2007 Dan in Madrid

This is my second trip to Spain. The first was last September, when I spent only a couple days here in Madrid as well as Lisbon. This time it is to be 2 weeks in Madrid, so I went thinking I ought to be able to see and do more. The good news is that the hotel is only a short walk to the office. The bad news is that we're in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of town. This area, north of town is hard to believe and even harder to describe. The word, stark comes to mind. There are miles upon miles of multi-family residence buildings, office buildings, some restaurants built into the buildings, AND THAT'S ALL! No trees. No schools. No single family houses - I found not one in dozens of miles of running. Oh yeah. Plenty of construction. More construction than you can imagine. 

Upon arrival Steve and I took the bus to the subway station, and the subway downtown. We did lots of walking, including a long stroll through one of the city parks, Parke Del Buen Retiro. There were many many folks out for their Sunday afternoon strolls. We also walked through the main train station (including the indoor arboretum), and a few other areas. You've got to enjoy the architecture here. The theory is that it's so nice here because Spain was not involved in either world war, and their civil war didn't cause much local damage. We ate dinner at an outdoor cafe, even though it was getting a bit cool. We laughed at our suffering there at an outdoor cafe, whilst the poor folks back home only have a couple feet of snow and cold to put up with. Not much happened during that first week of work. Our client kept us fairly busy, but we did have some time for walking. We went to Hippercor (large discount store/supermarket) and El Corte Ingles (large department store chain) one time, and to a mall another night. That was about it for excitement, except this: We walked into the mall, which is quite exclusive, and almost immediately heard the fire alarm. Sure enough, we could smell and even see smoke, and it was coming from somewhere near the cafe I had been recommending for dinner. We got out in a hurry. 

Later that night we tried to walk back along side and in back of a golf driving range. We were "escorted" back. I thought the security guard was either being very helpful, or we were about to be arrested. Eating here is a challenge. The food is great, but it's only available at certain times, and you'd better just get used to those times. Lunch is at 2 to 3 pm, we work until 6 or 7, and then dinner is at about 9pm. This doesn't sit too well with a guy who likes to go to bed at 9:30 or 10, and then get up to run at 4 or 5am. So Steve and I are always trying get an "early" dinner at 7:30 or so. But it's a real challenge to find ANYPLACE that's open. 

Friday night Steve and I checked out of our middle of nowhere hotel (which looks like it was designed and furnished by Ikea), and into one in the middle of everywhere central Madrid. That hotel, the Best Western Atlantico, is beautiful classic European. The streets are truly alive with people. There are street entertainers, discos, theaters, you name it. And did I mention throngs of people? We walked to Templo de Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple moved here as a gift from Egypt to Spain for their help in retrieval of other antiquities. It was awesome. Then we walked around the renowned palace (it was closed) and through Plaza Mayor, the famous square. 

Our friend and interpreter, Sergio, drove Steve and I to Salamanca, which is about 2 1/2 hours west, almost to the Portugal border. Salamanca is first and foremost a university town. The university is built into the medieval city center area, near the main square. I learned that Plaza Major means main square, so that's why multiple towns have squares by the same name. Duh. We walked around quite a bit and saw shell house, an ancient Roman-built bridge and the cathedral, in addition to the square. 

Sergio's friends from earlier years, Laura and Nikki, were visiting Salamanca from Brazil and the UK, so we all did some crowded tapas bars. We didn't eat much - only a bit of some of the famous jamon - but had lots of good conversation. It was a great day. The next day Steve and I took a train for a half-hour ride to Alcala de Henares. It's another university town with more historical buildings. There were dozens of huge storks making gigantic nests on the tops of the buildings. We ate and toured the Cervantes (the author of Don Quixote - Man of La Mancha) Museum and an archeological museum. We also saw a quasi-military band playing music in front of the university. 

Observations: -Everyone I work with seems to be genuinely friendly and accommodating. Great folks, these Spaniards! -When you sneeze, they say, "Jesus". -When they dubbed Terminator 2 into Spanish, Arnold's "Hasta la Vista, Baby" was changed into "Sayonara, Baby". (I think that works just as well!) -You don't find chicken on too many menus, but plenty of pork and jamon. -The Spanish have never heard of "Spanish Rice". -Running here is so strange. When I head out at 5:30 or so, someone has to open the hotel door for me, and there is no one, not one person or vehicle, about. The streets are empty. That was not the case for my one and only run from downtown. There were throngs of people everywhere, still reveling from the previous night. Of course they must have thought I was pretty strange. But that was mutual. Then I went into Casa de Campo, a very large park near the city center. There I encountered a plethora of prostitutes. I obviously wouldn’t be interested in their wares, but that didn’t stop them from making a few inquiries about my intentions. 

Our last night of the trip was a Friday, so Steve and I went back to the city center for more walking and exploring. We checked out Columbus Plaza, which included some kind of strange ultra-modern expo that we failed to comprehend. We marveled, once again, at the throngs of pedestrians out on a Friday night. And we ate at a smoky, but excellent tapas bar, where we enjoyed the best tapas yet.