More Madrid

We're back from Madrid, safe and sound, and I'm now sitting on the couch with Olga snoozing beside me. It was a whirlwind trip for sure, but we got to do the things on my agenda so I was happy.

Yesterday morning, when I went looking for coffee, I walked from Plaza de España down the Gran Vía to the Plaza Mayor, and then over toward the Prado. Remember the Museum of Ham from yesterday's post? Well, I also discovered the Paradise of Ham (above).

I did get coffee pretty easily, by the way. Starbucks in Madrid opens at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning!

You can tell it's LGBTQ Pride season from the advertising posters! I saw lots of rainbow flags too.

I found this stunning building off the Plaza Mayor, with the light hitting it just right.

Dave and I have seen this heart-obsessed graffiti artist before, in Amsterdam! I was amused to find his work in Madrid too. Google Translate says the phrase in the heart means, "there are hidden gifts."

I managed to find the hostel I stayed in when I first visited Madrid in 1994. It looks exactly the same. There are three hostels in this building, one on each floor -- I stayed in the Gonzalo, which is on the third floor with the yellow sign. Memory lane!

I know I seem fixated on reliving my earlier experiences of Madrid, but I'm not sure I adequately conveyed in yesterday's post how transformative that trip was for me. I also didn't mention that at the time I was head-over-heels in love with the friend I traveled with, so there was an added romantic component -- in my mind, anyway -- that made the whole thing magical. Of course I'm 30 years older now and I've been lots of places, so that youthful sense of wonder and possibility isn't the same. But it was still great to see the old sights again. My life is good now, in fact better in many ways, and I am lucky in that regard.

I also passed by the ornate Metropolis building, one of the most famous edifices in Madrid.

From there I walked back to the Plaza de España and picked up Dave, who'd been sleeping in a bit. Then we took the Metro back to a famous spot near the Plaza Mayor for churros con chocolate, a breakfast treat of fried dough dipped in chocolate sauce. We sat out in the square and ate them in the sunshine, watching the police chase off the costumed entertainers -- the gorilla guy from yesterday's post, as well as Bart Simpson, The Joker and others -- who try to cadge pocket change from tourists by posing for photos. I guess they're really not supposed to be out there, or maybe just not at that time.

OMG, that chocolate was AMAZING. Definitely not something you could eat for breakfast every day without dying.

We found a table at a cafe on the square and had coffees while watching the passing parade of humanity, including many tour groups, before finally taking the Metro back to our hotel, picking up our stuff and heading off to the airport.

Terminal 4 of the Madrid Airport is pretty cool, with a wavy roof that casts circular patterns of sunlight on the floors. Our flight back on Iberia was terrible -- we were jammed up against a bulkhead between business and economy class, with very little legroom. In fact our seats were so bad that Dave intends to complain. He and another guy in our row had to sit with their knees in the aisle because they couldn't fit into their seats. It was absurd. (I barely fit, and I was in a middle seat to boot. Fortunately I managed to lose myself in my book and ignore the crying baby behind me.)

Now we have a week of rest before we're off on the next adventure!