Madrid brought me back...
Ok.... so I have never been to Europe before. Almost fifty and never having experienced history. Work sent me to Madrid for a week and I loved it.
Yes I worked but I also walked the streets - took pictures, tried out my very limited Spanish to find my way. The architecture is fabulous... street after street of attractive apartments, colours, finishing features. NO large stores (I am sure they exist but not in the areas I went to)...
Interesting things...
Every bar has snacks... fancy snacks like prosciutto like ham on a piece of bread with a slice of melon on top... or fancy cheeses or salmon on hard biscuits, or these sandwiches that an artist must have designed.. so you order a cervesas and they give you a snack....they are fabulous.. typical 2 euros or 3$ for a beer...wine is less..
The food was much blander than I had imagined.. I thought it would be like Mexican food.. no.. bland.. beautifully prepared and smaller portions - the Mexicans with us..bring their own spices or they go crazy..
The subway... at least 10 lines criss cross Madrid..maybe 3 or 4 times the amount in Toronto.. fabulous system
I felt safe but I was with a coworker who got pickpocketed... a little blocking from the subway car exit and a few "policia!!!'s" later the wallet mysteriously appeared about 10 ft away. But he was an idiot.. wearing running shoes???? and keeping his wallet in his back pocket..
There are few overweight people there... very few... its noticeable..
The architecture is gorgeous... beautiful parks all over...
The big thing was that it was a pick me up. It makes you want to go back...
posted by hockeyman @ 7:33 AM
5 Comments:
That's awesome! I've been there too... stood at that arch... ate the tapas... walked everywhere... Madrid is fabulous!
It was..its not just the tapas its the snacks...the wine.. its a great city. I wasn't even looking for that arch. I got off the subway for this appointment and then poof there it was. I was early so I walked around in the park across the street.. beutiful park..statues..trees in bloom
Never been to Madrid but been to a few Europeen countries...
Just loved it....
Ireland... land of my ancestors...
Barcelona was interesting but you can't beat the southern little villages in France...
Paris... never mind...
Switzerland... breath taking and the people are amazing.. ;-)
Once you have experienced Europe.. you become hooked!
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wow.. I loved it...now there was one little faux pas... in downtown Madrid near the palace on one of those narrow streets there was a guy who looked like he was waiting for his ride. . He had a hockey bag and and hockey stick... who knew.. of course when I went up to him and talked rapidly in english about the Leafs... and how great they are... he looked at me a little glassyeyed and gave no indication that he knew what I was talking about....
3:59 PM
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