Vale!

Vale!!!!

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Madrid. One friend couldn’t say enough great things about it, but most said, “It was just another city.” If you’ve been following along through pictures or posts on social media, I’m pretty sure you know where I stand on the matter now. Madrid I love you, don’t change a thing!

We stayed in the perfect spot to explore Madrid on foot. We did over 80,000 steps in the three days there and this time Sara D. has the blisters to prove it. I got hip to the walking scene real fast and have stayed in my Chuck’s pretty much every day.

 

In our initial explorations of the neighborhood, we kept coming across Pride flags or symbols. As our luck would have it, we found ourselves right in the middle of Madrid Pride week. It isn’t just a day or a single parade for the people of Madrid, but 10 days of celebrations.

And the best part was that almost every store, business or home showed their support. Even the KFC had a rocking rainbow balloon arch at it’s entry way. The word for pride is orgullo and it was great to see how much orgullo this city has for everyone!

 

For the last three years I’ve been out of the country on July 4^th, but somehow, some way a little piece of back home finds me. Three years ago when I was in South Africa, I was live streaming a hockey game and sat in silence as they played the national anthem and this year in Madrid as I walked around on July 4^th I kept hearing different versions of the song, “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. As a little girl, my dance team and I would perform at Glendale Park as a part of the 4^th of July celebrations and the ever so special Emcee would sing, “My Way.”   He also happened to be the dad/grandpa of my faux aunt and cousins, so I felt very much at home hearing the song.

 

Word on the street in Madrid is that Churros con Chocolate for breakfast is a thing. I can also verify that it is a thing in the afternoon and the evening!! I was given the tip to EAT. EVERYTHING when in Madrid and I’m pretty sure I got close! The Mercado de San Miguel has the Mist, the meat and so much more. Walking through the market I kept getting dripped on until realizing they spray a mist down on everyone to keep them cool while inside. At first this was annoying but as my time went on, I sought out the places with the mist.   In our attempts to seek out a real sit down meal we headed to Juana La Loca, named after King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s second daughter Joana the Mad. We arrived around 11pm, the “proper” dinnertime in Europe, but were told we probably wouldn’t be seated until 12am. Europe I love you, but this late night/early morning dinner thing is hard to get used to. Even though we didn’t get to eat there that night, I did have a run in with the Israeli Pop Star, Netta Barzilai, so it wasn’t a total loss. 

The next day I went for a quick (in distance, not time) run to Retiro Park. Its green and shaded pathways made for a fantastic four miles. Of course, I ended with a Starbucks. Spain really had a good time with my name. It wasn’t until the last day that they finally just asked me to write my own name on the cup did I realize that maybe I just need to speak a little clearer.

We visited the Imperial City of Toledo. Toledo is also known as the City of the Three Cultures. Throughout history the three religions of Christians, Muslims and Jews lived in harmony. One of the staples of Toledo is their Marzipan. I don’t think I’d go there for that, but the views sure were something else. 

That night we had to catch the train back to Madrid by 9:30 but figured we could eat an early dinner around 7:30. We had to search high and low to find a restaurant that opened for dinner before 8:00 or 9:00 and even then when we did, we were the only ones in the place. Not even my own namesake would let us in.

 

Another tradition that seems to be occurring when I travel is meeting up with my friend Angie. As I mentioned before she was one of my first speech geek pals in SF and while we stay in touch and see each other throughout the year, we’ve now managed to be in the same place on our vacations completely unplanned for the last two years.

As the temperatures were rising in Madrid, we headed to the rooftops where it would only be hotter…if it weren’t for the mist of course.

 

From Madrid we were headed to Lisbon Portugal. To ride in a sleeper train was on Sara’s travel bucket list so we chose to do the overnight train to get to Portugal. In our almost 20 years of friendship, I am not sure if I’ve ever seen her happier. I was definitely not as jazzed as her but initially, it all felt pretty cool. Of course, when she leans over and says, “You know there’s a lot of murder shows about getting killed on a sleeper train”, I had my reservations.

I mean what shows was she watching to get this “information.” In San Francisco, there is a mattress place called Sleep Train and their jingle goes, “Sleep Train, a ticket to a better night sleep”. This Sleep Train was its evil twin brother and while I don’t think Siestas are quite a thing here in Portugal, I’m going to need one.

 

If you ever have the chance to get to Madrid, run don’t walk…well actually walk, the cobblestones will get ya.