is more than 1000 years old. It had the typical Moorish arches and was well preseved considering the age. Several of the gates into the old part of Toledo also have a clear Moorish influence.

Bussed back to Madrid then Las Rozas. No Diana, no Borja, no English lessons. Convinced myself that if Diana's disappearance was really a problem, someone would have been by the condo to look for her. Like her husband. Did laundry and ate dinner and enjoyed the fireworks from the festival from the balcony of the condo.

Day 26 - The plan was to sleep in and try to finish off my souvenir shopping. Sleeping in didn't happen. As to the shopping, I think I will quote directly from my trip journal:

Calle de Hortaleza. Supposedly good for traditional Spanish
goods. Actually good for clothes, art supplies, eateries, tattoo parlors
and sex shops. Also prostitutes if I'm not mistaken.

Calle de Fuencarrel. Supposedly good for quirky and
kitch. As advertised if a teen mall, skateboarder vibe is what you
consider quirky.

So, no, I didn't buy anything. I did walk a lot. I was also watching my cash because in Diana's absence I was trying to figure out how I, and my humongous suitcases, were going to get to the airport the day after my all-metro monthly pass expired. During morning rush hour.

Day 27 - Woke up early again even without the benefit of an alarm. I did manage to get the last of my shopping done including a hostess gift for Diana. I got back to the condo and lo and behold - Diana was back. Yay!

I am *sure* that she explained to me that she was going to go on vacation. She thought that I understood the whole thing. And, in general, I did understand much more than I could communicate. But I misunderstood what she said (I thought she was talking about a vacation she had taken to the coast in the past) so to me, she left one day saying only "I'm going now" and didn't show up again for a week.

The English lessons that I kept rushing back to the condo for could have happened. She told her husband to bring Borja by, but he never did. I only wish I had known ahead of time. I definitely would have stayed out later on several occasions. I would even have managed a couple of days in Cordoba.