Juliet+Diary+Entries

JULIET DIARY ENTRY DAY ONE. Segway day tour. Segway is a self balanceing transport device, suited to one person it is designed to be used in a pedestrian enviroments. It glides throught the city with no effort for the rider as it is motorised. a fun way to see all the sights of Madrid .10AM Started the introduction course on how to ride the sedway, once on the streets we toured the Tempo De Debod, the plaza De Espana. Refreshments and snacks where included in our day tour, with 8 of us in the tour group it made it fun and relaxing.The locals seemed to find our minor accidents quite amuseing and where quite helpful if we happened to fall off the Segways.Te tour itself last for 4hours and we wre given the added bounus of entering monuments and cathederals at no cost.

DAY TWO Attended the Madrid Plazza De Toros Bullring, this is not for the animal lover. A taxi ride to the venue cost 5 euro ,the event lasted 2 hours and consisted of six bulls and three matadors.The matadors paraded around the stadium, the first one beign the man who has fought the most bulls for the longest time. A master of cerimonies annonced the bull and its origin, owner and weight then the bull is released to the matador. The matadors assistant then encouraged the bull to make passes as the matador watches .This helps the matador determine the bulls level of aggression. Lances are placed into the shoulder each time the bull passes the matador, this is done until the bull becomes weak. As the bull gets weaker and weaker a band plays up and up until the bull eventually dies. This was not ejnoyable to watch but it is a really big event in Madrid.

DAY THREE Royal Palce Castle, built in 1738 occasionally used by the spanish royal family .Allundena Cathederal is the newest landmark offically opened by Pope John Paul 11. This has parts of the Madrid city wall dated back to the 19th century AD. Toured the Puerta Alcala this is the commerative arch and one of the five ancient entrances to the city.

DAY FOUR. 2.5 KM Madrid Cable Car ride with views if the centre of Madrid to the river Manzanares. Passed the Egyption temple and the Aeronatical museum, nearly all of the postcards for Madrid are taken from this ride.Definatley take your camera on this tour. Toured the Meseo Del Prado this is the home to the biggest colection of middle age arts and sculptures in Europe. The musseum is spred over 4 floors and displays art and history between 1100 and 1800AD. Majority of the art is Spanish.

DAY FIVE Plazza Mayor dates back to 1665 and is Madrid original town square, this five story appartment has symbols and scenes painted on it throught is entire existence .It is used for a number of cultural events but its levels mainly have shops, bars and resturants. Markets are held here on sundays, this is a beautiful building and a must see.

During my tour i found the Madrilenos to be welcoming but the language barrier was difficult, also i recomend that you take care af your belonings as there are many pick pockets. The city is impressive with narrow streets, fine musseums and beautiful buildings.Nightlife in Madrid is great but be careful as there is no alcohol measure for drinks in the bars and night clubs. The drinks can be so potent you wil be intoxicated before you even realise it. Rideing the Sedgway was the most fun it can be a real schock to your system as it takes some balanceing, lucky that the trainers speak english as you do need plenty of training before they let you terrorise the locals on the street.A sedgway tour lets you visit many attractions in such a fun way.