Madrid

We arrived in Madrid on a Friday afternoon. The train from Pamplona was a five hour ride. In Madrid, we were staying at our first airbnb.com apartment on our trip, and neither Adam nor I had ever used the service on our own before. (Airbnb.com is an international accommodation website where people rent out their apartments or rooms in their apartments to guests. Essentially, you can get luxury hotel quality for a fraction of the price by staying in someone’s home.) Our host had given us directions to the subway station near his home, but while we were en route I realized that I didn’t actually have an address for his apartment, just the street name. Embarrassed to be missing such a key piece of information for our arrival destination, I told Adam that I didn’t have the address exactly, but I’m sure we could figure it out. As soon as we got to the exit doors of the metro station and were about to begin our search, a man started waiving at us. Our host had come to the station to wait for us since I had given him our arrival time and knew it would be easier to walk us to the apartment and give us the information in person rather than try and do it all by email. We were both shocked and relieved that he had been so giving of his time to meet us.

The first evening in Madrid we walked to the cathedral, the crypt, the royal palace, through historic Madrid (which is not a shopping district) and down past some of the architectural icons of the city. From the time we arrived Adam couldn’t believe how fashionable the people of Madrid were and became increasingly more self-conscious of his gortex salomon sneakers which are clearly a Vancouver purchase.

The royal cathedral and the royal palace are unbelievable examples of the grandeur of emperial Spain. Both Adam and I were awestruck by the juxtaposition of the heaviness of the building materials and the loftiness of the height of the cathedral. The crypt was very traditional with a much older aesthetic for it's stained glass and mosaics, whereas the cathedral above was surprisingly modern with many abstractions and optical illusions in its space.

The royal palace is in a class of its own. Used up until recently (the last 100 or so years), the Spanish government has done an excellent job of restoring and maintaining the interior and exterior of the buildling. Most of the rooms were restored to the time of Kind Carlos III which is considered the golden age of Spain's rule.

Travelling with a partner allows you to do activities you would never do on your own and challenges you to enjoy parts of a culture you wouldn't otherwise think to enjoy. For example, when we walked into Plaza del Sol I was immediately drawn to the open space and the overwhelming activity and commerce taking place in the street, whereas Adam was drawn to an arcade underneath a scaffolded building. We went in and before I knew it I was putting 20 Euro cent into the slot machine trying to win my prize. Luckily we didn't stay for long, but I will admit we were both having a good time.

Reading a travelbook about Madrid, I learned that the city is the home of Picasso's famous painting Guernica. We had to go to the Reine Sofia Museum to see the famous piece of art. So early on our second day we headed to the museum and ended up spending over three hours enjoying the works of Picasso, Miro, Dali and many other Spanish greats. Picasso's studies in preparation for producing Guernica were likely my favourite. There are a series of abstracted wailing mothers who have lost their children that evoke so much emotion within the piece themselves and within the viewer. Adam's favourite part were the intricate details of Dali's paintings. Being able to get up close and personal with the originals pieces allowed us to appreciate the technique and the minutia of what was really capture or expressed in each piece.

I thoroughly enjoy going to the theatre in foreign countries, especially in Europe. We bought tickets to see a modern opera called Ainadamar at the Teatro Real - the royal theatre. Prior to the show, I expressed that I typically don't like operas that have primarily female vocalists, however Ainadamar has changed my perspective. It was the first opera that I have seen in Spanish, and what a difference language makes! The singing was so melodious (especially compared to the German operas I have seen in recent years) and the orchestra, which is alwasy a highlight for me for any show. l was impressed that the opera had so many Spanish influences including two guitars which I had never seen before. It increased the breath of musical combinations available to the performance. Plus, the show was subtitled in both English and Spanish. I had to stop reading the English translations because they were so poor and were ruining the sophisticated sound of the opera for me, however the fact that they were provided was impressive.

Travelling on a budget, it has been a challenge for Adam to see the many discounts that I get at each of our destinations. Europe is extremely accomodating to students and people under the age of 30 in a financial sense. For example, at the royal palace my entry fee was half Adam's because I was a student. At the Reine Sofia Museum my entry was free whereas Adam had to pay. At the theatre, buying the tickets the same day as the show, I received 90% off any price point in the theatre, whereas Adam had to pay full. I've tried to convince him that we are fortunate that we are saving so much money because of my student status and age, however it is a bit of a blow to him to have to pay full price when he sees me getting such amazing deals.

Sunday morning we had talked about going to the cathedral to enjoy the service and the music of the organ, but then we found out that there was a huge antiques and other market with up to 3600 vendors in the old downtown core, so we changed our plans. (I have always enjoyed markets, and Adam can be described as a deal-finder enthusiast.) One of the perks of staying with airbnb.com accomodation, is that they often offer unique advantages to their guests, and at our place, our host had two bikes available for us to use. We biked up to the market and had a blast. The most impressive streets were those filled with antiques and art. I know a part of Adam was dissapointed that we were unable to make purchases for our apartment and get them home easily. We plan to look into putting a Moroccon care package for ourselves together to send back to Canada in the next wee to make up for what we left behind in Spain.