12 apr

First time Madrid. It has the allure which one expects of a city that once was the capital of the world. Only to be replaced by Amsterdam, I’m eager to remind everyone, in Holland’s Golden century. Julie and I just walked around for a little bit, before meeting Claire.
The best way to look at a city is looking up. That’s where all the fun is. Madrid is full of fun buildings with marvellous balcony’s and the craziest little statues. What about six penguins holding a barrel and a beer mug. Must have been a brewery or a pub in the past. Now it’s empty.
Not that one can see the economic crisis here. On the way to our campground, on the outskirts of Madrid, we must have passed the headquarters of Telefonica. Four large tower buildings on the corners and endless offices in between. That’s where part of the squandered money of the telecoms revolution went. Didn’t Telefonica buy O2? And wasn’t it because of a credit warning that the sale of EPlus, the german mobile operator of KPN, to Telefonica was stalled. Or was that not allowed by European authorities? I’ve missed so much news in the past months that I am not sure about these things anymore.
Claire showed up just after an enormous thunderstorm had rolled over the centre of Madrid. Everybody just jumps into the most nearby store and waits till the rain is over.
Later Claire showed us some of the major sites. This city has become so familiar for her, it is kind of amazing. Towards the sunset she manoeuvred us to the Plaze d’Espana, from where the sunset is most impressive. We had to wait till the lights in Madrid were being turned on, spectacular indeed.
Claire knew about a nice restaurant in the area with good seafood and the best desserts ever. When we entered we were told there was a waiting time of 45 minutes before a table would become available. A young girl at another table saw us doubting whether to stay. ‘That’s what they told us too, but we got a table within five minutes.’ Sure enough, within 10 minutes we were seated and enjoyed some splendid dim sum, great ravioli’s (Julie) fine risotto with scallops and mushrooms (Claire) and fantastic Ox tail stew (me). The restaurant clearly didn’t have one style, but just cooked the dishes they liked with organic and fresh ingredients. It worked for us, although the beetroot and avocado together was not a success. The desert was really the prize winner. We had Chocolate to die for and Dolce Vita tiramisu. Both variations of recipes of Michelin starred restaurants. Both splendid.
The most memorable thing of the day was a low point though. Julie’s wallet was stolen on our way back. What a nuisance that is. Blocking bank cards, how to get a new drivers license. Ah well, it is the price of visiting a major city. So we’ll pay it.