Reunion in Madrid

Thursday, 12 March, 2015:

Days left, SHE'S HERE!!!

I woke up early today to grab the 6:10 a.m. train from Murcia to Madrid to meet Laurie at Madrid's Barajas Airport. She had flown from Los Angeles to Paris and then down to Spain's capital city. The train ride lasted four hours in the complete comfort of my Preferencia (First Class) seat.

I got to Madrid at about 10:30 a.m. and Laurie's plane was not scheduled to land until 3:00 p.m., time to explore!

Once in Madrid, I began to again acquaint myself with a city that, for me, is becoming better and better each time that I visit.

There are certain things that, in my opinion, make for a great European capital. Amongst these things are . . .

Winged Statues on Government Buildings

Fountains . . .

Lots of fountains

Majestic Buildings

Various Museums

Lords overseeing the city

Tributes to star crossed lovers

Armor and swords for sale

Where did that NO PICTURES sign come from?

Tributes to blind men,

Federico Garcia Lorca,

and Calderon de la Barca

de la Barca's sidekick?

My Liege

Tall spires

Flamenco dance halls

Vulcanic dining spots

Revolutionary bars

Wine Museums

Interesting tile work

A History of love for a blood-sport

Tapas and . . .

Haughty women

Madrid also has many iconic sights.

The Tio Pepe sign and the
Madrileño bear on Puerta del Sol

Kilometer Zero for all roads

Two good fútbol teams

Souvenirs lauding almost
all things Spanish

Great dessert store on Puerta del Sol

La Mallorquina's wares

Generalissimo Francisco Franco

Lots of eating spots

Cool street signs

Plaza Mayor

Hey, that's my birthday!

A slice of Heaven

It was only a five minute walk from our hotel.

Lots of great food stalls in the
Mercado de San Miguel!!!

Like these . . .

Oh

my

GOD!

Is

all

of

this

good

for

my

diet?

Although I did try a couple of things, I decided to return later with Laurie to do it justice.

Icarus?

In Love with Life

Sounds about right to me today.

I just liked this sign in front
of a local bakery

I checked into our hotel, freshened up a bit and then ambled over to the Ópera Metro station to head to the airport.

The station was relatively calm

A José Marti recital

Definitely of interest as a person of Cuban heritage.

Laurie at the airport,
but where are her bags?

Still in Paris as it turned out. Not to worry, they would be delivered to our hotel at about 8:00 p.m.

With Laurie in tow, we returned to the Mercado de San Miguel to do some serious damage.

Nice looking strawberries

Ugly looking sea urchins

Now, that's a swordfish

Looked good

Not bad

Incredible!!!

Laurie's at home with her white wine

I just liked the sign

Cookie Rivalry

Gulas were interesting

Olives, which Laurie loves

Me, not so much.

Meat in a cup

So many tapas, so little time but it was so worth it!

We opted to go for a walk after leaving the Mercado de San Miguel to get our digestive fluids going again.

Plaza Mayor hat store selling . . .

For sale, a montera,
a matador's hat

Madrid loves a splash of color
on it's cities

Cookie store

While I was strong and did not even go inside, I now wonder, what was the point of that?

Anti-Franco demonstrators
at the Puerta del Sol

Franco died in 1975, old hatreds die slowly on the Iberian peninsula it appears.

Time out

Don Quixote sighting

Laurie goes shopping for linens,
Spanish economy flourishing again

Another typical Madrid plaza

Now if this were Amsterdam . . .

The Hotel Preciados at dusk

Cool outdoor bookstore

One last stop for the night for . . .

Churros and chocolate

Madrid, good food and a wonderful woman, I am in love with life!!!