Early Wednesday, March 31 I reunited with my Mom in the Madrid airport! I was so excited to see her! Then we navigated our way through the metro system to the correct stop. However, when we got off at the stop we were not sure which direction to go. After walking in the wrong direction for a little while and turning around, we finally found our hotel! It was a little early to check in so we dropped off our bags and found some breakfast, where I introduced Mom to nepolitana chocolate, chocolate filled croissant, cafe con leche, espresso shot with steamed milk, and zumo de naranja, freshly squeezed orange juice. My favorite breakfast!
After finally getting some food in our system, we went on Rick Steve's self-guided walking tour, which are perfect for introducing yourself to a city! Fortunately, the weather was a lot nicer this day than the last time I visited Madrid. We walked around Puerta del Sol, Plaza Nueva, Mercado de San Miguel, City Hall, Cathedral of Almudena, and the Royal Palace. We decided not to tour the Royal Palace because the line was ridiculously long.
We returned to our hotel to check-in when we were told that they didn't have our reservation down, oh no. Fortunately we got lucky and they had room for us and for the other day that we needed it. Phew!
For lunch, we found a great Menu del Dia right around the corner from our hotel at Cruz Blanca. Our waiter was super friendly and even spoke some English, he said he learned in New York City years ago. Also, he shared that he was a poet and we were fortunate enough to get a sample of his poetry, signed.
MI TEMPO
Yo quisiera tener tiempo
Para decirte lo siento,
Para mirarte a los ojos
Para besarte en la boca
Para respirar tu aliento,
Para decirte te quiero
Para decirte lo siento.
Pero yo no tengo tiempo.
Se que un dia tendre tiempo
Para pasear conitgo
Cogerte de la mano
Y decirte que te quiero.
Que el timpo sea de los dos,
Y la llama no se apague,
Le llama del amor
ABRIL DE 2004
Autor: Placido Aragoneses
MI TEMPO (English Translation)
I wish I had the time,
To tell you how I feel,
To look into your eyes,
To kiss your mouth,
To smell your scent,
To tell you I love you,
To tell you what I feel
But I don’t have time
I know one day I will have the time,
To be with you
Holding your hand
And telling you “I love you”
That time will be ours,
And the flame will never die,
The Flame of Love
After a nice siesta to recover from getting up at 3am, Mom and I went over to Retiro Park where we saw many people paddle boating on the lake. It is a great place for people watching on a bench! Then we wandered around for a bit and stumbled upon a greenhouse thing. The sign outside said it was part of the Reina Sofia Museum, but it was a glass building with only a small circle of plants in the middle of it. This circle had an array of vegetation from a palm tree to hydrangeas to a huge pumpkin to a pine tree and none of it was looking too healthy. The space around it was very open, Mom and I said it would be the perfect place to hold a party! Other than that, I have no idea what its purpose is!
Green House like building
The palm tree in the middle.
After that we walked over to the Prado Museum because you get into free after 4pm. Mom was able to see all the famous Spanish paintings by Goya, Murillo, and Velazquez. We hit up a light dinner afterwards and then just headed back to the hotel. Mom said it was a good first day to get acclimated to Spain and Spanish culture especially after not sleeping on a 7 hour flight. Needless to say we both passed out pretty early that night.
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