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Published: December 9th 2006
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Shopping in Madrid
Not much to do but SHOP We realized we were pooped on art museums which there are more of in Madrid than anywhere we’ve been to date. So instead of seeing things we figured we’d check out the shopping scene in Madrid. We’ve been pretty good about buying stuff at this point which lead us to believe we could spend a day shopping and do more looking than buying.
We headed north of Puerta del Sol into the area we had walked through on our errands earlier this week. We started at what was probably the most difficult of locations, the fresh food and wine market. Each Plaza in Madrid seems to have its own market for the holidays. Plaza mayor is all about Christmas tchotchkes, e. g. the wigs we bought yesterday, but the Plaza we ventured to today is 100%!e(MISSING)dible goods.
There were hand made sausages, cheese, pastries, cakes candies and chocolate. Also there were homemade liquors, wines, fortified wines and desert drinks. All of these places were giving out samples, which we of course tried and fell in love with. This created a conundrum for me
in particular in that I can’t stand going to these sorts of things and coming away empty handed. Some of you have gone to local wine festivals with Kel and I back home and know that we are always buy at least a bottle of wine or two. But considering we have no way to travel with the food and that we found out recently that there is nothing cheap about shipping goods home, we walked away wishing just a little bit that we were going home soon so we could bring this stuff with us.
Alternative people always seem to live in the most fashionable shopping areas We next spent a couple of hours walking the streets of what seems to be the best shopping in town. Kel and I marveled at the fact that the gay and lesbian community always lives in the most fashionable places. This street was full of great clothes, great jewelry, great accessories…it was all pretty darn great. I surmised that gay and lesbian people are more comfortable with being different and therefore create their own style which the rest of the world then tries to emulate. Seems like a
fair assessment to me.
The curiosity shops are always the most fun ones for us to stop in and peruse. There are so many cool housewares, decorations, random objects, etc that you could never get at home. Kel of course likes the jewelry shops and purse shops; we therefore visited a few of these.
On the way out of one shop we ran into a giant chicken. That’s right, you heard me correctly…a giant chicken. Seems that a local fried chicken restaurant was doing a promotion and therefore had a giant chicken running around the area. Kel was lucky enough to get a picture taken with the chicken…see for yourself.
After considerable time in the fashion area we went back to the food market so that I could get some lunch. I got a fresh pastry with meat in it and an apple cake. The pictures Kel took are incredibly flattering.
Our final shopping stop of the day was at a huge book store on Gran Via. This place had a whole section devoted to English books. We went a little nuts and bought a few for each of us but figured we might not find
English book again for some time. After some serious damage we headed to get Kel some lunch.
Kel went back to the place we had eaten breakfast because she was intrigued by the small halves of crustless sandwiches that they sold. She got four of them (they were rather small, some people were getting 8 or more of them). Some were good, others (like the pea and carrot and cream cheese sandwich) were not so good. Once again check out the pics.
We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and trying to figure out what we are going to do for New Years. It appears to be either really expensive or really dull…we will see what we can come up with!! If anyone has any ideas, knowledge or experiences to contribute for New Years in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, please pass them on . . . we're open!
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Aaron Parks
non-member comment
Whew!
Do you know how much Cap One time I just spent catching up on your travel wares from the begining?? I was rifling through my wallet when I came upon the business card you gave me, MT. So glad I took the time to type in the URL! Kel, we haven't met, but I've known Mike for a few years here at Cap One. I wish you guys the best. Keep taking pictures! I think that's my favorite part as I live vicariously through you guys... :)