Friday, 14 December 2007

• España — Part 2 (Madrid)

  
  5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning on Calle Gran Via
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  Sunday was an early-morning start, jet-lagged and still running on NYC time. Out the window from our High-Tech Hotel room (yes, that’s the name of this Spanish chain), Gran Via was flooded at 7:00 with bikers for a bike-a-thon (which they do on Sundays too, apparently). This picture doesn’t accurately portray Gran Via, but our location was similar to Times Square in NYC. It would get really crazy at night.
  
  We headed out for a quick and simple breakfast (churros, ham sandwich, café con leche & hot chocolate) and walked over to el Rastro.

  
  Looking west on Calle de le Ribera de Curtidores | El Rastro
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  Sunday mornings are quiet in Madrid except for el Rastro, the bohemia-like massive flea market that transforms La Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores into a sea of people streaming southward (and northward) shopping for deal after deal from the hundreds of stands that sold everything from gas masks to underwear.

  
  Looking north on Calle de le Ribera de Curtidores | El Rastro
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007
  
  Looking south on Calle de le Ribera de Curtidores | El Rastro
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007
  
  

  Should this have been a shock to me? The Spanish love to eat and drink. This was just a random small eatery specializing in grilled sardines, beer and other tapas. Simple and delicious; the smell was amazing.

  
  Sobrino de Botin
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  I thought reservations were only needed in NYC? The gang was debating whether to wait the 2 hours for a seating at Sobrino de Botin, supposedly the oldest restaurant in the world, renowned for its suckling pig. We passed.

  
  Tapas, tapas, tapas!
  

  But lunch (as you can see) was equally delicious elsewhere. What I didn’t get to capture was the dish with baby eel, a delicacy that made an addict out of me.

  
  Museo del Prado
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  We walked across the city to the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid’s equivalent to the NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’m not a huge museum fan, but every major city has a “classical” one and I always learn so much about the people from such a visit. This was no exception. The statue of Velázquez in the front was apropriate because his Las Meninas was absolutely the centerpiece of Prado’s collection, and it was a marvel to view. What was even more amazing was the group of elementary-school children standing in front of us, discussing in detail the history and analysis of the piece.

  
  Real Jardin Botánico
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  I really like this picture of the wife and I, though my hand looks ginormous. Adjacent to the Prado was Madrid’s impressive botanical gardens, containing a huge collection of flowers and plantlife from everywhere, and a perfectly relaxing place to round out the daylight hours.

  
  Atocha Station at Dusk
  Madrid, Spain | October 7, 2007

  I captured this view of the Atocha Station — Madrid’s main train station — on the way to the Metro as we headed back to our hotel for a quick rest and dinner. I later discovered that this was merely the back of the station, and it contained a marvelously sculpted greenhouse inside.

  
  Night on Gran Via
  October 7, 2007

  You know how you walk through, let’s say, Greenwich Village or East/West Village in NYC and you know what’s considered “in” for a place? That’s the weird feeling we had getting back to our hotel (read: Times Square) each night in Madrid. The sidewalks were packed wall-to-wall with mostly youngsters and young adults, either hanging out in the McDonald’s or other face-food joints or simply just loitering on the sidewalk, spilling into the streets. The mullet is in, big time! And so is heavy-metal music and skin-head look-a-likes: children and young adults were alike in this adoration.
  
  Very strange. I guess it’s been more than two decades since I last ventured outside of the United States, and I thought that with the globalization of the world’s economy as it is, we would be more and more similar. That wasn’t the case. More to come in Seville and Barcelona.

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