Madrid 19.-22. July 2008

Leaving San Sebastián early, we got onto the train for a non-stop 5 hour ride to Madrid. It was amazing to see the landscape change on the way. While still very green and not much different from northern European vegetation in the north, it changed to rather dry and rocky with palm trees and cactuses.



A major problem with train rides is that the airconditoning inside is always to cold. Therefore, the shock when we got out in Madrid was tremendous. We were hit by 35ºC hot air. My friend Barbara picked us up with the car and told us that this weekend was supposed to be the hottest of the whole year with up to 40ºC. NICE! Luckily she lives in a house with a pool in the garden – that was in fact very nice! So we chilled out for some time, had tasty lunch in the garden, went for a swim,....even more holiday feeling.

In the evening we had traditional Pealla, which we picked up at a restaurant. I had to experience that my taste in food developed the older I got, as I really disliked Paella at the age of 16 and now found it was pretty good food. We also had traditional self-made Sangria. As the evening was already traditionally Spanish Barbaras parents took the chance to teach Tim the most elementary words in Spanisch: Cerveza, Caña, Cojones, Coño, Joder, Hijo de Puta and De Puta Madre. You really don’t need more to get around in Spain ;-)

Later that evening we met some friends of Barbara in the city center – and again typically Spanish – arrived too late. We went for a couple of drinks and chilled out in a really cool bar. However, Madrid has a curfew at 3 am for bars so our options were to go home or to pay entry in a club. As budget backpackers we were both tired and unwilling to spend money on anything except food, drinks, beds or train reservations.

The next day we wanted to avoid the heat by spending some hours in museums. We went to town by car which turned out to be a problem as Tim did not really fit into the car anymore after Barbara pressed some button which made the seat jump up and stay there. So we had to go convertible, which was nice anyway. After spending some time looking for a parking space (hopeless mission), we were too late for the modern art museum. But we found a nice and reasonably priced snack bar which made up for the disappointment. Afterwards we visited the Prado museum, which is free after 5pm on Sundays (and we really like the word FREE). Passing by the masterpieces of Goya and Co. we had a discussion about classic versus modern art during which 3 different opinions stood out, which seemed to be fixed and incompatible. But anyway we all felt very educated and arty afterwards, I suppose.

We spent the late afternoon and evening in Retiro Park, which was relaxing and entertaining due to all the differnt performers and musicians. For dinner we had a reservation at the new IN-Pizza restaurant “Pizza Jardin”. Indeed a very well designed place with good prices, although too cold, again due to airco. Another disadvantage was that we were served by the grumpiest and ill-humoured waitress on the whole planet. She appeared to be allergic to smiles, customers, work and life in general. I was looking at the menu, deciding what to drink when she suddenly turned around and left. Then she took away the plates while Barbara was still eating. We made up a couple of theories what had might have ruined her day so completely. Among the best were that her boyfriend just left her being pregnant, shagging her best friend and that she just got fired. Even considering a complaint, Tim decided to try it the nice way and drew a big smiley on a piece of paper with “SMILE” written underneath it. He went over to her and showed her the paper. And she did actually smile, very surprised. But the mood and the service were still not much better afterwards and we were charged two things we didn’t order on our bill. Well, it was worth trying.

The next day we chilled out for a while and then did some hours of planning and booking (very stressful and always a source of conflicting interests, but we made a lot of progress there). After a nice Tres Cantos ice cream we went back to town and visited the main tourist attractions: puerta del sol, plaza españa, gran vía, plaza mayor, palacio real. That was all very nice. New for Tim and good to see again for me. In the evening we wanted to eat some typical Tapas, but it was impossible to find a table outside. The one place we went to first was out of our budget, so we just had the cheapest thing on the menu, Tortilla for 4€, which pissed the waitress off very badly (for reason unknown). My theory is, she wanted to get the title of the most grumpy waitress, but the other one was still way better ;-). At another place we had three different tapas to share, which was so Spanish and very tasty.

Then our three days in Madrid were already over, which is a pity as Barbara made our stay like being in a luxury hotel and we felt really relaxed afterwards. Muchas Gracias!

Franzi

The final add on to the madrid story!
Security in Madrid:

During the peak of Madrid rush hour on the morning of Thursday, 11 March 2004, ten explosions occurred aboard four commuter trains (cercanías). All the affected trains were traveling on the same line and in the same direction between Alcala and the Atocha station in Madrid. It was later reported that thirteen improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been placed on the trains. Offcourse every one of you readers read this story but on the 22 July, not a normal one by the way, on a beautiful morning on the 22 of July the true story and the drag of this terrible event was suddenly clear to us. Wether it was the ETA or Al-Qaeda who claimed the bombings, I know it were the most violent group of the whole world... Early morning, Madrid station... After a stressy hunt for parking space we kinda ran into Madrid station, luckily we had the tickets and could go straight through to the train...
OR NOT!!!
security check and I had nothing to worry about, because i forgot my bomb somewhere on the way (hehe bit scared of writing this, might get arrested of placing terroristic threat on the internet). But the security guys (those wonderful people who keep our BELOVED EUROPE safe) thought something was wrong in my bag, and in spanish they tried to explain me something which offcouse I didn't get. We needed to ask Barbara to translate the possible threat I caused... GUESS WHAT!!!
It wasn't about the 3 knives I carry with me, it wasn't about the flamable liquid I carry with me... Me, a dreadded, tall, friendlyfaced, in shorts and flipflops with a giant backpack traveller was not allowed to bring my cooker. My cheap way to make FOOD (no bombs), my kilo extra I carried around for the last couple of weeks to be able to cook on sziget! I hope after their rough working day.the people of the security there felt that they did a good job! felt that they kept the world safe from people which are planning to damage the trust in all the other people... People with beards around the world, muslim people or any person who is caught by the drag of terror! I know how you feel! Lets leave our cookers at home, and go camping without them. that much safer for us, the environment and offcourse...your fellow travellers!!!

An agry and pissed of traveller!