Murcia

(there is an in-between post but it is on my laptop!)

We have been in Murcia since Tuesday and it has been lovely. We had two days and nights at the high cost low service Hotel Nelva visiting Conrad´s uncle John. It was great to see him again, and lucky little people got taken to Toys R Us and John bought them a remote control boat and a horse (not a real one, one to replace the little one Bella left on the subway in NYC...). Happy, happy! Hen had a great time navigating the waters of the Nelva pool and fountains. We went for dinner to a place in the Lonely Planet - Barra del Hotel Rincon de Pepe, and met John there the next night to try their tapas - amazing food and wine - stuffed calamari wirth black sauce, many many things that don´t sound amazing, but were. Thanks John!!

On Thursday we checked into the Arrixaca apartments through Priceline Europe (great site), 20 minutes by bus out of Murcia town, by a big teaching hospital. It too has a pool, and a fabulous cafe next door, for literally half the price of the Nelva. Yay! Today we will have a bit more of a look around before getting on the train.

We have had a lovely peaceful time here, and are now ready to make the train journey to Madrid, where we have a hotel booked at Lonely Planet recommendation, just near the Prado gallery - yay! Great value and nearby to many galleries etc and to the station where we will arrive tonight. I will take Bella to the Prado while Hen and Conrad explore the museum of science and technology...

From Madrid we will probably fly via Ryanair to Marseille and spend some time in the south of France for a week or two, then maybe some wwoofing before heading to Germany to visit Andreas and family at the end of Oct.

Still no camera connection, in fact our camera is really playing up, so we are thinking of updating the cybershot. I have deleted the ´too much gelato´ shot for reasons of public safety. The food has certainly been lighter here - you always get a lovely big salad with the menu del dia, fantastic.

Hasta la vista : )