Madrid is undergoing a facelift. It always has been, to some extent, but after three years away it seems very dramatic. Lots of building work everywhere, maybe fewer beggars in the street, lots of new stores and restaurants, many of the buildings in Puerta del Sol covered with scaffolding.
Another change - a much heavier police presence everywhere. The national police are carrying rifles (which makes my favorite ATM near the hotel extra safe, since there is a policeman stationed at the little park about 20 feet away). I also saw police with rifles in other locations, like by the Mexican embassy.
Just as an aside, I have to say the police in Spain, especially the national police, are, shall we say, exceptionally attractive? I asked a Spaniard at my first Vaughantown if that was some sort of requirement, since I had noticed it, and she laughed and said yes, it was. (Her former boyfriend had been a national policeman.)
Anyway, to backtrack a little, we got into Madrid at about 9:00. It was our plane's very first flight, Mike heard. I enjoyed the walk from the airport bus stop to the Westin. There is a beautiful little park that runs for several blocks between the north and south lanes, with little playgrounds and places to sit. My room was ready when I got to the Westin, so I showered and headed back out to pick up some drinks and do a little shopping, then meet up with our group for lunch.
As I stepped out of the hotel, the carillon was playing across the street, so I stopped to watch. A few blocks away, I encountered something I never expected to see in Spain - a Steak 'n Shake restaurant! I couldn't believe my eyes. (For readers who aren't from central Illinois, the Steak 'n Shake chain began in Normal, IL, where I am from.)
Puerta del Sol had its usual contingent of street weirdos - costumed characters (including, oddly, Mr Bean), guys posing in ways that made you wonder what held them up, singers, tables with scary heads on them that came to life as you passed - you know, the usual. :) Plaza Mayor had its share, too.
We ended up with six of us for lunch. We walked down to the Mercado de San Miguel, but found it way too packed with people, and we all wanted to sit, so we ended up at a little restaurant called Bar Eduardo, right next door, where we could eat outside. Mike and I split a beef, onion, and carrot pizza. Afterward, we split up to do different things. Mike, Betsy, and I returned to the mercado to buy dessert. I bought something whose name I can't recall right now that looked like a calzone, only it was filled with pudding-like cream and dusted with powdered sugar - yum! Then we set off to walk off the calories.
We were headed to the Templo de Debod, but we had switched trains when we didn't need to, and ended up somewhere else entirely. It was a fortuitous mistake, though, because the train back had performers on it. We went back to where we had made the mistake and walked from there. Templo de Debod is a 2200 year old Egyptian temple that was given to the city in 1968 in gratitude for Spain's help in saving the temples of Abu SimbeI, in Nubia, when they were building the Aswan Dam (they were going to be flooded, like at Three Rivers Gorge, and the temples were moved, block by block, to higher ground). I can imagine them saying, "Hey, thanks for helping out, Spain. Here, you can have this little one." It is in a beautiful little park which offers a great view of the Royal Palace and the cathedral. But the walk, paired with the stairs to get up to the Temple, just about did me in. Pretty sure those pastry calories are long gone! By this time it was nearly 5:00 and we were all done for the day. We had thought about dinner plans but just decided to grab a sandwich somewhere, separately. Mike and Betsy headed back to their hotel and I returned to Sol, then walked to the Westin.
My legs are tired, and my feet hurt, but no knee pain! I lost track of how many layers we went up and down in the metro system to get to each train. At this point, except for maybe 4 hours of "sleep" on the plane, I have been up just over 30 hours, so I think I will head around the corner for a sandwich, then come back and crash for the night.
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