Madrid day 1-2: Changing thoughts

Today was my second full day in Madrid and maybe, just maybe I may have been wrong about the place. This is not my first time here. Madrid was actually the city I had first visited in Europe and I had left after three days with a bad impression. It was dirty, had bad smells and I was cranky because I had just flown something like 9 hours and was hungry and tired. So maybe it just wasn´t the best situation. I had also come back for a one day layover before my trip back to the US and it wasn´t any better as the cab drivers were on strike and we were almost stranded at the airport. In addition, as a disclaimer, I had completely bought into the whole Barcelona , Madrid rivalry and was completely against those Imperial bastards in Madrid.

Being here for two days I´ve noticed that hey this place isnt as bad as I thought. Yeah its still not as clean as Barcelona and it is imperial, grand and not at a human scale. Is that a bad thing though? Going to the royal palace and being near it I got to appreciate the power and glory of Imperial Spain. In an odd way I felt proud that the country that had spawned Colombia and in effect me could produce such things. I still prefer Barcelona but still this isn´t that bad of a place to be. They have done a lot to reviatlize the historical city center and last night we just sat down and drank some wine and beer in some random plaza just enjoying the great weather and the sights and sounds of a culture whose night starts at 10:00 and goes on into the wee hours of the morning.

Of note today was the craziness that was the metro in the morning. Sure the trains were packed in Barcelona but they were nothing like this. It was honestly like those pictures you´ve seen of the people in Japan being packed into trains by people. Actually, I wish they had those here. I tried to push my way in but the train was so packed that I literally bounced off them. There was just no space left in train.  Luckily I had bought a cell phone here so me and a couple who were left behind were able to meet up.

Tonight we are going to the restaurant named Botin, which is the oldest restuarant thats still in operation in the world. Their speciality is suckling pig and I´ll be giving an update tomorrrow about whether its all that and a bag chips

Adeu,
Alan