Drove to Dublin the night before after my last class at Ballymaloe for early morning flight to Madrid this morning. Took bus from airport to Atocha train station where I was able to store my luggage in a very cool luggage locker system. Walked around Madrid, catching a royal procession of some kind just pass right by me, after I stopped in a bar devoted to bull fighting. Ugh.

Back to train station, and took train to Madrid’s other train station where I took a high speed train to Leon. 2 1/2 hours (with 3 stops) versus 4 hours by bus. It was like being in a plane.

Leon is a fantastic city with cathedral, a building by Gaudi, and lovely courtyards in convents. My dinner of a cheese omelette was just such a let down after Ballymaloe!! Covered a lot of ground in one day!

To sleep in an old building. My room has exposed brick on the walls and beams on the ceiling and – thankfully – a lovely clean modern bath.