January 31st - Madrid, no thanks

January 31st – Madrid, no thanks

Never thought I would say that, but there it is. Why?

Mostly if not only, the people. It starts with no one speaking English and proud of it ! There is no attempt to help you, direct you or treat you as a welcome guest. The people that stumble in English, are so hard to understand , that it makes it almost more complicated. It puzzles me, I also learned English as a second language and wanted to be understood.
They often won’t serve you in restaurants. No, correction, they serve everybody around you who is Spanish and then they may serve you. We have walked out twice, because it just took too long – we are talking 45 minutes to an hour here…- and then they yell at you.
A conductor raised his voice at us, because we descended from the wrong steps.
When asking where the bathrooms were in the Royal Place we were visiting, the guards just shrug their shoulders. And on and on.

But, Madrid is beautiful, breathtakingly so. On every corner is yet another beautiful building, piazza, sculpture, fountain, or artwork of a kind.
We are smack in the center and in the midst of the street performers. They take great pleasure in the weird stuff: the guy without a head, the 3 headed “table”, the woman in freeze position entirely covered in mud, Winnie the Pooh (not weird but huge),the frozen “Guardian” in gold and many many Micky’s and Minnies, all wearing the Ameican flag . For starters.

The Royal Palace. I don’t think I have ever seen so much wealth in one place. I assume the Vatican is that way and Versailles. Gold, tapestry, chrystal, beauty in its own right.
Apparently the king and queen of Spain are still using it for official functions, although the building dates back from the 1500 hundreds.

Parks. Inside it more palaces and buildings, some stemming from the Moors, some Christianity and /or the Crusades. Beautiful lakes, old trees that make you believe you are in a movie, but wearing the wrong clothes.

The weather is gorgous. Blue skies everyday, but chilly, as in low 40ties. We are still wearing layers of clothing, boots, 2 pair of socks, hats, gloves, scarfs, the works. But everything looks glistening and radiating, I forgot what the sun was all about!

I can’t speak to the food, I have the runs……