this post has been in draft form since sunday. since bub and javi were both off, we got up late and eventually went down to baccio around the corner for lunch. we shared this dish that was like paella but with macaroni instead of rice, and seafood, with lots of cafe con leche, and cervezas for javi. we were all tired from the night out but cheerful and talkative, juxtaposed against the drizzly, contemplative grey sky, as we made our way into the city center. we walked down what would have been the ben franklin parkway in philly, and in chicago, the stretch of columbus avenue from millenium park through the art institute down to the field museum - madrid´s museum campus. ending at the front entrance of the prado, the line of visitors waiting to enter wrapped around and disappeared behind the massive building. there was a renoir exhibit going on. we hiked around the back, around to an adjacent old church that was under restoration, towards the stately entrance to retiro park.
i had thought, wrongly, that we came to retiro last year. this park is endless and stunning. 4 miles around, says javi. treelined paths, fountains, pools, ponds, ducks and strange, fat, black spotted geese, a museum, a recently created memorial to those who died in the bombing at atocha station several years ago. 200 cypress and olive trees planted upon a sculpted, landscaped mound carved out of the surround park by a moat and reconnected with japanese style wooden bridges. a crushed gravel path twirled meditatively up towards the summit of the monument. retiro park is madrid´s central park. or maybe it would be an insult to say that. i would definitely have remembered being here before. night settled in as we approached the edge of the park and saw the buildings through the veil of tiny raindrops materializing under each lamp as we passed.
we walked through the fuencarral, a network of shops and restaurants that veined out from plaza mayor, its heart, with a luminary christmas tree erected and ready for december 1st when it will be lit. each artery of the fuencarral teemed with bodies moving in every direction, jostled along by other fervent bodies. people weaved along to experience the sights, the stores, the peddlers with their shows, sleight of hand, and cheaply made souvenirs...and other people. there were the usual clothing stores- h&m, mango, etc. and then there was desigual. the colors and designs of just the flagship store alone overloaded the senses. much too colorful and busy for my taste, but the clothing was well made and imaginatively designed. alice in wonderland imaginative. we spent a long time in there marveling at everything, and trying to find pieces that we would actually wear. i found a couple things, but none that i desperately wanted for the prices.
so, really, the entire day was leading up to. one. thing. harry potter! in its version originale- english. i think it was before i stepped off the plane in madrid that bub gushed about it opening the day i was arriving. and when we purchased tickets online earlier on sunday, bub and i joked about whether to ask the boys if they wanted to come to the movie, and then decided that, being the extraneous males of the lot, they really didn´t have much say anyway. we told them around lunch time that we had tickets. they didn´t put up a fight.
ok, so, in case anyone hasn´t seen harry potter and plan to, this is your SPOILER ALERT! ok great. i enjoyed it. it fulfilled my harry potter need for this year. and really cool that i got to see it in madrid. but um, the last book really could have been one movie. not that i´ve read it, but the middle of this one was reeeaally drawn out. what is the deal with all the walking, and the camping, and the awkward romance? i enjoy all of those things in moderation. just get to the effin point already. the sequence of events consisted of hiking, concealing enchanted jewelry, nightly stakeouts (staring into the dark for long periods of time), making out, lovers´ quarrels, and repeat. at least three times. it reminded me of a couple of other movies i´ve seen... i said to bub as we walked out-- they could have called this one harry potter: brokeback lord of the rings. we laughed about it all the way home.
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