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Last morning in Barcelona. This morning we woke up at 9 and packed our backpacks up again. We thought we could make the walk down to the market and bakery and back before our check out at 11, but by the time we got to the market we had to head back. We were speed walking this entire time, so when we got back to the hostel we were both sweating. The guys running the hostel were in no rush so that was wonderful. We checked out and donned our backpacks for our walk to the train station. The walk to the station was about an hour and a half. We stopped on the way and got some pastries for breakfast. I got a donut shaped like a little person, with the bottom dipped to look like pants and the head dipped with eyes and a mouth. I also got a slice of festive bread, which might be my favorite pastry so far. It was so moist and drizzled with chocolate and honey. Kayla got a chocolate donut and a croissant type pastry with sliced apples on it. We got to the train station at 12:30 and were able to get a train for Madrid leaving at 3:25 pm. We spent out wait time in the station eating our second pastry, looking through our photos, and wanting to wash the honey off of my hands. I can now empathize with pooh in at least one way. The rain stations in Spain are more complicated than they are in Amsterdam or Germany, and Kayla and I weren't sure the entire time if we were in the right spot, getting the right train or right car. If we were getting off of the train in the right station....no one spoke English for the first time, and the signage was harder to follow. We got to Madrid nonetheless, and after conversing with some nice ladies at the information desk, got a map where they marked where our hostel would be. Luckily it was not far, and for once, we found it right away without getting lost! The guy at the front desk was very helpful at pointing us to good things to see, and even sharing where a good hidden restaurant with cheap wonderful food was. After checking into our room with 4 sets of bunk beds just for the two of us, we went in search of said ideal restaurant. We realized that he marked it on the map, but that we did not have the actual address or remember the name of it. We asked a man in a grocery store which was conveniently located below the restaurant which is on the 6th floor. We ended up just getting beers because the meal deal is only for lunch. There was a rally happening in the streets by our restaurant which was interesting to see/hear. Couldn't understand what it was about though. Our drinks came with a plate of olives which neither Kayla or I wanted, so we offered the to the table of Ohioans and Aussies behind us. One of the Aussies told us we had to eat one of the olives at least. Put on the spot, Kayla and I regretfully ate an olive each. I kept my composure, but Kayla was completely disgusted and unhappy in the mouth area. I did not like it either even though I chewed it slowly and made sure I gave it a shot, and quickly drank some of my beer to wash its ickiness away. We left with the plan to come back for the lunch deal tomorrow. It was close to nine, nine-thirty and we were still in search of dinner, preferably paella. We found a little place off one of the main streets where I got mixed seafood paella, and Kayla got chicken paella. It looked like an overwhelmingly large dish, but we both cleaned up. We've been having a few laughs on this trip, and we since we identify our mother's laughs as crackle and weez, we decided to label our laughs. We decided Kayla is a ho ho(er) and I am a sputterer, so together, we are ho ho and sputter. Finishing dinner at 10:20, we walked back to our hostel to have a restful night. Our Bulgarian front desk man told us we need to go to a disco tomorrow, he hasn't lead us astray so far......he also told us the reason he recognized Minnesota is because he watches How I Met Your Mother, excellent.
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