Just a Walk in the Park

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Okay, honestly how old are we???? We have had quite a time dealing with jet lag. We have been literally dragging ourselves around and this morning was no different. We finally got moving around 11:30 with the intention of going to the Atocha Train Station in order to make our reservations for day trips to Avila and Segovia as well as our journey from Madrid from Cuenca. We walked down the busy Calle de Atocha on our way to the station. At one point we noticed a line of people across the street that numbered well into the hundreds! We have no idea what they were waiting for but hopefully it was worth their evidently long period of standing! We came upon a group of people coming out of a small vestibule. Curious, we went inside. This was the Iglesia de San Sebastien Church which dates back to the 16th century.

We continued our trek and soon came upon the huge rail station and made our way down the ramp to the interior. What an overwhelmingly large place! We found the information desk and the lady behind the counter was very helpful by giving us timetables for each of the journeys we wished to make. We then went up to the ticket desk. Hmmmmm. We waited in a line but also remembered that the lady told us to get a numbered ticket. After waiting and watching, we noticed the machine that dispensed the numbers. Curtis went over and told the Senor manning the machine that we wanted to get tickets for tomorrow. He gave Curtis a ticket with a number. It meant nothing to us as we continued to stand in line. Then a lady came over and motioned that we could go ahead of her. We showed her our ticket and she explained to us that some lines were for tickets needed for today but our ticket was one that had to be called. The light finally flickered on in our weary brains and we soon found a seat as we had a bit of a wait. After about half an hour our number was shown on the screen. We explained that we wanted a trip to Segovia on Saturday, Avila on Sunday and Cuenca on Tuesday. Not long after, with reservations in hand, we went out to find the departure site to prepare ourselves for Tuesday. Our trips to Segovia and Avila depart from another station (sure to be another adventure). We followed the signs for the departure and watched in confusion as people inserted a ticket into a machine in order to be let through the turnstiles. Nothing was making any sense so we went to the customer service desk where a kind man told us that we were in the wrong place. We went back the way we came where we suddenly saw the HUGE sign which marked our departure site. Whew, mystery solved!!!

We left the huge station and wandered out into a beautiful sunny and warm day! The sky is such an amazing shade of blue and the temperature soared into the teens. We made out way up to the Buen Park Retiro which is the largest park in Madrid. The road up to the park was lined with used book stands and some of the books were 100 years old! Once we entered the park we were completely in awe. This park is 350 acres!!! There were so many different paths to take throughout. People were walking dogs and even a cat! We encountered lots of runners (maybe felt a big guilty) who were taking advantage of the inclines to do hill repeats. We kept walking, coming to a roundabout with a fountain in the centre. There were trees with fragrant blossoms which reminded us of our Meaford apple trees. We kept walking and walking and walking. Never have we seen anything like this! This park contains beautiful sculptures, monuments, and galleries and the whole park is completely surrounded by modern day Madrid! It contains outdoor exercise areas for young and old. Bicycle pedals on park benches for seniors with arthritis and for the young, pull up and tricep bars as well as local stones to be used as weights. There were people everywhere - walking, biking, running, sitting, lounging, roller blading, reading, studying - you name it. We stopped for a quick lunch and then made our way to the Crystal Palace. This was a structure which was entirely made of windows. Inside was an art exhibit and ironically enough it was by two Canadian artists, Janet Cardiff (Brussels, Ont.). and George Bures Miller (Alberta). It was quite unique if I must say. In this beautiful crystal building there was a trailer which housed a variety of marionettes. Strange, but not as weird as the woman lying at the end of the trailer. She was dressed in white lingerie. Now I have seen wax figures but I have never seen anything so real in my life. It truly seemed as if this woman was embalmed and put into this exhibit. Yep this was art, weird but art.

Next we came to the Buen Retiro Palace, which today houses-yep art!! We entered the large white building to view the works of Luciano Fabro (1936-2007). Okay I know I am no art officiado but honestly? If this was art then the children in my JK/SK class are prodigies for sure!! Luciano uses "simple and common materials that redefine the nature of the object and its space". This simply means he uses everyday things, puts them together in simple ways and calls it art. I especially liked the one called "Ovaries" since apparently I am entering that interesting segment of womanhood (two ropes that snaked for about 30 feet and lined with eggs!). Yep, art.

We left the palace and soon came to the Estanque which is an artificial lake filled with rowboats. This lake was surrounded by people lying in the sun reading, eating, sleeping, and talking. We found a place to park ourselves, soak up the sun and do our language lessons. At this lake is the magnificent Monument to Alfonso Xll, with its numerous statues and tall columns. It was a beautiful structure indeed. We debated about renting a boat but the line was long and we knew that we could always return. We continued our walk down the Paseo de la Argentina which is lined with statues of kings from the Royal Palace and were sculptured between 1750--1753.

We left this mammoth park and went out onto the busy street. We soon came to a huge roundabout of which the focal point was a chariot being pulled by two lions. This is called the Fountain of Cybeles and is named after a goddess who had a significult cult in Rome and is viewed as one of Madrid's most important symbols. We then went into the Palacio de Cibeles which used to be the headquarters for the postal service. For 2 euros each we went up the observatory tower where we could see the landscape of Madrid. We had a full panoramic of the city. It was breathtaking indeed especially since its backdrop was a brilliant azure sky! After making our way down the tower we walked down the busy streets of Madrid where we continued to drop our jaws at the spectacular architecture of the city.

We soon came to Calle Mayor which leads to our apartment. We stopped to purchase some pasta and pesto for a quiet dinner in (and a bottle of 1 euro wine!). Our Friday night consists of dinner, wine, journal writing, blogging, and one of the most difficult ventures ever undertaken in Europe - LAUNDRY! No machine in Europe is ever simple to operate I have learned. We filled the tiny drum, threw in the soap and turned on the water, which ran, and ran, and ran but never filled up! We fiddled with dials a number of times. We tried to open the door but no luck. At that point I was pretty sure we had lost those clothes to the laundry monster! After more dial turning it finally began to do something and 2 hours after we began this process we had clean laundry, with no place to hang it :{ .

Tomorrow we head to Segovia to take in this Unesco Heritage Site and are looking forward to another day of wonderful experiences.

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