See the pictures here.
I know some people who are going to hate me out of jealousy after seeing the pictures!
I woke up this morning and there was someone lying in my bed … It was Klaar, the other Office Management student that’s doing an internship in Spain. Her parents were in Madrid and so she asked if she could sleep in my appartment for 1 night. Of course I said that wasn’t a problem and even let her sleep in my bed, while I slept in the foldable bed.We both got up at around 8h and left around 9h. I was headed for Atocha train station, to take the Tren de la Fresa to Aranjuez. When I went to the check-in desk, they asked me how many people where in my party and I said: one. Then the guy looked at me and said ‘Usted sola?‘ (Just you?) on a ‘I feel so sorry for you’-tone. To which I of course replied: Yes, just me!
As I walked towards the train, I was handed a strawberry sticker by a hostess in costume. Have I told you that this is an old vapor train? … I just got on the train since I was running a bit late and didn’t get any detailled pictures or videos (yet).
The train ride was OK, nothing special about it. After half an hour we received strawberries from the dressed up hostesses. When we arrived in Aranjuez, we were divided into 2 groups and I realized that the whole tour would be in Spanish … I of course thought this wouldn’t be a problem at all!
We were dropped of at the Jardin del Principe (Garden of the Prince), where I took some nice pictures! The guide had told us to be inside the Palacio Real at 10h15 to start the tour. When I got there at 10h, I of course realised that all the Spanish people would be late … When they finally arrived, they were all wearing a blue sticker on their clothes! Apparently I had missed something … The palace was OK, but not that impressive.
After that we were supposed to meet in front of the palace where our guide would be. Of course, I couldn’t find the guide, nor the people form my group … It was no problem to join an other group, but I wasn’t very proud of my Spanish!
At lunch time, I saw a sort of children’s parade going through the city. I really liked the music :D After that I sat in the sun for a while and waited for the bus to take us to the Museo Faluas (barge museum). It was nice to see what kind of luxury boats kings used to have!
We also got a tour trough the city and afterwards they dropped us back of at the station, where I took some pictures of the vapor train. We were even allowed to go inside the cockpit and so I did (anyone jealous yet?)
Then the train took off and when we arrived back in Madrid, the cockpit was detached from the other locomotives and took a small drive up and down the track so everyone could take pictures and videos. I must say that was probably the best part of my day!