no way, josé

last bit of time in madrid was lovely. i ended up going back to reina sofía on thursday, and discovered some new exhibits that i hadn't seen before. i also took this really sweet picture of the outdoor glass elevator set-up:

i also spent some time hanging out in the garden across from the palacio real, which is something i've wanted to do since ... last summer. it was so arty and in tune with the city, or whatever.

my last night in madrid i was going to go on a pub crawl, which was supposed to meet at the oso de madrid in sol. while i was awkwardly leaning on said monument, i asked the girl standing next to me if she was going on the crawl as well. she wasn't. she was waiting for her friend, who's mexican but went to school in san diego and who has lived in madrid for two years. the girl i met was named anouk and is dutch but speaks perfect english because, you know, she's dutch. they invited me to hang out with them, and we ended up going to this cute irish pub near sol, then going to meet alexa's (the one living in madrid) friend for his birthday celebration at this really cool underground-like bar. he's apparently a dj at some hot madrid club, so we ultimately went there (pachá, i believe) and got in for free, because we're so cool, and skipped the line. so hot. anouk and i ended up staying at the club, which had a giant techno floor, until about 4.30, when we decided it was more or less late enough to leave. after much confusion, we finally decided that i should just crash at her apartment because the metro wasn't running and cabs were our best bet. that meant a lovely walk of shame for me in the morning, though.

the next day she invited me to the pool outside her apartment, though, so i spent the day tanning and swimming and discussing american politics and culture with her and her dad, who ultimately made me dinner!

last night was the overnight train, which wasn't bad because it left at 11.00, so i pretty much went right to sleep. it got into lisbon obscenely early this morning, though - like 8.00. that's early, ok?

in portugal, people who smoke are not welcome in metro stations:

when we got to the hostel around 9.00, we were told that our rooms wouldn't be ready until about noon, so i layed down on these pillows and bean bags in the main lounge area. i fell asleep just as breakfast was starting, so pretty much everyone staying here got to see me sleeping, including our roommate. awk. our room is really cute and attic-y, and there's a low skylight that i was able to take a picture out of, but couldn't actually see anything from. this is what i'm pretty sure our view looks like, though:


after showerz, we went to lunch at this cute little café at the top of a hill (who knew lisbon was so hilly?) overlooking the city. afterwards, we walked to the old castelo and got to walk around all the turrets to see everything.

this is what lisbon looks like with me in front of it:

and this is what turrets look like with me between them:

and, in the rare event that you want to see lisbon without me attached, this is how beautiful it is:

after the castle we went to get fresh-squeezed orange juice at this little terrace bar also overlooking the city. there was a huge white tarp/sail overtop to block out some sun, and it was breezy and lovely. see?

so now i need to find something to do with my life. considering going out tonight, but it's a sunday so i'm not sure that anything will be going on. possibly a walking tour tomorrow,
or just walking about of my own accord, then hopefully staying up all night tomorrow night to ensure sleeping on the plane. we shall see!

adeus!!1!