A Day of Adventures and Old Friends June 5, 2009
Finally got to sleep at 4:30 am Madrid time and woke up at 10 am. I know this sleep thing will straighten itself out and that no one ever died from lack of sleep, but it is lonely at 4 am. I am still eating a liquid diet, so I think that messes with the body. Anyway this morning, while Leea worked on wrapping up a school assignment from spring semester, I jumped on the metro and moseyed over to the Atocha train station to change our tickets to leave for Malaga on the 11th rather than the 7th. In Spain, as elsewhere, the information and customer service people were less than helpful, sending me hither and yon. However, I eventually got in the correct queue and got the tickets exchanged. I got a 5 euro discount for being officially old. I also came home with a tree because it was World Environmental Day and someone handed me a tree. So I will take it with me to southern Spain, plant it and nurture it until I leave. And I transacted a lot of the questioning and exchange in Spanish. This of course may have contributed to my wandering from hither to yon.
After my adventure at the train station, Leea and I went to the Prado Museum and spent an exhausting yet marvelous afternoon wandering the salons. I was able to visit many friends I have not seen since my last visit to Madrid, probably ten years ago, especially Goya’s Majas and his black paintings and El Greco. Not to mention the one I knew would be Leea’s favorite, Bosch’s, “Garden of Earthly Delights.”
On our way back to our hotel we stopped for a café con leche in what has become our favorite bar. They have the best café con leche and the trash on the floor and slot machine by the door enhance the flavor. After resting up, we went out for dinner and the challenge of trying to order a “soft” diet in a vegetarian restaurant. I had a yummy glass of fresh squozen green apple juice. I thought scrambled eggs and mushrooms sounded safe, picturing a pile of scrambled eggs with some soft well cooked mushrooms on top. Not even. I’m sure the server is thinking, crazy American coming to a vegetarian restaurant when she doesn’t eat vegetables. But I persevered and the server suggested a soft desert, tiramisu. We ascertained it did not contain alcohol and then I consumed it with gusto. It is not always a bad thing to be ordered to eat soft foods. It can be an excuse to eat all sorts of wonderful sweet things.
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