Civilization

Tops of buildings in Madrid, Spain
Tops of buildings in Madrid, Spain

We bought fruit last night for the room and we started with that this morning, bananas, a mystery fruit (cross between a peach and an apricot?) and some dried figs and prunes. We were able to get up a little earlier and we were on the streets at eleven. We stopped for coffee on Geronimo in the Plaza de Canalejas across from the brand new Four Seasons hotel (the building they are gutting after leaving the centuries old facade standing). Cafe Del Príncipe had a desayuno especial that included a small glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and Tortilla Española with pan and coffee. We bought a postcard for my mom and walked into Peurta del Sol by the Apple Store to Vodaphone where we got SIM cards for the phone and iPad. The guard in the store suggested we go to the basement of Corte Inglés to mail the postcard so we did that and then stumbled on the “Uno de 50” section in the store. Peggi took some photos for my sister, Ann, who sells this funky Spanish line of handmade jewelry at Parkleigh in Rochester.

We walked by a Fundación art exhibition co-sponsored by MoMA but it was closed Monday. Peggi read about a nice place to eat up there and we happened to walk by it so had their Menu del Día. “Red de Pescado,” catch of the day with shrimp with the heads on. I had a Country Salad and Peggi had Gazpacho.

We walked over to Calle de Alcalá 13 where a Fundación show with Goya in it was but they were closed too. So we decided to go back there tomorrow. We put six point three miles on our Moves app and I did it all on crutches. I have a new found comradery with other handicapped people on the street. We check out each other’s gear.

It doesn’t get dark here until ten. We could set the clocks this way in the US. We walked through the Plaza Mayor and over to the Mercado de San Miguel where we had some olives, some cheese and dry Vermouth from a tap. We split the Vermouth, it was served over ice and cost one and one half Euros. We walked around some more, found a street with some religious shops on it, Calle de la Paz. We plan to go over there tomorrow to look for holy cards. We stopped in Plaza de Angel at the place that has live jazz and we had drink at an outdoor table. We have finally adjusted to the time zone change.

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