26,500 steps

We went to the Palace and left as the line was too long. We went to a church which was not too big so all okay. 

We purchased a dragonfly brooch. We, but not me. We walked across a bridge. 

Purchased a massive pastry, not me again, went back home and made chip buttys for lunch..... not all in that order, and went back to the Palace where the line was just as long. Two hours long I believe. Arriving at the line around 4 pm shouldn't have been a problem, but we spent a long time in the sun just pondering the possibility of standing in line all arvo. We tried purchasing tickets on line to jump the queue but that was not working. So we waited, until finally we walked through the gates with what we thought was a bit over a hour to explore. Turns out that we probably had two. There were lots of rooms with tiles, gardens, steps, rooms and walking to do. Was it worth the wait? Maybe, but if you travel around the world and Rick Steves tells you to do something, you do it. 

We headed back to our apartment through the maze of tiny streets, picked some recommended restaurants from Rick and headed out into the crazily busy late night. We ended up at a fancy sort of Italian restaurant and I sort of stood out in my black shorts and gym shirt, but clothes would not get in the way of a good pizza or gnocchi. There was a quick Decathlon purchase on the way.

Let's back it up a long way to the morning where we did a practise walk to the station. On arrival, we went to check that we could take the bike on the train with us. It was like stepping back to my Countrylink days with the attitude we received. Each of these train employees had a double in Australia who I used to work with. Finally a couple of ladies in information said there would be no problems. I left unconvinced and not looking forward to the problems I expected in 2 days time.